Reprise Review: Sliding Past Vertical by @LaurieBoris

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Description:

“Sarah Cohen is a walking disaster. She means well, but the ex-diver’s hasty decisions wreak havoc on her life in Boston. Good thing Emerson is a phone call away in Syracuse, with a metaphorical mop to clean up the mess. Their long-distance friendship can be excruciating for him, though. Years after they shared a brief college romance, he’s still in love with her. When everything goes wrong, Sarah takes another plunge: back to the scene of her last mistake, to start fresh. Unfortunately for Emerson, the move puts her too close for comfort. Her attempts to straighten her life’s trajectory are sometimes amusing and sometimes catastrophic. With Sarah around, is anyone safe?”

Author:

Laurie Boris is a freelance writer, editor, proofreader, and a regular contributor to the multi-author blog, Indies Unlimited. This is her fourth novel.

For more, visit Laurie’s website.

Appraisal:

This is the third Laurie Boris novel I’ve read. Sliding Past Vertical has one significant difference from the other two, there isn’t a major character with a fatal illness. But the qualities from her previous novels that made them both excellent reads are present in Sliding Past Vertical. Characters you can relate to, with typical human flaws and mostly likeable. Even those you don’t care for are realistic and not unlike people you’ve met in real life. The stories each have real world plots that shine a light on the human condition in an entertaining way while possibly enlightening the reader about their fellow man.

As for the specifics of this book, I liked Sarah, the protagonist. At least for me, that is important. If I don’t like the main character, warts and all, I find it harder to care what happens to them. However, the character I related to the most was Emerson. It was obvious early on that Emerson’s feelings for Sarah were much deeper than hers for him. He’s been biding his time and now sees his chance. How and whether this will resolve itself is a question until the very end and one that could easily have hit a false note, regardless of the resolution. Somehow Boris hit the perfect pitch.

Buy now from:    Kindle US    Kindle UK    Paperback

FYI:

Some adult language and situations.

Added for Reprise Review: Sliding Past Vertical was the winner in the Contemporary/General Fiction category for 2014 Readers' Choice Awards at BigAl’s Books and Pals. Original review ran September 28, 2013.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: ***** Five stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 75-80,000 words

Reprise Review: Don't Tell Anyone by @LaurieBoris #eNovAaW

Genre: Women’s Fiction

Approximate word count: 60-65,000 words

Availability    

Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES   Smashwords: YES  

Author:

A freelance writer, editor, proofreader, and former graphic designer, Boris is the author of two other novels, The Joke’s on Me and Drawing Breath. She lives with her husband in the Hudson Valley of New York.

For more, visit Boris’ website.

Description:

“When pneumonia lands Estelle Trager unconscious in the emergency room, it ruins everything for the stubborn 65-year-old woman. She'd been keeping a secret—a deadly secret—that she'd planned on taking to the grave. But now her son Adam and his wife, Liza, know about her tumors. Adam is outraged, but Estelle, who watched her mother and grandmother suffer from breast cancer in the days when no one dared speak its name, has no intention of putting her family or herself through the horrors of cancer treatment. Estelle decides there is only one solution: ask Liza, the 33-year-old daughter-in-law she once called a godless hippie raised by wolves, to kill her.”

Appraisal:

This is the second book I’ve read by Laurie Boris, and although the story and characters are much different, it struck me that the other book, Drawing Breath, had a character suffering from a serious disease too. This is a time-tested recipe to create conflict, one of the more important qualities a book needs to draw a reader in and make them care about what happens.

I would describe Don’t Tell Anyone as character driven. The main point-of-view character is Liza and the story revolves around how she, her husband Adam, their family, and friends deal with Liza’s mother-in-law, Estelle, after she is diagnosed with cancer. Not to mention how Estelle reacts and the chain-reaction among all concerned. It’s an interesting spotlight on the dynamics of relationships, both within families and between friends.

Availability:       Kindle  US      Kindle UK       Smashwords  

Format/Typo Issues:

My reading was based on a beta version. Unable to judge the final product in this area.

Reviewed by: BigAl

Rating: ***** Five stars