The Lemoncholy Life of Annie Aster, by Scott Wilbanks: 🍋 Book Review 🍋 A Well Read Woman Blog

“Go to Heaven for the climate, and Hell for the company.”

The Lemoncholy Life of Annie Aster

📸 @aprillwoodauthor

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Synopsis:

Annabelle Aster doesn’t bow to convention—not even that of space and time—which makes the 1890s Kansas wheat field that has appeared in her modern-day San Francisco garden easy to accept. Even more peculiar is Elsbeth, the truculent schoolmarm who sends Annie letters through the mysterious brass mailbox perched on the picket fence that now divides their two worlds.

Annie and Elsbeth’s search for an explanation to the hiccup in the universe linking their homes leads to an unsettling discovery—and potential disaster for both of them. Together they must solve the mystery of what connects them before one of them is convicted of a murder that has yet to happen…and yet somehow already did.

📸 @aprillwoodauthor

Genre:

🍋 Historical Fiction

🍋 Science Fiction

🍋 Women’s Fiction

🍋 Fantasy

🍋 Mystery

Samhain and Rowan 😺 📸 @aprillwoodauthor

Tropes & Themes:

🍋 Time Travel > Portals > 1895 – 1995

🍋 Misadventures and Magic

🍋 Omniscient, “God-like” POV

🍋 “Women are delicate”

🍋 Orphans & Misfits

🍋 “Action Girl”

📸 @aprillwoodauthor

Annie’s new pen pal has been dead for over seventy years…”

The Lemoncholy Life of Annie Aster

Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

The Lemoncholy Life of Annie Aster, a magical time travel misadventure story told in omniscient, or “all knowing” POV, by Scott Wilbanks, is a book I set down and came back to many times since I first received it for review, nearly ten years ago. — (Sorry Source Books!)

When I picked it up this time and began to read it again from page one, I couldn’t fathom why it was that I set it down last time with less than one hundred pages left of a four hundred page book?!

For instance, I was totally sweet on Annie, Elsbeth, Christian, Cap’n, and Edmund, the five misfits; four of which are Annie’s sidekicks but really were main characters in their own right. Annie Aster and Elsbeth were my faaaaaaaaavorites and I loved the mystery of the unexpected brass mailbox on a white picket fence, and how it connected them, even a hundred years apart! The worlds were vastly different between them, being one hundred years apart, and I found the historical time setting of 1895 to be a fun period to explore.

I wasn’t too far into the book when the magical sweetness bittered like a sweet & sour candy, leaving an unpleasant taste in my mouth. 🍋 It started with the letters shared via portal-mailbox, and Annie’s and El’s jokes about animal cruelty, specifically cats. Throughout the book, cats and kittens are mentioned or, later, handled in an abusive way. It was a hundred pages until the finish line when the weird cat stuff culminated in ridiculous cruelty, when one of the many villains in this story held an orphaned kitten over an oven burner. Really? No wonder I put this down. I have three rescue cats, two of which we took in this year, and I have no plans on stopping at three, (even though one of said rescues woke me up this morning by draping his huge frame across my body, right over the side I’m about to have surgery on, and boxed my nose with his paw until I got up). 🐾 😂

If all the weird cat stuff was edited out, and a few other things that lacked historical accuracy, this would easily be a five star read for me. It was unnecessary and added nothing of value to the fanciful and whimsical storytelling in this work of fantasy fiction. It seemed so out of place, like it was the author’s thoughts, and after reading his bio I understand he’s extremely sarcastic (so am I) and might have a little bit of a dark sense of humor, (also guilty –but not with cats!) so maybe, just maybe, that’s why?

📸 @aprillwoodauthor

This book is classified as Science Fiction and Mystery, but I’d argue The Lemoncholy Life of Annie Aster is also a Women’s Fiction. Women’s fiction is basically a story with a focus on the life journey of a FMC and her personal growth. Often there is a romantic subplot. Wilbanks’ novel has both. This was a plus for me. Annie, the FMC, has a rather unique and absolutely non-linear life journey, but it’s still a “life journey” and ultimately her personal growth is revealed and it’s wonderful.

The concluding chapters were heartwarming and just when I thought this book couldn’t possibly be more twisty, the reader is hit with yet another revelation and connection between the characters.

