Review & Giveaway: Teresa of the New World by Sharman Apt Russell

Welcome to my tour stop for Teresa of the New World by Sharman Apt Russell.  Teresa of the New World is a middle grade/young adult/new adult book (she ages through the book, but it's clean). Check out the tour page for more information.

About the Book:

In 1528, the real-life conquistador Cabeza de Vaca shipwrecked in the New World where he lived as a slave, trader, and shaman. In this lyrical weaving of history and myth, the adventurer takes his young daughter Teresa from her home in Texas to travel to outposts in New Spain. Once there, Teresa is left behind as a servant in a Spanish household. But when an epidemic of measles devastates the area, the teenager must set off on a new journey, listening again to the voices of the desert, befriending a war-horse and were-jaguar, sinking into the earth to swim through fossil and stone, reclaiming her power to outwit the cunning figure of Plague. A story of apocalypse and hope, Teresa of the New World takes you into the dreamscape of the sixteenth-century American Southwest.

Sky Horse Publishing | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

REVIEW

This book is not your regular fiction.  Teresa is a girl who can talk to animals and Earth.  She leaves her mother to travel to Spain with her father.  But, her father leaves her in a Spanish household and travels without her.  Teresa is disappointed that her father didn't care enough for her and quits speaking and hearing.  The rest of the story is Teresa, finding her strength and peace in her own journey.

This is a tough and interesting book.  I thought this is going to be vague and slow for me.  But, it worked after some time.  The slow pace, although needs patience, suits the story.  Teresa and her father does some impossible things, but it doesn't seem like fantasy.  She finds enough strength again to help others and when she started speaking to animals and Earth again, I truly felt happy for her.

This is Teresa's coming of age story.  The historical part must have required lot of research and the author has done an amazing job with that.

Definitely recommended!

4 STARS!

About the Author:

Sharman Apt Russell has lived in the beauty and magic of Southwestern deserts almost all her life and continues to be amazed by that. She has published over a dozen books translated into a dozen languages, including fiction and nonfiction. Teresa of the New World is her third middle-grade and young adult novel.
Sharman teaches graduate writing classes at Western New Mexico University in Silver City, New Mexico and Antioch University in Los Angeles, California and has thrice served as the PEN West judge for their annual children’s literature award. Her awards include a Rockefeller Fellowship, the Mountains and Plains Booksellers Award, a Pushcart Prize, and the Henry Joseph Jackson Award. Her work has been widely anthologized, with numerous starred reviews in Publishers Weekly and Booklist. The San Francisco Chronicle has said “Russell’s writing is luminous” and Kirkus Reviews wrote, “A deep reverence for nature shines throughout Russell’s rich, enjoyable text.” The Seattle Times described her An Obsession with Butterflies as a “masterpiece of story-telling” and the San Diego Union Tribune called it “A singular work of art, with its smooth, ethereal prose and series after cascading series of astonishing lore.” The New York Times and Discover Magazine both described her book on hunger as “elegant.” Of her Anatomy of a Rose, the Sunday Times (London) said, “Every page holds a revelation.”

Website | Facebook | Goodreads

--------------------------------------------------------------

Giveaway:

Four (4) signed copies of Teresa of the New World 

US only

Ends 7/28

Giveaway provided by the author, bloggers are not responsible in any way for the prizing.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This event was organized by CBB Book Promotions.

Review: Logos by John Neeleman

Original Title: Logos

Author: John Neeleman

Publisher: Homebound Publications

Release Date: March 10th 2015

Source: From Novel Publicity 

Genre: Historical Fiction

Logos is a bildungsroman about the anonymous author of the original Gospel, set amid the kaleidoscopic mingling of ancient cultures. In A.D. 66, Jacob is one of Jerusalem’s privileged Greco-Roman Jews. When Roman soldiers murder his parents and his beloved sister disappears in a pogrom led by the Roman procurator, he joins Israel’s rebellion against Rome. The rebellion he helps to foment leads to more tragedy—personal and, ultimately, cosmic: Jacob’s wife and son perish in Rome’s siege of Jerusalem, and the Romans destroy Jerusalem and the Temple, and finally extinguish Israel at Masada. Jacob wanders, and in Rome, he joins other dissidents—plotting vengeance not by arms, but by the power of an idea. Paul of Tarsus, Josephus, the keepers of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the historical Jesus himself each play a role in Jacob’s tumultuous fortunes, but the women who have loved him compel the transforming and subversive climax.

REVIEW

I am a Hindu and I know about Christianity only through my Christian friends and movies.  It's so popular that many movies are taken even in my regional language.  So, I entered this book with as much nervousness when one has on their interview day.  As far as I am concerned, this book is just plain fiction to me, but the research work and hard work of the author can be noticed.

The story follows Jacob, whose life traverses along various historic life events.  Jacob is not the usual hero type material.  He is the hero, who is common man.  So, seeing history through his eyes is definitely a story, that is commendable.  Jacob faces so much tragedy in his journey, but still comes up with confidence and heart in each instance.

Facts and fiction play side by side in the novel and the readers will be kept interested enough to get absorbed into the life of Jacob.  The real story, as said by John Neeleman, questions some major beliefs of the society.  Well, I am not good with Christianity or history, so I am not the right person for judging this part.

A new perspective on history!

