Review: Sarah’s Journey by Ginger Simpson

Sarah’s Journey

By Ginger Simpson

Historical Romance

Eternal Press, March 2009

Buy Link: http://www.amazon.com/Sarahs-Journey-Ginger-Simpson/dp/1926647084

 

 

With the death of her parents, Sarah is faced with the loss of her home unless she gives in to the banker’s demand of marriage to prevent repossession. Marrying a man she finds repulsive not being an option, Sarah joins a wagon train heading west to California. When Indians attack the train, Sarah and her friend Molly are the only survivors. Molly is wounded and although Sarah does all she can, Molly doesn’t make it. Alone and terrified, Sarah decides going back to one of the towns they’d traveled through is the wisest course and after gathering what few supplies the war party had overlooked, she heads out on foot.

 

When Sarah first meets Wolf, he’s injured and thinking he’s part of the war party who attacked the train, she leaves him to die and steals his horse. Unfortunately without a saddle, she can’t mount the horse and leads him until finding a rock to aid her. Not seeing the rattlesnake sunning itself on the rock, Sarah is bitten. Wolf regains consciousness and goes looking for his horse. He finds Sarah and nurses her back to health. After hearing her story, he agrees to take her back to Independence where he’s purchased land in hopes of starting a cattle ranch.

 

Sarah and Wolf are deeply attracted to one another, but being the son of a white man and an Indian woman, Wolf has faced prejudice and hatred his entire life. Regardless of his feelings for Sarah, he can’t see a future for them.

 

This story begins right after the wagon train is attacked, so it immediately grabbed my attention and I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. There are some pretty graphic descriptions of the aftermath of the attack, so if you’re squeamish about such things, you may not like that part. The author does a wonderful job portraying the hardships of the time period, and both Wolf and Sarah are likable characters. Their romance is beautifully told and I was sympathetic to their plight. I wanted badly for things to work out for them. I did find some of the dialogue a tiny bit too modern at times, but Ms. Simpson is a great storyteller and I recommend this book to anyone who loves historical love stories. The ending was surprising and I’m not sure how I feel about it…I didn’t take anything from the review rating for this because other readers will have to decide for themselves.

 

Willow

 

 

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Interview With Author E. G. Parsons

WGR is thrilled to have the opportunity to get to know award-winning poet and author E. G. Parsons. Elizabeth, thanks so much for taking the time to chat with us today.

 

1.) I noticed on your website that you have quite a diverse collection of published books on the market: historical, paranormal, suspense, poetry, even a young adult title. What do you most enjoy writing, and why?

 

If I had to choose one, I’d have to say suspense. My first book was a suspense thriller and then I switched to romance. My romance novels always have an element of suspense because I’ve never been able to get away from that angle in a story. I can’t explain why it’s my favorite. It just seems to come more naturally for me when writing.

 

2.) Our reviewer was very impressed with your knowledge of the 1800s in your novel, Black Rock. How did you go about researching that time period, and did you enjoy the research?

 

I think all writers as well as readers have their favorite time periods and for me it’s the 1800’s. I’m not sure I’d want to give up all my modern conveniences and travel back to live in that era, but it would certainly be tempting. My love for that time in history has resulted in my having a good knowledge of that way of life, but I did have to research some things for Black Rock: A Time For Love. I made use of my local library and the Internet for researching things like famous outlaws and transportation. Train travel was very popular back then. You could travel all the way from the east coast to the west coast by train, but I needed to find out if it was available for the area in which my novel takes place. It was a hard find. Took me a couple of weeks just to find that one thing, but I loved it and found myself getting sidetracked by all the other interesting things I found.

 

3.) Your bio says that you come from a large family. Has your upbringing impacted your writing? If so, how?

 

I do come from a fairly large family and now have an enormous extended family. Knowing intimately such a large and diverse group of people has definitely had an impact on my writing, especially when it comes to characterizations. My family moved around quite a bit when I was growing up and I think all the different locations and cultures was great fodder for the imagination. 

 

4.) What is your favorite way to spend an afternoon?