That’s excellent writing.

I also like the author’s interpretation of the phrase “if life gives you lemons” and his word, lemoncholy. I like to think of myself as a person who habitually makes the best of a bad situation, like Miss Annie Aster. The lovely title fits the whimsical storyline. Also, the art on the cover is so beautiful! I just love all the scrawled wildflowers, both on the cover and around chapter headings. I went nuts with my gel pens! 🖋 😁

📸 @aprillwoodauthor

The characters of this novel are truly what makes the story, and while there are quite a few to get to know through the omniscient knowledge of multiple POVs, each character was extremely memorable — and I’ve read this multiple times finishing at different marks, and starting again, for nearly ten years. I really can’t think of many other books I read ten years ago that I’ve remembered the details of the characters in the same way I have with this book.

For instance, there’s Elsbeth, an elderly widow and loner whose only company is that of a tattered scarecrow erected in her Kansas wheat field 🌾 outside of her cabin in the 1890’s. Her sarcastic pov and comments were side-spliting-ly HILARIOUS. She had me cry-laughing.

She said a quick prayer, ending it with an appeal for rain. Kansas was experiencing an uncommonly long dry spell, and she was starting to run out of patience with the good Lord. If he didn’t answer soon, she decided she wasn’t above stripping to her knickers and doing a rain dance in the pig pen to see if that would get his attention.”

The Lemoncholy Life of Annie Aster

📸 @aprillwoodauthor

Connected to Elsbeth is Annie, (the FMC), who begins her morning one day to discover a random brass mail box, on a mysterious white picket fence wrapped with greenery and healthy, established roses that definitely weren’t there yesterday. In the distance, Annie notices a wheat field and a smoky cabin. Stranger yet, is the letter threatening Annie with trespassing.

Trespass is dealt with at the business end of a shotgun in these parts!”

The Lemoncholy Life of Annie Aster

Unlike Elsbeth, Annie is portrayed as fragile, complete with a serious illness that isn’t partially revealed until the end. Her symptoms are shown and her use of syringes to deliver medication to herself are casually mentioned, sometimes a hundred pages between, eluding that something is very wrong with Annie but we are left in the dark as to what.

Loved the friendship between Annie and Christian, but it did add to her fragility because he was like a mother hen, tucking her under his proverbial wing. This was very endearing of Christian’s character, but did little favor to the perception the reader has of Annie.

The time travel theme is a fun element to any magical Sci fi or fantasy and while I loved the differences between 1895 and 1995, there were historical inaccuracies that were too glaring to ignore. For instance, Annie, an unmarried young woman, time-traveled back to 1895 and opened up a checking account.

Listen… I can accept that she time-traveled but I can’t accept that she somehow took the 1974 equal credit act back in time with her. In the 1960’s if a married woman opened a bank account, it was with her husband’s signature (permission). In 1974, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act changed this. It’s absurd that she would have been able to withdraw funds or open an account, unmarried in America, year 1895. Like I said, time-travel is more believable.

I loved Cap’n and the “Sandlot Gang”, the young street kids and orphan castaways of the 1890’s and how they rallied around Annie, protecting her from danger.

Nathaniel was a nice addition, as were the complications of a relationship between a man from 1895 and a woman of 1995. Their love story was for sure, complicated, and many misunderstandings ensued between then.

And of course Edmond, a man who discovers a new friend in Christian, after the most unusual of first impressions. These characters made up the fabric of this story, all connected by a single string. As the story unravels, it’s revealed how everyone is connected.

📸 @aprillwoodauthor

The Lemoncholy Life of Annie Aster is also a murder mystery, but one that transcends the bounds of time and space making this story unique and unexpected.

Overall, Wilbanks’ debut novel is a great blend of misadventure, time travel, magic, alchemy, and even romance!

Even though I’m rating this novel 4 stars, I’m reluctant to recommend it because of the Triggers I mentioned above. In addition, there were study group questions in the end that were completely inappropriate and random, regarding “sin”, homosexuality, and drug abuse. What?! Why was this included? I was expecting meaningful questions I could ponder and respond to and I get that.

So let’s make this quick:

1.) Sin is a socially/religiously constructed word that I don’t believe in nor subscribe to. So no, I don’t believe in “sin”.