4 STARS!

Review: Reclaim the Present (Fear of the Past #2)

Original Title: Reclaim the Present
Series: Fear of the Past #2
Author: Claude Nougat
Publisher: BookBaby
Published Date: October 3rd 2011
Genre: Contemporary Romance

At the close of Book 1 of the Fear of the Past Trilogy, Tony, an American computer whiz kid, has returned to his own time in Syracuse, Sicily. He soon meets Lucia, the woman of his dreams who reminds him of the Duchess of Floridia that he has met and loved in the Circolo di Conversazione (Book 1). But he has an accident and falls back… to 1908, in time to witness the tragedy that put an end to his family's wealth.

Review: The Devil's Legacy

Original Title: The Devil's Legacy
Author: Tom Jackson
Published Date: October 27th 2011
Genre: History, Mystery

Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Smashwords

Well, if you didn't see the above book cover properly, please see it again.  This is a book of hope, where all you can see is deception.  The cover of this book says it all.

The legendary Parthenon Marbles from the British museum is going to be returned back to Greece in another six months..or so the British Prime Minister has given word to the media.  But, the Marbles, that the British possesses are fake and there is a secret "Pandora's Box", which contains a clue of the theft, that was committed two hundred years ago.  The British has two options now: Come clean to the public with the news and face the consequences; or find the Marbles that was lost two hundred years ago in six months time.

The British goes with the second option and a team comprising the experts in various fields with one female lawyer as lead is formed.  The team's job is to find the marbles within six months without anyone else knowing about it.  But as soon as they began their search, their secrecy is leaked and they are being followed everywhere by collectors and gangsters.

In spite of all the hopelessness, the team starts with their research to find the Marbles and the real adventure begins.

To say, I am not good in historical facts, will be an understatement.  But, this book had me stunned by all the events, that 'might have' occurred in history, as a result of deception and greed.   Many historical places, persons and other references in the book are new to me, but I absolutely enjoyed knowing about them all.

Tom Jackson is a debut author and I have not read much of historical fiction.  So, I started reading this book without any expectations.  But, this book would have, anyway, exceeded all the expectations, if I have set any.  The author had done an amazing job on bringing all the events in accurate detail.  The novel is told in many different times of history and I can just tell how difficult it would be to bring them all in a page, without any confusions.  There must be a massive research for writing this book and as always, I wish I had known the details.

A great and challenging read!  Highly recommended for historical fiction lovers!

About the Author

Tom Jackson hails from cold and wet Manchester, England and was with a British bank for over 30 years. He moved to Greece in 1977, met his wife (who is Greek and an artist) and decided to remain in Homer’s land of sun and sea. He has a daughter, Natalie, who is a lawyer, and the inspiration behind the protagonist in his debut novel, ‘The Devil’s Legacy’.

He is already thinking about a sequel to ‘The Devil’s Legacy’, and also has an idea for a trilogy set in nineteenth century Greece.

Tom maintains his close links to the Greek shipping community, posts occasional articles on financial and shipping related matters, is enjoying his new Kindle, has started to cultivate roses, and is an avid Manchester United supporter.

Tom Jackson online

Goodreads | Facebook

Review: Forget the Past (Fear of the Past #1)

Original Title: Forget the Past
Series: Fear of the Past #1
Author: Claude Nougat
Published Date: May 20th, 2011
Genre: History

Antonio Bellomo, preferred to be called as Tony, is a born computer genius and was offered a high-tech job with a heavy salary at the age of 13.  In spite of having everything, Tony feels his life to be 'lost' or 'not lived'.  So, giving up his boring life, he travels to Sicily to look for the palace, which once belonged to his ancestors or so were the words of his father.

Disappointed that the palace of his ancestors has been turned to the museum and none of the museum's pictures show that any of the Bellomo family has been lived in, Tony just roams around the museum, when he finds a open door.  He enters to find it full of strange people with different century costumes, claiming that they were the Bellomo family members of various centuries, and they were dead and waiting for the Judgement Day.  The place named as Circolo di Conversazione meant only for conversation.  The people in the Circolo speak with one another all the time and re-enact their lives to know their mistakes, before the Judgement Day.

While Tony learns about the past of his ancestors, he never thinks that he will fall in love with one of them.   What will happen when a mortal man falls for his ancestor, who is a ghost.  Tony's experience and his bonding with the 'people of the past' are intriguing and was taken in a satisfying way.

The historical times were as descriptive as possible.  There were times, I keep thinking, how very different the lives of all people are.  And most of them, if they had given a second chance, would do the same things again, would fall in love with the same person and would die for the same reason.

The author, although descriptive about the historical situations and the Italian word references, failed to explain the present-day Tony.  Due to this, it was difficult, for first half of the book, to know how Tony feels about his situation.  Being a computer genius is definitely not an easy feat, even if he is a 'born' genius.  I felt like I needed to know more about Tony, to realize his need to go away from his well-settled life, his desire to visit Sicily of all the places and his bonding with his father.  That is the one thing I found lacking in the book.

"Forget the Past" is an easy and entertaining read, where the readers keep thinking about how influencing our ancestors could be in our present lives.  Well, a book's success is to keep the reader's thinking about it, even after several hours of completion.  This book made me wish that I know more about my ancestors, even though its not so dramatic or eventful as Tony's.

'Fear of the Past' Series order:

1.  Forget the Past
2.  Reclaim the Present - Read review here
3.  Remember the Future - Read review here

The series is about Tony's life, as he struggles with his heritage (book 1), tries to claim his own life (book 2) and his destiny (book 3).  It must be read in the above order.