#Review of The Marsh In May and Poems and Paintings by Ronald Rand a #book filled with #poems #paintings #art in #TheMarshInMay by #RonaldRand

The Marsh In May
and poems and paintings
By Ronald Rand

Ronald Rand is a cultural ambassador in the U.S. He takes his work of books and plays, encouraging drama and more across the country and other countries in the world. I have had the pleasure of reviewing a book and interviewing him before. He has once again given the opportunity to review another book, which he provided a PDF of in-exchange of an honest review. Check out my review and blurb below. Here is also the link to that interview, which will open in a new tab, so you can return here with, hopefully relative ease.

Interview

The Marsh In May takes readers to various places in the world such as Kathmandu, Olympia, Fez and more in a journey through 29 odes, shape poems and 30 paintings. After a devastating flood, which he had personal experience of as informed by Ronald Rand, himself, this is the creative work that emerged.

The poems are reflective, some, deeply so, others are lighter. There’s a quiet stillness in many of them, inviting the reader to be contemplative and study the circumstances and nature around them. What is written is of the everyday occurrences, done in a relatable, interesting seamless manner between the writing and artwork.

Sitting near a peaceful field or in a woodland or a beach with the sea gently lapping the sand would be some great places to be whilst immersing yourself in this book.

Is it possible to see the miracles of life happening right before our eyes?

The Marsh in May brings the reader into an unforgettable journey of soaring poetry on nature and the joys and mysteries of life, accompanied by twenty-nine full-color, luminous paintings by Cultural Ambassador and world-acclaimed solo performer, Ronald Rand in a stunning debut volume.

Within these pages, you’ll discover myriads of worlds within words – a harmonious dance between each poem and painting with some written as shape poems; others as odes to Thomas Wolfe, Edwin Booth, Jean-Claude van Itallie, and to the poet’s mother; and transforming experiences around the world to fantastical places including Kathmandu, Mostar, Olympia, and Fez.

Float along the Tennessee River, travel back in time to when art appeared in caves thousands of years ago, experience when Helen Keller first recognized water, and sit in a field with a chimney alone. Take a moment to rest easy within and soar inside Ronald Rand’s heartfelt paintings and poetry.

For everyone who loves poetry, nature, and the gift of life, you’ll be transformed by the miracles revealed in The Marsh in May.

The first book of Lucky Shoe Press with an introduction by author/publisher, Lawrence Knorr, Ph.D.

Features 29 full-color acrylic paintings by Ronald Rand, and a painting each by playwright Jean-Claude van Itallie, portrait artist Martha Carpenter, and Maribee.

#Review of This Book Made Me Think Of You by Libby Page @LibbyPageWrites @VikingBooksUK #ThisBookMadeMeThinkOfYou #ContemporaryFiction #RomanticFiction

This Book Made Me Think Of You
By Libby Page

Review by Louise Cannon

Libby Page has done it again and written a warming book that lifts the spirits, whilst the wintry weather in the real world rumbles on. It may just be her best yet at penetrating the heart and soul.
Check out my review and the blurb below, thanks to Penguin for the e-book and opportunity…

Review

This Book Made Me Think of You shows human complexities in relationships and navigating life. It pulls on the heartstrings.

Tilly Nightengale’s birthday has arrived. Imagine receiving 12 handpicked books from your fiance as a gift. Sounds amazing for book lovers right? Except her fiance has sadly died. The carefully chosen books are a gesture to help her through her grief and move onwards with her life. She sets out to begin a vlog in her adventurous journey, she ends up sharing her journey with not just family and friends, but Alfie, a bookshop owner and other followers.

In time, Libby Page takes readers from feeling raw and heart-wrenched from where we initially meet Tilly to warmth and humanity. Tilly is someone you can really get behind and want life and love to co-exist for her again.

The power of books truly lives within and out-with the page, something that is realised and understood within this book. It’s something that seems important for readers and non-readers to truly see and experience as they travel through the complexities of life, loss and love.