2.) No. Homosexuality is not a “sin”. What does this have to do with the story?

3.) Yes, substance abuse is a disease. Again, and this has what to do with what?!

I received a complimentary copy from Source Books in return for my review. This did not influence my thoughts or rating.

About the Author

Book Review: 🕮 A Dance of Lies (The Outlands Pentalogy Book 4)🕮 by Author Rebecca Crunden @RJCrunden

A year into the Outlands and life has only become more dangerous and complex for Kitty and her friends. Not only are the Outcasts hunting them, but Charles and Ciara are adamant about returning to the Kingdom to help, forcing everyone to take a side. To make matters worse, the leader of the Outcasts, Quen, has an unrelenting fascination with Thom and Nate that soon reaches horrific heights.

As tensions mount and the group begins to splinter, Riddle comes to Kitty with an unexpected request. A secret. One that makes them inseparable.

Kitty soon finds herself spending more and more time away from Nate and Thom, learning to fight and increasingly drawn into the ways of the Radiants. But Kitty and Riddle’s new bond doesn’t come without complications, and a decision made by the two of them threatens more than Kitty’s relationship with Nate…

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Series: The Outlands Pentalogy (Book 4)🕮

Genre: Dystopian, Post-Apocalyptic, Sci-Fi, Speculative Fiction 📚

Purchase on Amazon, USA🛒🛍️

AWRW Rating: 5/5 ☕☕☕☕☕

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“Freedom came with a thousand unknown dangers.”

A year has past and the group is planning another move. Despite the threat of the Outcasts, many are fearful of the unknown and reluctant to leave. A decision is made that splits the group of nearly thirty, and Kitty and others head for the Great Plains.

Unfortunately, their destination isn’t the safe haven they hoped for.

Kitty finds the land to be far too open, devoid of mountains and trees, and she feels exposed. Nate is overjoyed to have his brother Thom back, but constantly worries he may lose him again, causing him to be extra protective of his brother – no matter who’s feelings he hurts in the process. And to make matters worse, they are reunited with someone they’d rather soon forget.

In the end, even the strongest relationships hang by a thread.

While the previous books had a strong romantic sub-plot, this installment featured a lot of crushing dark moments between the couples, and as a wonderful result the characters came even more out of their shells. Kitty has always been special, showing growth in so many ways, but in A Dance of Lies, we see another side of her and that’s not only her amazing adaptability but her burgeoning independent nature. Her friendship with Riddle was evidence of this and I liked how she stuck to her guns, even though it brought her heartache. I really like the new and improved Kitty Halfblood. 

All in all, I’m super eager to read the final book in the series and I hope to see at least one of the couples find their way back to each other again! I have to admit, it’s going to be difficult to say goodbye to these characters and this storyworld. These installments have a way of lingering in your mind, long after you close the book or power down your E-reader.

Author Rebecca Crunden blends survivalism with secrets and betrayal, upping the excitement, tension, and suspense. I highly recommend this series to fans of post-apocalyptic dystopian science fiction.

… About the Author…

Amazon Author Page

Website

Goodreads Author Page

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AWRW Book Blog Presents 31 Days of Halloween Reads Featuring Advice for Aspiring Authors, a Guest post by #Horror and #SFF @PBFiction Author Pete Barber! #eNovAaW #ASMSG #WriteTip

Welcome to 31 Days of Halloween Reads, where A Well Read Woman Blog will be presenting horror and dark fiction novels, book reviews, interviews, guest posts, and more with dark fiction and horror authors, daily!

I shined the spooktacular spotlight on Author Pete Barber earlier this month, when I featured his novel Maya: Symbiogenesis Book One. Today I’m featuring a guest post he wrote for A Well Read Woman Blog, back in November of 2014 as part of his Love Poison Book Tour, offering writing tips for aspiring authors!

“I was born into a blue-collar family in Liverpool, England–missed The Beatles but did go to The Cavern a few times. After immigrating to the US in the early 90s, I became a citizen. Burned out from twenty years in the corporate madhouse, I escaped to Lake Lure, North Carolina where I live with a couple llamas, two spoiled dogs, a brace of cookie-eating goats, numerous chickens, one ferocious cat, and a wonderful wife who thankfully understands my obsessive need to write fiction.”–Goodreads Author Bio

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Advice for Aspiring Authors

Seven years ago, my life circumstances finally allowed me the luxury of choosing what I wanted to do with most of my time. I chose to write. Or more precisely, I chose to learn how to write. If you want to judge whether the time was well spent, my newly released novel–Love Poison is only a click away :).

