Author: cherylmahoney

I'm a book review blogger and writer. I have published four novels, The Wanderers; The Storyteller and Her Sisters; and The People the Fairies Forget; and The Lioness and the Spellspinners. All can be found on Amazon as an ebook and paperback. In my day job, I'm a Marketing Specialist. Find me on Twitter (@MarvelousTales) and GoodReads (MarvelousTales).

Book Review: Hitty: Her First Hundred Years

On By cherylmahoneyIn Juvenile, Reviews3 Comments

I recently put several more Newbery Medal winners on reserve at the library at once—basically, searching for the ones whose names I could remember, since I didn’t have my list with me!  One of those was Hitty: Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field, because that second part sounded so intriguing.

It turns out that Hitty is a doll.  First carved in Maine in, I think, the early 1800s, Hitty passes through a number of different families and goes on a series of adventures, including sailing the high seas, becoming a castaway and traveling to India.  Over her century of life, up to the 1920s, she belongs to people at every stage of society, experiencing many different owners and many different kinds of life.

This book achieved a nice trick, sending Hitty through some very exciting experiences, while making their occurrence plausible.  The life of a doll could be a rather staid one, but there’s nothing dull about Hitty’s life—and while the excitement may be extreme, each development follows reasonably and believably. Continue reading “Book Review: Hitty: Her First Hundred Years” →

Blog Hop: Storytellers in Person

On By cherylmahoneyIn Blog Hop5 Comments

book-blogger-hop-finalToday’s Book Blogger Hop question is: What authors have you met in-person?

Very few, I’m afraid!  In college Tomie de Paola was doing a presentation and signing, and I got his signature on a copy of The Art Lesson, my favorite of his books.  A few years ago Gretchen Rubin came to town on tour for her book Better Than Before.  I went with my mom and we both got signatures in our books, and a photo with her.  I told her I frequently quote her to myself. J

I also have many author friends, happily: A. G. Stewart, K.D. Blakely, R.A. Gates, and Kelly Haworth, among others.  And that’s even better, because you can discuss stories and swap advice!

I’ve written before about the authors I’d love to meet—though some, alas, would require a TARDIS!

Book Review: The Girl Who Drank the Moon

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Reviews3 Comments

I’m continuing a strong push with the Newbery Medal winners in my reading, and I recently read the most recent winner, 2017’s The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill.  And we have a serious contender for favorite Newbery–at least of the ones I’ve been reading for this challenge!

The story starts in a very sad village in the Bog, where every year on a certain day, the youngest baby is left in the forest for the Witch, so that she won’t destroy everyone else.  We swiftly meet the Witch, Xan, 500 years old and quite unaware that anyone thinks she wants to harm them.  She rescues the babies every year, taking them through the forest to happier towns where they are adopted and cherished.  She feeds them starlight on the journey and they grow favored.  But one year she is especially taken by a baby, and mistakenly feeds her moonlight instead.  The baby grows full of magic, and Xan decides she must adopt Luna herself, adding her to a little family including Fyrian, a Perfectly Tiny Dragon, and Glerk, a grumpy, poetical bog monster.

This is a delightful story, full of fantasy, whimsy, humor and heart-tugging moments.  I knew this was going to be good as soon as Glerk and Xan appear, Xan scolding him about apologizing to Fyrian.  I love fantasy that takes the tropes (swamp monster, dragon, witch) and turns them upside down in a funny, human way. Continue reading “Book Review: The Girl Who Drank the Moon” →

Blog Hop: Genre Specific?

On By cherylmahoneyIn Blog Hop2 Comments

book-blogger-hop-finalToday’s Book Blogger Hop question is: Do you prefer to blog about (a) specific book genre(s), or do you have an eclectic blog?

 

The funny thing is, I began this blog, seven (!) years ago with some intention of being genre-focused.  My genre was young adult fantasy, although I never intended to be solely that.  I was also writing young adult fantasy at the time, with my Beyond the Tales series.

Well, life, reading and writing have all evolved.  I still read a fair amount of young adult, or fantasy, or both–but I’ve shifted to read more in other genres, and I seem to do more reviewing lately of nonfiction or Newbery Medal winners (kids lit, by definition).  I’m also writing historical fiction now, working on revisions of my Phantom of the Opera reimagining.

At this point, I don’t think the blog is focused on any particular genre, and really my reading isn’t either.  Fortunately, readers seem to have stayed through the evolution, and I appreciate that!

Bloggers, do you have a genre-focus for your blog?  And readers, do you typically prefer blogs that focus on a specific genre?

Book Review: What She Ate

On By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews1 Comment

I have a friendly coworker who reads a lot of nonfiction—not usually my style of books, but she recently had one that sounded fascinating.  Happily, the audiobook wait list at the library was short (apparently the physical book list was long…) and I got to enjoy listening to What She Ate by Laura Shapiro, six essays on six women in history, their stories told through the food they ate.

Of the six women, the only two I recognized were Eva Braun (Hitler’s mistress) and Eleanor Roosevelt (no introduction needed, surely!)  The other four are Dorothy Wordsworth (the famous poet’s sister), Rosa Lewis (Edwardian-era caterer), Barbara Pym (novelist) and Helen Gurley Brown (Cosmopolitan editor).  Their lives vary wildly, in circumstance, era and character, the essays tied together by the focus on food and each women’s relationship to it.

I like history and I like psychology, and this combined a bit of both, while putting the focus squarely on one of my other favorite narrative elements: an engaging heroine.  While three (two and a half?) of these women are best known for the primary man in their life (Eleanor is the half), these essays are still squarely on the women in a way I found very satisfying.  Obviously Hitler, William Wordsworth and Franklin Roosevelt figure largely, but it’s still about the women and what they’re doing, thinking and eating.  I started reading Ladies of Liberty and found it was so focused on the men (!) that I stopped.  That wasn’t a problem here.  And three out of six were clearly independent women getting things done (though Helen Gurley Brown might deny it). Continue reading “Book Review: What She Ate” →