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Monday, May 5, 2008

Reading on . . .

My Reading Challenge continues.

This past week, I finished Geralyn Dawson's newest HQN release, THE LONER. This novel is another powerful love story that features a number of the characters from her Bad Luck Brides series. If you've grown attached to this cast and crew then you'll not be disappointed with her latest entry into larger-than-life Texas history. Ms. Dawson always takes some tidbit of historical past (this time one of the earliest flash floods in Texas history and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) to add that wonderful touch of realism to her stories. It is as though she takes that one snippet of the past and weaves a tale around it -- reminds me of Paul Harvey's 'And the rest of the story . . .' (for those of you who listen to talk-radio).




As a writer, I'm always impressed by Ms. Dawson's ability to motivate her characters -- not with just a single event but by the collective experience of their lives. These are real people, with real problems, and as a reader, I root for them from page one.

Ms. Dawson revealed during a writing seminar, which she taught, that she doesn't plot out every last detail and sometimes the characters manage to write themselves into a corner that's tough to get out of. Perhaps, she sprinkles a little magic pixie dust over her characters, because she never fails to conjure up the perfect blend of goal, conflict and motivation. However, she does it -- I'm in awe.

Thanks, Ms. Dawson, for another great read.

What are you reading this week? Still on track?
Want to see why I started this reading challenge? Check this out!

Don't forget to drop by my back porch anytime. I always have a glass of sweet tea cooling in the fridge.

~Sandra

5 comments:

Sherry A Davis said...

Great post. I, too, am in awe of Geralyn's abilities as a story-teller. The flow just seems to drip from her fully formed. And it always punches you in the gut.

She's the kind of writer I love to hate--for all the right reasons, of course.

Not only is she a great read but a great mentor, always giving back and helping other writers along their own path.

Sherry A Davis said...

Great post. I, too, am in awe of Geralyn's abilities as a story-teller. The flow just seems to drip from her fully formed. And it always punches you in the gut.

She's the kind of writer I love.

Not only is she a great read but a great mentor, always giving back and helping other writers along their own path.

L.A. Mitchell said...

What a great cover she has. I'd become a Texas for that image alone.

I did catch up on my Writer's Digests. Does that count??

Marilyn Brant said...

I clicked on the link and read your post where you started your reading challenge and it immediately reminded me of something I'd forgotten. (I believe I'd suppressed the memory :-).

There was a woman I met when we were both young moms with active boys. Sharing this similarity, we planned a few park playdates. At the time, I'd slogged my way through my first novel and was working on my second, reading everything I could get my hands on to understand the industry and my genre...

One day this woman tells me, in the breeziest of voices: "Oh, I read everything I wanted to back in college. I'm done with all that now."

Once I recovered from my jaw-dropping shock and could speak again, I concluded that maybe we weren't so similar after all... (And time proved that true, sooner rather than later. :)

Marilyn Brant said...

Just one more quick comment: I'm tagging you :-).

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