Walking With Elephants

Book Description
Suze Hall is at a crossroads. Her nemesis at work, Wanda, has been promoted and now will be her boss. Her husband, Bob, is leaving her and the three kids for a six-month sabbatical down under. To top it off, her best friend, Marcia, is missing in action–playing footsie with some new boyfriend!
Adding to this disaster stew, David, the gorgeous hunk who broke her young-girl’s heart has coincidentally popped back into her life and has something she desperately needs to keep her job.

My thoughts

“Damn you, Feminist Movement!” I say as I shake a fist at the sky. Those brave women who pushed for equality at the workplace also screwed with the heads of the subsequent generations of women. What are we supposed to do with ourselves? Are we supposed to push everything aside for a career, hoping that it will validate us or should we stay at home, raise children and be inundated with carpools, laundry, and sticky faces. Can women find a middle ground without something suffering? Can we keep all those balls up in the air?

In Walking With Elephants, Karen Bell shines a humorous light on the contradictions often forced on modern women. Her main character, Suze Hall is working through a career she’s not sure she wants, raising children who are growing up and leaving the nest, and trying to still feel attractive and maintain a marriage. She finds herself in a midlife crises when she runs into an old college flame and he brings with him a barrage of insecurities and doubts about her, who she is and what she wants out of life.

Walking With Elephants is a well written, funny and insightful look into marriage, motherhood and the work world. The main character is smart, quirky and completely relatable and Karen Bell’s writing style keeps you turning pages. It’s a great book to read while cuddled up under a blanket and a glass of wine.

—Cait Lavender—

I’m a twenty five year old wife and stay at home mother of one in Central California.  I grew up loving the written word and creative writing and finally decided to work on my dream of becoming a published author. My short story, April Moon is scheduled to be released in an anthology called Wooden Stakes & Silver Bullets February 3rd of this year and my full length paranormal romance, Hunter Moon should be out at the beginning of March. I’d love to hear from you! Follow me on twitter,  on Facebook or on my blog, www.caitlavender.com.

The Botticelli Affair by Traci Slatton

Book Description:

Luscious art forger Laila Cambridge has a little vampire problem…. She’s a high- spirited woman with a sordid past, trying to go straight. Enter gorgeous John Boling broke, a half-vampire with news of her missing father. From New York through Paris, Amsterdam, and Rome, while fleeing ruthless vampires, Laila searches desperately for her father and a lost painting that holds a coveted secret.

My Take:

To me, this book was very much The DaVinci Code with vampires. Everyone looking for a secret Illuminati painting that will save the world- this time from vampires. The characters chased clues all over America and Europe and had to interpret multiple aspects of paintings and art history in order to find the next clue.

It was really hard for me to get into this book. It wasn’t that it was written poorly or anything, in fact quite the opposite. Ms. Slatton has beautiful descriptions and imagery. Her writing really paints beautiful pictures of what is happening (no pun intended). My problem was that I know nothing about
art history, and don’t really care much about it. Yet to fully appreciate this book—which is seeped with artists, paintings, and history—you really need to have prior knowledge or at least interest in these subjects.

Further disappointing me was her relationship with John Bolingbroke, the vampire love interest. The way she threw herself at him repeatedly—literally begging him to have sex—as a way to build sexual tension didn’t fit the character, who was tough and no nonsense. And not to give too much away, but I was left wanting to toss the book across the room at the end.

If you have an appreciation for art, you will probably like this book. If you don’t, pick up one of her other books instead. Fallen was one of the best I’ve read this year! I can’t say the same for The Botticelli Affair.

Sarah Ross has been an avid reader since the tender age of 4. Finding her passion in reading and literature, she completed her degree in English and went on to teach middle school English for nine years. She now works as a private tutor and full-time writer. Her debut novel, Awaken, was released in January. You can learn more about her and Awaken at www.sarahmross.com

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