Blog Tour – Coral Moon

by Jason Joyner | Apr 11, 2007 | Blog, CFBA, fiction

I’m excited that the CFBA blog tour this week features Brandilyn Collins and her new book Coral Moon.

I’ve been keeping tabs on Ms. Collins for a couple of years now. I’ve mentioned her blog, Forensics and Faith, as a prime writing resource before. That’s where I first found out about this wonderful author, following along with her entertaining blog posts and signature cliff-hangers. Last year I was privileged to be a part of the marketing for her book Violet Dawn, the initial book in the Kanner Lake series. She devised a clever aspect to her books – a real-time blog created by one of her characters in Kanner Lake. Various denizens of the town would post about life there, with different readers playing the roles. I was on the tag team (along with Bob Edwards) that wrote Pastor Hank Detcher. The initial commitment to participate there is over, but I’ve contributed a couple of posts since then, the last one commenting (vaguely) on the circumstances of Coral Moon.

Anyway, Coral Moon continues the adventure started in Violet Dawn. It seems that a new hotel has been proposed for the lakefront, and residents are predictably torn on the benefits of progress versus keeping Kanner Lake the quaint little Idaho town it is known for. With that backdrop, hot-shot reporter Leslie Brymes is heading out to interview proponents of both sides when she finds an unexpected situation in front of her – a body in her VW!

The quiet town explodes with intrigue once again, as various citizens wrestle with keeping the village safe from an insidious evil…

Brandilyn Collins has a very strong, identifiable style – her Seatbelt Suspense. This book will not disappoint fans of heart-pounding fiction. She does not leaving you wanting AT ALL in the beginning, establishing the tension from the first page. Her strengths are in weaving believable characters into the backdrop of suspense that has spawned the Big Honkin‘ Chicken Club, a group of writers who can’t read Collins’ books due to the intensity of the story!

You don’t *have* to read Violet Dawn before reading Coral Moon, but it definitely helps. The characters established in the first book become more alive, making the book very interesting. I like how she keeps you guessing about certain characters until the end of the book. I lost sleep the night before I finished the book, trying to work out “who did it” all night!

Coral Moon does have some intense scenes, and it have a fairly different vibe from the first book. The spiritual component, which was light in Violet Dawn, is much more front and center, due to the nature of what is happening in the story.

I have some very minor quibbles – I wouldn’t bring them into a different review, but as a “student” of Brandilyn’s via her blog, I can’t help myself. Rarely Leslie slips out of her early 20’s character and says something not appropriate for her age. Also, a couple of metaphors keep repeating, and they are so striking that they jumped out at me as they came back. (If you’re up for a game, look for how many times the idea of something “zinging through veins” or “knocked/kicked up the spine” shows up throughout.)

Overall, the book is a very enjoyable continuation of the Kanner Lake saga, and is a great read for any fan of good suspense. Keep an eye out for Crimson Eve, the 3rd book due later this year.

Blog Tour – Coral Moon

by Jason Joyner | Apr 11, 2007 | Blog, CFBA, fiction

I’m excited that the CFBA blog tour this week features Brandilyn Collins and her new book Coral Moon.

I’ve been keeping tabs on Ms. Collins for a couple of years now. I’ve mentioned her blog, Forensics and Faith, as a prime writing resource before. That’s where I first found out about this wonderful author, following along with her entertaining blog posts and signature cliff-hangers. Last year I was privileged to be a part of the marketing for her book Violet Dawn, the initial book in the Kanner Lake series. She devised a clever aspect to her books – a real-time blog created by one of her characters in Kanner Lake. Various denizens of the town would post about life there, with different readers playing the roles. I was on the tag team (along with Bob Edwards) that wrote Pastor Hank Detcher. The initial commitment to participate there is over, but I’ve contributed a couple of posts since then, the last one commenting (vaguely) on the circumstances of Coral Moon.

Anyway, Coral Moon continues the adventure started in Violet Dawn. It seems that a new hotel has been proposed for the lakefront, and residents are predictably torn on the benefits of progress versus keeping Kanner Lake the quaint little Idaho town it is known for. With that backdrop, hot-shot reporter Leslie Brymes is heading out to interview proponents of both sides when she finds an unexpected situation in front of her – a body in her VW!

The quiet town explodes with intrigue once again, as various citizens wrestle with keeping the village safe from an insidious evil…

Brandilyn Collins has a very strong, identifiable style – her Seatbelt Suspense. This book will not disappoint fans of heart-pounding fiction. She does not leaving you wanting AT ALL in the beginning, establishing the tension from the first page. Her strengths are in weaving believable characters into the backdrop of suspense that has spawned the Big Honkin‘ Chicken Club, a group of writers who can’t read Collins’ books due to the intensity of the story!

You don’t *have* to read Violet Dawn before reading Coral Moon, but it definitely helps. The characters established in the first book become more alive, making the book very interesting. I like how she keeps you guessing about certain characters until the end of the book. I lost sleep the night before I finished the book, trying to work out “who did it” all night!

Coral Moon does have some intense scenes, and it have a fairly different vibe from the first book. The spiritual component, which was light in Violet Dawn, is much more front and center, due to the nature of what is happening in the story.