Blurb

The unforgettable new novel from Sunday Times bestseller Libby Page

Twelve stories. Twelve months. Once chance to heal her heart . . .

When Tilly Nightingale receives a call telling her there’s a birthday gift from her fiancé waiting for her at her local bookshop, it couldn’t come as more of a shock. Partly because she can’t remember the last time she read a book for pleasure. Mainly because Joe died five months ago . . .

The gift is simple – twelve carefully-chosen books from Joe, one for each month, to help her turn the page on her first year without him.
Tilly sets out on a series of reading-inspired adventures that take her around the world. But as she begins to vlog her journey, her story becomes more than her own. With help from Alfie, the bookshop owner, her budding new following and her friends and family, can Tilly’s year of books show her how to love again?

#Review By Lou of Note To Boy By Sue Clark @SueClark @SRLPublishing @RandomTTours #NoteToBoy #BlogTour

Note To Boy
By Sue Clark

Review written by Louise Cannon – Bookmarks and Stages

Note To Boy is more compelling and surprising than I ever expected. The fast, short chapters make it a book to relax into and forget everything around you. It doesn’t leave space for the mind to wander, not with compellingly written characters and circumstance. Find out more in the blurb and my review as part of the Random T. Tours blog tour below.
Check out the fantastic cover that looks like you can pick up the pieces of note paper. It’s very effective. Discover a bit about the author too.

Blurb

Eloise is an erratic, faded fashionista.

Bradley is a glum but wily teenager.

In need of help to write her racy 1960s memoirs, the former ‘shock frock’ fashion guru tolerates his common ways. Unable to remember his name, she calls him Boy. Desperate to escape a brutal home life, he puts up with her bossiness and confusing notes. Both guard secrets.

How did she lose her fame and fortune?

What’s he scheming – beyond getting his hands on her bank card?

And just what’s hidden in that mysterious locked room?

Review

Note to Boy is a fast-paced book where chapters are just a page or a few long, between Eloise and Bradley. It would make an interesting 2-hander play. It’s quickly compelling with cleverly placed parts where the narrative shifts to you, the reader, talking directly at you, as well as between Eloise and Bradley.

Eloise and Bradley are unlikely people to come across each other, but life’s paths collide and what comes next is a fascinating story about their two very different lives and backgrounds.

Eloise was once a fashionista of the highest order, but now has aged and is a bit cantankerous with it.
Bradley is 17, who has a tough life and is on a rough part of Kilburn. He answered an ad for a job to be her ‘domestic assistant’.
There are little bits in the way he is, which you have to suspend belief a little, but all in all, the creation of these two characters is quite wonderful and make you want to know more with every page.

The construction of the fast chapters and the way they speak to the reader, directly acknowledging the person turning the page, the manner which Eloise and Bradley communicate to each other as well is brilliantly done. Together, it hooks you in from the beginning.

Time flies when you read Note to Boy, which starts with a note. She can’t really remember his name, so Bradley becomes boy, but not out of malice, it’s just her memory. There’s a lot of humour and poignancy and of course 60’s fashion. It’s a rather entertaining book. One which I may well go back to and read again.

I highly recommend Note To Boy for a read you can relax into and not even notice the time whisk by.

About the Author

In a varied writing career, Sue Clark has penned BBC Radio and TV comedy scripts for the likes of David Jason, Lenny Henry, and Tracey Ullman, as well as contributing to newspapers, magazines, trade journals, and guidebooks, as a journalist, copywriter, PR, and editor.

But she had never done what she had always longed to do: write comic fiction. That is, until she was able to give up the old nine-to-five, take a creative writing course with Oxford University, join a writing group and – at last! – unshackle her imagination and let her love for comedy roam free.

The result, her debut comic novel, Note to Boy, was first published in 2020 and is now reissued with a bright new cover design. Her second, A Novel Solution, was published in June 2024.

