Book Review: Give Me A Sign

It wasn't all that long ago I did a book review on the first published work by the author; Shanta Everington. Well, I've finished her second book, so now I shall review it ^_^

Give Me A Sign is the story of Liz, a 16 year old who faces a great deal of challenges in her life. At home, she is unable to understand why her mother has so quickly erased her fathers existence, at the same time currently sleeps with another man. When at school and out on the town, she is bullied by the Russel twins, who make fun of her height, looks and size 9 feet. Then her heart beats uncontrollably whenever she is around Doug, a gorgeous, strong willed man who she madly wishes to be with, and amazingly transforms her life. She begins to see the world differently, takes chances, learns BSL and goes from a low self esteem Giraffe to a graceful Swan.

I must say that Shanta has a very special gift as a writer. In such a short period of time, you come to understand and feel for the character at the heart of the story. She has a unique ability to make you excited, scared, nervous, heartbroken or even full of hope right along with her character. After the first book (Marilyn and Me), I was blown away by this, but now that I have experienced it two novels in a row, I know that it's her magical touch. So many writers do an amazing job at painting the world in which their characters live and breathe in with very little effort, while they spend tremendous effort on bringing the characters to life. Shanta has the ability to perfectly paint her characters with very little effort, which draws you in very quickly, and powerfully.

For anyone looking for a fresh and wonderful new author to populate their bookshelves, look no further then Shanta and her books. You will not regret it.

Book Review: Marilyn And Me

Every once and a while in life, you run into one of those strange encounters that leads to another strange encounter that you don't expect and it ends up leading somewhere amazing. In my case, it started when Sarah stumbled upon my blog when I was talking about Lost Odyssey, which lead me to reading her blog on a regular basis. This, in turn, lead me to Shanta Everington, who posted a comment on Sarah's blog. Out of curiosity, I went to her blog and discovered that she was a writer with one book out and another on the way. Always curious to check out new writers, especially ones I've never heard of, I went to check out her book Marilyn and Me and see if it was something I could get into.

The end result was that I purchased her work.

Marilyn and Me chronicles the life of Jane Marie Brown, who prefers to be called Marilyn, just like Marilyn Monroe, who is a young woman who has a learning disability. The book starts with her being left for dead at a bus stop on Christmas Eve, then follows her while she is in the Hospital and how she feels about her life, those around her and how unhappy she is, thanks to the fact they wont let her leave to live her own life and back in her own flat. As the book progresses, Shanta's true skill becomes more and more apparent and that skill is a special one.

While most writers, including myself, focus on cliff hangers to keep you turning the page. Shanta keeps you barreling forward from the fact that it's such a amazing story and you want to know what happens next without a cliff hanger tugging you along. Sure, you could consider the attack at the bus stop a cliff hanger, as the events that happened are not revealed until much later in the book, but that becomes a forgotten stray yarn in the world that she delivers though Marilyn's eyes until it slowly creeps back into the story to bite you. Another interesting aspect of the book is that each chapter is named after a Marilyn Monroe movie, which I found to be a nice touch.

Another point of interest for the reader is the fact that the entire book is written from Marilyn's point of view: how she views the world, her friends, her boyfriends, her caretakers, family and so on. This is by far one of the most powerful inner workings of the book due to the fact it is so expertly written, you'd think Shanta has experienced it herself. While she has worked with those with learning disabilities in her life, theres more to it then just an outside view here and that deserves applause.

I rarely jump up and down and scream, "Buy this" or "buy that", but this is one of those times. You really should give this book at go, if not at least check it out. You will not be disappointed.