 

If the weather is nice, I love taking long, leisurely strolls along the creek bank with my husband. If it’s a little too cold for that, I love curling up under my favorite throw in front of a roaring fire with a great book or with my hubby. J

 

5.) Say Black Rock; A Time For Love is going to be made into a major motion picture and you, as the author, get to select the actors! Who would play the part of Roxanne? Collin? The dastardly Brad Wellman?

 

Kate Beckinsale for Roxanne. Most people probably associate her more with movies like Underworld, but I saw her in a Jane Austin movie with very little makeup and she was fantastic. For Brad, Maybe Matthew Davis or Mark Wahlburg with lightened hair. I’m not sure about Collin. Most of the male actors I love are a little too old to play a thirty year old or they’re British. Maybe Orlando Bloom or Josh Jackson.

 

6.) Who, in your opinion, is the greatest romance hero of all time?

 

Hum… I don’t think I could pick just one. Rhett Butler in Gone With The Wind or Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice or Darby in Waiting For The Rain or my own Ambrose in Captive Fear or…well you get the picture. I’m a push over for a great hero. J

 

7.) On your website it says that you live with your husband, sons, and a boxer named Charlie. Do you ever feel outnumbered by the male presence in your home?

 

Oh, yeah. J There are days when just the sound of another female voice on the phone is reason for celebration. It’s hard to let my very romantic, female side have free reign when I’m always being out voted by the males. But they’re all generous about letting me have my way, so it’s okay.

 

8.) You spent your childhood living in both Florida and Michigan. What’s your best memory of each state?

 

Playing on the sand dunes of Lake Michigan and stuffing my face with big, purple, frost plums. In Florida, the Atlantic Ocean and having the everglades as my back yard. Both wild and wonderful places to grow up.    

 

9.) In Black Rock, Roxanne and Colin were brought together by supernatural circumstances. How did you meet your own real life hero?

 

Nothing as dramatic as that. LOL. We met online in a yahoo chat room. He lived a thousand miles away and I say it was fate, he calls it fortunate circumstance. Whatever it was, I’m grateful.

 

10.) Are there any new E. G. Parsons books in the works?

 

Winter of the Heart came out in January and like Black Rock, it’s a paranormal historical. At present I’m working on a contemporary women’s fiction titled Then Comes Spring.

 

11.) Where can readers go to find out all the latest EGP news?

 

You can visit my site at http://egparsons.com or my blog at http://elizabethmeltonparsons.wordpress.com

 

Anything else you’d like to share?

 

I’d like to thank WGR for the fabulous review of Black Rock: A Time For Love and for the great interview.

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Interview With Author Margaret P. Cunningham

The girls at WGR are excited to have the opportunity to get to know Lily in Bloom author, Margaret P. Cunningham.

 

Margaret, thank you for agreeing to chat with us today.

 

1.)    I noticed on your website that you started out your writing career with short stories. Tell us a little bit about your first published work.

            My first published work was a short story titled “The Best of Fredville”.  Its first person narrator was a little girl visiting her imperious aunt in the tiny southern town of Fredville.  The aunt was in charge of the town’s down-and-dirty gardening competition to win the title of Best of Fredville.  It won a contest and then was published in an anthology called Gardening at a Deeper Level.

 

2.) You offer new writers the advice “Write what you know. Write what you love.” I’m guessing you took that advice to heart while writing Lily in Bloom. You grew up on a plant nursery. What was that like?

            Playing hide-and-seek among acres of azaleas and camellias and a big, old greenhouse was great fun.  Although my thumbs aren’t as green as my daddy’s were, I did inherit a love of gardening.

 I also loved/love the total escape of those old romantic comedy/mystery movies we used to watch on our black and white TV.  I decided that if I was going to spend a year or so writing a novel, I was going to indulge myself, fill it with characters that I would like to know and of course, it would be set in a southern garden.

 

3.) In your story, Lily fell in love with a much younger man who shared her passion for gardening. How did you meet your own real-life hero, and does he share your interest in gardening?