I have some very minor quibbles – I wouldn’t bring them into a different review, but as a “student” of Brandilyn’s via her blog, I can’t help myself. Rarely Leslie slips out of her early 20’s character and says something not appropriate for her age. Also, a couple of metaphors keep repeating, and they are so striking that they jumped out at me as they came back. (If you’re up for a game, look for how many times the idea of something “zinging through veins” or “knocked/kicked up the spine” shows up throughout.)

Overall, the book is a very enjoyable continuation of the Kanner Lake saga, and is a great read for any fan of good suspense. Keep an eye out for Crimson Eve, the 3rd book due later this year.

Blog Tour – In High Places

by Jason Joyner | Apr 4, 2007 | Blog, CFBA, fiction

This week’s CFBA blog tour feature is In High Places, by Tom Morrisey.

It is always interesting to see the type of books we get for the blog tour. We have gotten a wide variety of choices, and we’ve read a lot of good books. Some weren’t my favorite. If you can tell, I don’t tend to read the romances or “chick-lit” books (either I use the CFBA blurb or have my wife review). Sometimes we get an unexpected gem in all of the books we read.

In High Places is told from the point of view of Patrick Nolan, a teenager who is an only child. He and his father share a very strong bond – a love of rock climbing. The book opens as they are on a climb at Seneca Rocks, a well-known haven for climbers located in West Virginia. Their return home reveals a tragedy that pushes his father to distract himself in possibly destructive ways and threatens to destroy the strong bond that holds them together.

I read a lot of glowing reviews before I was able to dig into this book. It took a little effort to really get into it, but I encourage readers to stick with it. He spends a lot of time describing the scenes of rock climbing, carefully discussing equipment and technique. It is a foreign activity to me, and although it was interesting, I wasn’t engaged at first.

There is some excitement in the climbing scenes that occurs early on, but this isn’t an adventure novel. It is a novel of the heart, and it takes the person of Rachel Ransom, a young woman Patrick meets about 100 pages into the book. This dynamic transforms the book and made it a delightful read for me. I’ve seen other books with characters like Rachel in them (I don’t want to describe her too much, I hate reviews that give the story away), but I don’t get tired of them. There’s something magical in the way Morrisey treats the new twist that brings the novel home. I guess it is the threshold of the novel for me.

The writing is carefully crafted. I corresponded with Morrisey a little after reading the book, and he said he was striving for a different style from what he had written before. I haven’t read any of his adventure/suspense works that preceded this, but I would hazard a guess that he is successful in his attempt. The book reminds me of another coming-of-age tale, Bad Ground by Dale Cramer. That book was widely acclaimed in circles I run in, so it is a compliment.

One other literary trick from the book deserves mention. Note the intro of each chapter – he gives a brief description of climbing equipment or technique which becomes symbolic of the flow for the chapter.

Overall this is a highly enjoyable book to read. The slow start is not a negative in my mind; the story is kind of a slow burn, not hurrying to its destination. But if you find yourself stymied at all, persevere, because the book is a reward at the end of it all.

Blog Tour – In High Places

by Jason Joyner | Apr 4, 2007 | Blog, CFBA, fiction

This week’s CFBA blog tour feature is In High Places, by Tom Morrisey.

It is always interesting to see the type of books we get for the blog tour. We have gotten a wide variety of choices, and we’ve read a lot of good books. Some weren’t my favorite. If you can tell, I don’t tend to read the romances or “chick-lit” books (either I use the CFBA blurb or have my wife review). Sometimes we get an unexpected gem in all of the books we read.

In High Places is told from the point of view of Patrick Nolan, a teenager who is an only child. He and his father share a very strong bond – a love of rock climbing. The book opens as they are on a climb at Seneca Rocks, a well-known haven for climbers located in West Virginia. Their return home reveals a tragedy that pushes his father to distract himself in possibly destructive ways and threatens to destroy the strong bond that holds them together.

I read a lot of glowing reviews before I was able to dig into this book. It took a little effort to really get into it, but I encourage readers to stick with it. He spends a lot of time describing the scenes of rock climbing, carefully discussing equipment and technique. It is a foreign activity to me, and although it was interesting, I wasn’t engaged at first.

There is some excitement in the climbing scenes that occurs early on, but this isn’t an adventure novel. It is a novel of the heart, and it takes the person of Rachel Ransom, a young woman Patrick meets about 100 pages into the book. This dynamic transforms the book and made it a delightful read for me. I’ve seen other books with characters like Rachel in them (I don’t want to describe her too much, I hate reviews that give the story away), but I don’t get tired of them. There’s something magical in the way Morrisey treats the new twist that brings the novel home. I guess it is the threshold of the novel for me.

The writing is carefully crafted. I corresponded with Morrisey a little after reading the book, and he said he was striving for a different style from what he had written before. I haven’t read any of his adventure/suspense works that preceded this, but I would hazard a guess that he is successful in his attempt. The book reminds me of another coming-of-age tale, Bad Ground by Dale Cramer. That book was widely acclaimed in circles I run in, so it is a compliment.

One other literary trick from the book deserves mention. Note the intro of each chapter – he gives a brief description of climbing equipment or technique which becomes symbolic of the flow for the chapter.

Overall this is a highly enjoyable book to read. The slow start is not a negative in my mind; the story is kind of a slow burn, not hurrying to its destination. But if you find yourself stymied at all, persevere, because the book is a reward at the end of it all.