by Kathy Cano-Murillo
The "Crafty Chica" has done it again with a fabulous novel about creativity and perseverance. I thoroughly enjoyed her first book in the series, Waking Up in The Land of Glitter,
which not only featured women who took their crafting seriously, but also had a plot that would appeal to people who have no interest in the hobby. Miss Scarlet's School of Patternless Sewing achieves the same, masterfully.
Scarlet Santana has a brilliant mind and a degree in engineering that could easily bring in enough money to afford her any creature comfort she desires. But Scarlet instead, much to her family's dismay, has decided to follow her heart and become a fashion designer. Until her big break comes, she toils away as a design assistant and blogs about her favorite designer and inspiration. When she gets a chance to study at a prestigous (and expensive) design program, she opens a sewing school to help raise the money to attend.
This is a novel about sewing and secrets. The secrets (acknowledged and dormant) that bring her students to her class. Secret love. Secret ambition. At first it seems that this book has a lot of subplots, and it does, but Cano-Murillo is able to keep the reader from being overwhelmed and tie everything up at the end. Granted as a crafty-inclined person, I thoroughly enjoyed that aspect, but aside from that, this was an inspiring story about being true to yourself.
by L.A. Banks
This is the first book in a brand new series by L. A. Banks. I am woefully late to the wonderful urban, supernatural books by this author. But I'm all in now!
This new series will focus on fallen angels and there quest to help humans save themselves and Earth. Celeste Jackson has had a hard life made more complicated by the hallucinations and bad dreams that have plagued her. The drugs and alcohol that she uses as self-medication seem to stop the visions that others have diagnosed as schizophrenia. But forces greater than her know that while others think she is crazy, the things she sees are real and she is more powerful than she realizes. The angel Azrael is sent to help her unlock those powers and use them to defeat the darkness that threatens to overcome the planet permanently.
What I love soooooo much about these series by Banks, are that these events don't take place in some far off land or some suburb that happens to be located on top of a "hellmouth" (no shade to Buffy fans), but in areas and neighborhoods that I would be familiar in, surrounded by people I know speaking the way I do. Urban settings like Philadelphia and Brooklyn feature prominently. Also, there are quite a few humorous scenes as well. Azrael coming to Earth and going to Whole Foods especially stands out.
I know that this is not considered literary fiction and may not win a bunch of awards, but I am certainly putting it on my list of favorites for 2011!
by ReShonda Tate Billingsley
Inspirational (Christian) fiction author, Billingsley, is now trying her hand at mainstream mystery-filled romance.
Upon arriving at work as an investigative reporter for a well-respected magazine, Ava Cole finds out that her division is closing down and she is being offered a job at a sister publication. Unfortunately, that publication specializes in tabloid gossip. Ava takes the job (a woman's gotta eat and pay the bills right?) and takes off to Aruba on her first assignment: find out the real deal behind the upcoming wedding of pop-diva India Wright. Being the savvy reporter that she is, she quickly finds out the dirt on the singer's fiancé that opens up another can of worms that, while it will make her popular with her new bosses, makes her feel terrible and possibly puts her life in danger.
I've never read any of Billingsley's inspirational fiction, so I can't compare this to her earlier writings, but I enjoyed this book. It was not as steamy as some of the romances that I'm used to reading, but the main plot surrounding Ava's attempt to get a story despite her obvious distaste with the paparazzi style reporting that she had to do was pretty interesting. Overall the character of Ava Cole was well developed and I wouldn't mind seeing an ongoing series featuring her.