“Love is a dangerous drug.”

Lab assistant and avid climber Amber Wilson is no stranger to risk. But she feels invisible around her handsome boss, Mark, until she accidentally doses him with an irresistible aphrodisiac that leaves him with a suicidal hangover. Abruptly fired, Amber and Mark partner up to research the source of the drug—a rare New Zealand mushroom—in hopes of refining it for safe use.

On their way to New Zealand to collect fungi samples, Amber is blindsided by a deep and intense romantic connection with Mark. Their new business plan is endangered by ruthless Maori mobsters who control a mushroom scheme they’re killing to protect. As the body count rises, Amber struggles to salvage her and Mark’s dreams, but when she risks her heart and acts alone, both of them could end up paying the ultimate price.

Here are six things every aspiring author needs to know:

• Learn to explain things as a list because people pay more attention to lists :).
• Write a lot of words. Most of the words I wrote in the first three or four years weren’t very compelling. But I’m still using many of those ideas, just expressing them better. No word is ever wasted—if a sentence stinks, don’t do it again. If it’s good, it’s yours to keep for the right moment like an unspent bullet.
• Read. I read far more now than I ever did before I started writing—forty or more books a year. I watch a lot less TV, too. I don’t think that’s worth its own place in the list because it’s just a consequence of not having the time. I still watch Modern Family and Big Bang Theory, though. A writing obsession is okay, but you have to keep it real, dude!
• Character development. Maybe it’s just me, but I never really understood what that meant when it was a topic heading in a “how to write” book. Here’s how I roll: characters grow on the page just like babies grow into cute kids, awkward (possibly obnoxious) teenagers, and then adults—well-adjusted or not. Their arc isn’t something mysterious, it’s just what happens to them as they get exposed to the challenges they are confronted with in the story. As each of my characters jumps onto the screen, I make a note in a separate document file—name, physical attributes etc. Then as the character grows and fleshes out, I add to their notes. That way I don’t get confused.
• Plot. I spent a lot of time knocking my head against hard objects trying to understand Donald Maass, and Swain, and many other writing experts when they insisted that I make it harder for my characters. I did make it tough. Yes, I did, but as I was throwing wrenches at the poor people populating my tale, concurrently, I was working out how they’d overcome the obstacles. Well, I finally figured out that’s not the point those writing sages were making. Frankly, you don’t have to worry about a plot being compelling if you write your characters into a cul-de-sac with eighty-foot walls, set in a valley, and then fracture the water main at the top of the hill during a freak power outage. You’ll need a hell of a compelling plot to get them outta there. So, I try not to worry about my peeps. I just follow them into the latrine and let the latch jam. Once they’re stuck, then I lose sleep working out how to extricate them out without too much soggy Charmin hanging off the heel of their boot.
• Compelling story-lines mean a lot, but without good mechanics, they won’t hold a reader’s attention. I learned some stuff about writing mechanics from books, but mostly from the online critique group I belonged to. I joined Scribophile, there are plenty of others, but here’s the thing–it forced me to put my work in the public domain. Even though I was scared to death at first. Heck it is really scary. Especially when you see other work posted by people who can really write, and your only constructive comment is, “Wow! This was great, why aren’t you published?” Of course, you know they’re going to one look at your piece of amateur yuck, and barf, or laugh until their sides split. But the comments I received taught me a lot. Those great writers gave me pointers and shared links to places where I could learn. Not everyone was nice, and the criticism, most valid, some not, hardened me to accept those cutting comments that will continue to go with the territory, because we can’t please everyone.

If you’re an aspiring writer, click over to Scribophile. Take a look at the work and also at the critiques—what have you got to lose?

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Thanks, Pete for your helpful advice!

Tomorrow USA TODAY Best Selling Author Carissa Ann Lynch returns for a character interview of Wendy Wise, from Have You Seen This Girl?! See you back then for Day 23 of 31 Days of Halloween Reads!