            I met my husband, Tom, on a blind date.  Unfortunately, his is pretty much a “slash-and-burn” style of gardening.  For example, I love vines.  He hates them, and “trims” them every chance he gets.  Once I put buttermilk on everything to get that great, green algae growing on it.  And it worked – until the day I came home to the smell of bleach and my husband proudly informed me that he had cleaned every bit of it off!

 

4.) When you’re putting a novel together, do you start with the setting, the plot line, the characters, or something else?

            An idea first – usually some human interaction I’ve witnessed that I can’t get out of my head.  Then the characters, especially the protagonist.  What is her problem (based on that first spark of an idea)?  Setting is very important to me – almost like a character itself.  Plot is the hardest, but I’ve read lots of beautiful writing that seems to go nowhere.  I think the first order of writing is to tell a story!

 

5.) What is your favorite part of the novel writing process? 

            Believe it or not, revision.  I love to have a finished chapter or entire piece – all those dreaded/loved plot lines tied into place, then go back and play with the words.  I also enjoy researching things – thank you, Google!

 

6.) What is your least favorite part of the novel writing process?

            Self-doubt.  I always wonder, Am I wasting my time on this?  Will anyone ever even see it?  Shouldn’t I be doing something more useful, like cleaning out a closet or making lasagna?  Unlike a painter who can hang an unwanted piece in her bathroom if all else fails, the manuscript goes in the drawer.  I’ve learned to remind myself that every time I write, I learn.  Other than that and probably more to the point of your question, as I stated above, plotting is difficult for me.

 

7.) Who are some of your favorite authors, and what writers have influenced your writing?

            F. Scott Fitzgerald, Agatha Christi,  John Grisham, Rosamunde Pilcher, Robert Olen Butler, Khaled Hosseini, Flannery O’Connor, Michael Knight, Jhumpa Lahiri – and Carolyn Keene. 

I think all writing begins with reading and Carolyn Keene and her wonderful protagonist, Nancy Drew turned me on to reading, fired my imagination and put the idea in my head that a brave girl can do whatever she sets her mind to.  I’d like to think that I’ve gleaned a bit here and there from those other, loftier favorites of mine, too. 

 

8.) What is your favorite book of all time? 

            To Kill a Mockingbird, whose author I didn’t name above because I’m having a senior moment and can’t think of it.

 

9.) What do you like to do in your spare time when not writing?

            We are blessed with fabulous beaches here on the gulf coast, so my family does a lot of boating, etc.  I enjoy gardening, of course (though you’d never know it if you could see my yard right now).

 

10.) Are there any more great Margaret Cunningham novels in the works?

            Thank you for the adjective “great”.  I am working on a novel in the same vein as Lily in Bloom.  It’s the story of a middle-aged woman who goes in search of her past – in the ante-bellum era raised cottage where she was born.  As usual, I’m at that stage where all of my plot lines look like a bowl of spaghetti.

 

11.) It looks like you have a busy schedule lined up for the spring. Where can readers go to find out all the latest MPC news?

            My web site is www.margaretpcunningham.com.  Also, my wonderful publisher’s web site, www.blacklyonpublishing.com .

 

12.) Say that Lily in Bloom was going to be made into a major motion picture and you got to decide what actors would play the parts. Who would play the part of Lily? Will? Crazy Maisy?

            Someone actually was looking at Lily in Bloom in hopes of it becoming a TV movie, so I’ve given it some thought.  There are so many talented actors – but I have a hard time imagining most of them with an authentic southern accent even though I know they are up to the job!  Maisy…?  Olympia Dukakis, since she was so great in Steel Magnolias.  Will…?  Clint Eastwood in his thirties?  But any number of tall, handsome, thirty-five year old actors would do.  And Lily…?  Why not go for broke?  Julia Roberts, though she’s only 44.     

 

Is there anything else you’d like to share?

            Yes.  Thank you for the great review of Lily in Bloom on Working Girl Reviews and for having me as guest interviewee.  It was lots of fun. 

Margaret P. Cunningham

www.margaretpcunningham.com

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