The Raven Boys…or How I Tried to Take a Break From Southern Fiction and Found Great Southern Fiction

I have a small confession to make. I don’t always read Southern fiction. I know, I know. As it turns out, I am a reader of many appetites. My first love will always be seeing the South portrayed in a positive light with gorgeous, fascinating characters and preferably, with a hit of historical drama thrown in. But sometimes a girl needs something else. I mean there’s a whole world of literary characters out there just waiting to set up residence in the empty rooms of our hearts. The world is a more arcane and glittering place when it’s also inhabited by fallen angels, French cooks, and star-crossed modern day lovers. As a reading treat apart from the Southern Gothic novel I’m currently working on, I picked up a copy of “The Raven Boys” by Maggie Stiefvater, the first of a paranormal and fantasy trilogy. Can you see where this is going?

It was a Southern young adult novel in disguise.

I was delighted. I also wanted to drive to Virginia and simultaneously hug and then viciously pinch the author because she fearlessly and seamlessly managed to do something that I didn’t even know could be done, and I know deep down in my petty, jealous heart that I will never be able to pull off a contemporary young adult fantasy trilogy that just drips with a Southern accent. So, Maggie Stiefvater, if you’re reading this, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for inspiring me with this awesome trilogy, and I also want you to know that I despise you for being a much better writer than I am.

The 1st book of my new favorite trilogy.

Blue Sargent is a high school girl in Henrietta, Virginia, who lives in a large extended family of women with psychic abilities. Blue, who doesn’t possess the gift of telling fortunes or seeing spirits, has the strange ability to amplify the reading of any psychic just by being in the room. Blue is lovably independent and refreshingly embraces what makes her different from other teens instead of pining to be head cheerleader or an all-star academic. The only fly in her ointment is that everyone agrees if she kisses her true love, she will kill him.

I know what you’re thinking: That doesn’t sound Southern. Why are you wasting my time with this?

Have you visited Savannah, New Orleans, or Charleston? Part of the romanticized element of the South is our love of the supernatural, our plantations filled with ghosts of spurned lovers, our quaint infatuations with “that which cannot be explained”. You can’t visit a major Southern hub without being bombarded with major advertising regarding ghost tours and tales of the undead. The fact that Stiefvater could tackle this topic so well shows me just how big her writing chops are. Wait, there’s more.

Enter the Raven Boys, a group of self-confident–dare I say cocky?–young men who attend Aglionby, a pre-Ivy League High School for the uber-rich. Gansey, the leader of an unforgettably hodgepodge group of Aglionby boys, has an obsession with ley lines, energy roads that map the globe and the hope that Welsh king Glendower is buried on the ley line in Virginia. Legend holds that whomever wakes Glendower will be granted a favor, and Gansey intends that he should be the recipient. Brooding, harsh Ronan along with mysterious, quiet Noah, and the impoverished but determined Adam round out the masculine group.

Their paths cross with Blue in a Henrietta restaurant, and when Blue finds Gansey’s artistic, scholarly journal regarding King Glendower’s magical sleep, the novel sets off blazing on a mad quest to find and wake the ley line that houses the storied King.

Most charming in this first novel of the trilogy is Adam Parrish, the most unlikely Raven boy to ever attend Aglionby. He lives in a trailer park and works three part-time jobs while suffering an abusive father in order to try to better his future. Gansey constantly tries to make up the difference between his own posh circumstances and Adam’s meager ones, and the strife it causes in his friendship with Adam, who is desperate to claw his way out of Virginia poverty on his own terms, is almost palpable. Adam is attracted to Blue, and we see hints that Gansey may be as well. However, Adam’s background is closer to Blue’s, and for the first time, we see Blue questioning her socioeconomic circumstances as she watches the rest of the Raven boys spend money however they like. Blue and Adam are even self-conscious regarding their Henrietta accents, and numerous references are made to Adam’s inability to culture his voice when something is bothering him.

This novel is wholly believable in that it focuses most on the relationships between these coming-of-age characters instead of supernatural elements. Oh, those elements are included, but the important thing to remember is that they are judiciously sprinkled in. This is no in-your-face Twilight melodramatic tweenie novel. This a novel for the thinker. As I sit here contemplating the success of “The Raven Boys” I would be remiss not to ask that isn’t a large part of the Southern world a study in class disparities? Don’t we all try to connect the mysteries of yesterday with the circumstances of now? If you are an adult who loves young adult with fantasy elements or if you have a teen who can’t be sold on oldies but goodies like “To Kill A Mockingbird”, “The Raven Boys” is probably a good bet for some well-written, cleverly disguised contemporary Southern bliss.

The author, Maggie Stiefvater, looking like a boss.