Sue Clark believes no story, no matter how tragic, isn’t enhanced by an injection of comedy. And likewise, no story, no matter how comic, isn’t enriched by an injection of pathos. Her aim: to give the reader that winning combination of laughter, laced with a few tears, heart and humour.

#BookReview by Lou of This Shining Life by Harriet Kline @HareandHarriet @tabithapelly @DoubledayUK @RandomTTours

This Shining Life
By Harriet Kline

This Shining Life is beautifully written. It’s timely, poignant and warm. If you like Rachel Joyce’s books, you’re sure to like This Shining Life. I highly recommend it!
Discover more in the blurb and my full review and a bit about the author. That is when you can take your eyes off the gorgeous cover.
Thanks to Random Things Tours for inviting me onto the blog tour for reviewing and for them and for publisher – Double Day for gifting the physical proof of the book.

Blurb

For Rich, life is golden.

He fizzes with happiness and love.

But Rich has an incurable brain tumour.

When Rich dies, he leaves behind a family without a father, a husband, a son and a best friend. His wife, Ruth, can’t imagine living without him and finds herself faced with a grief she’s not sure she can find her way through.

At the same time, their young son Ollie becomes intent on working out the meaning of life. Because everything happens for a reason. Doesn’t it?

But when they discover a mismatched collection of presents left by Rich for his loved ones, it provides a puzzle for them to solve, one that will help Ruth navigate her sorrow and help Ollie come to terms with what’s happened. Together, they will learn to lay the ghosts of the past to rest, and treasure the true gift that Rich has left them: the ability to embrace life and love every moment.

Wonderfully funny and achingly beautiful, this is a story about love in all its forms: absent, lost and, ultimately, regained.

Review

Meet Ollie, Nessa, Angran, Rich, Ruth and Marjorie, the main characters who take a few chapters or so at a time to create this beautiful book. What hits and made me take a sharp intake of breath, was the first line of the first chapter, after the prologue. What is said is insumountable and very matter of fact. It’s a strong opening! Every so often, one line punctuates the opening to a chapter, that is stark and true and just fabulous. No beating about the bush, it tells of a life event how it is and for what it is. In this instance, I like that and it fits the book so well. You’ll have to read the book to find out what it is…

This book will tug at anyone’s heartstrings, like the saddest tune from a solo violin at the very least, and certain short, sharp sentence (I won’t say what or it will spoil it), may pierce hard through your very being and reverberate round. It’s terrific and matter of fact! The book is also full of love and the warmth that brings.

Grief is inescapable at the moment and that’s what makes this book, perhaps even more timely and poignant. It beautifully portrays grief and being surrounded by it within a family very well and truthfully. It shows how people have different ideas for what to do when someone dies and how grief isn’t the same for everyone. It’s also about the love of dead loved ones and the comfort from the living.

There is also the mismatched presents that Rich had left, which further shows his love of life and the people around him. It also keeps people busy as they try to fix them out.

The book, although emotional, is far from depressing. It has that warmth and some pockets of humour. There’s other parts of life being shown as having being lived, such as a a well stocked up picnic. The nature provides a layer of peacefulness along with the layer of anguish of death, love and life that converges together.

The peacefulness of nature is conveyed exquisitely against the forefront of the sting and in Ruth’s case, especially, the almost suffocation, sometimes claustrophobic feeling of grief closing in and confusion of grief, that all of the characters feel in one way or another. It is all brought with tenderness, but an absolute realism, right to the very end and with the comfort and love of the supporting characters.

About the Author

HARRIET KLINE works part time registering births, deaths and marriages and writes for the rest of the week. Her story Ghost won the Hissac Short Story Competition and Chest of Drawers won The London Magazine Short Story Competition. Other short stories have been published online with Litro, For Books’ Sake, and ShortStorySunday, and on BBC Radio 4.