In case my post was too long or convoluted: This book is excellent. As soon as I finished it, I turned to page 1 and started over.

Amazon Link to “The Raven Boys”

Appalachian Serenade: A Novella

I admit with a certain amount of chagrin that I don’t naturally gravitate to Christian fiction. It holds as much merit as the next genre, and while I do enjoy the idea of not being sucked into a plotline replete with explicit, badly written sex and gratuitous cursing that does nothing for the sake of the dialogue, sometimes I find the genre can get too immersed in the moral of the story to adequately develop the plot or characters. While I was perusing Amazon last week for “something different” but had no idea what that something might be, I ran across “Appalachian Serenade: A Novella”. The cover intrigued me, a quick check of the author bio confirmed that she was a born and raised Southern author, and–lo and behold!–the price was free! I took a second look. I have family roots in Appalachia and confess that the title lured me in. Only now, in my early thirties, am I beginning to admire and cherish the wonderful mixed bag of ethnicities and cultures which weave the quilt of the Appalachian culture.

It turns out the author, Sarah Loudin Thomas, is serving this novella up as a light hors d’oeuvre to her summer release “Miracle in a Dry Season”. You can try out her writing for free, and hopefully if you enjoy the novella, you’ll be enticed to pick up the novel later. This is a common and efficient sales tactic by current authors to help make you a loyal reader–and it works. I was pleased enough with Mrs. Thomas’s work that I will probably purchase “Miracle in a Dry Season”.

It’s the summer of 1945 in Wise, West Virginia. The summer is long, times are hard, and our soldiers are beginning to drift in from WWII. Delilah Morrissey went to Chicago years before with a handsome husband in tow and planned on never seeing Wise again. However, her prince turned out to be a cruel man, and upon his death she acquired a mountain of debt. She returns to Wise to live with her sister, brother-in-law, and their child. Feeling the urge to contribute to the household (her brother-in-law is less than pleased to take her in), Delilah finds work in the general store.

There she strikes up a ready, if somewhat stilted, friendship with the storekeeper Robert, a kind man with a big heart. The attraction is mutual. However, Delilah is certain that Robert doesn’t want children, and children are something she has hungered for her whole life. Robert has a secret from his past that haunts him every time he looks at Delilah which leads to the awkward nature of their friendship. With a host a small town characters to pump fresh life and verve into a sleepy small town setting, “Appalachian Serenade” is a fast, easy read with a smooth, flowing plot.

Mrs. Thomas excels at character development. It is obvious through her smooth, polished depictions of ancillary characters that she is a daughter of the South. I have seen many books on Amazon that declare themselves to be gentle fiction similar to the Mitford series, and I scoff at those claims. While this novel lacks much of the whimsy found in Mitford, the quirks, dreams, and faults of each character are made plain so that no character is made to seem unimportant or worse yet, filler material. If Mrs. Thomas wished to compare her work to Mitford, I would not be offended at all.

I enjoyed Delilah’s character the most. She was well-developed and seemed almost a real person to me by the end of the story. She has a knack for knowing what customers in Robert’s store need but have forgotten, and she fetches it for them before they go, delighting Robert and the customers alike. Mrs. Thomas was also adept at delivering family conflict as evident through the small scenes where Delilah is in her brother-in-law’s home. She crafted a terse, abrupt man with only a few well-crafted sentences.

I did feel there was a bit much repetition through the novella. In almost every scene, Delilah is ruminating on whether she can care for someone who doesn’t want child. When she isn’t languishing for want of a baby, Robert is obsessing over whether she can love a man who can’t provide a child. While I realize this was the framework for the novella, I began to grow weary of both their plights by halfway through the work.

Out of a total five stars, I will assign “Appalachian Serenade: A Novella” four stars. I recommend the book to lovers of gentle fiction, admirers of small town life, and anyone who enjoys an engaging, well-written novella to pass a rainy afternoon with. At the current price of free, there is no reason not to go claim your own copy and enjoy the breezy, refreshing town of Wise, West Virginia.

Consuming Passions: A Food-Obsessed Life

I think we can all agree that out of all the complex and mysterious creatures out there, there are few more complex or mysterious than the Southern woman. We are sultry one moment and hard-edged business the next. I am convinced that we are inimitable masters in both the arts and the kitchen. Southern women have diverse appetites in everything from the studio to the kitchen as well. When I’m in a reading rut and can’t stand to take a risk on a new author, I turn to a trusted Southern voice who is guaranteed to make me reflect and make my sides split with laughter.

“Consuming Passion: A Food-Obsessed Life”, by Michael Lee West, is the consummate food writing of the South. West effortlessly blends autobiographical sketches with her thoughts and experiences regarding food, and she rewards your reading effort by tossing in at least a recipe per chapter. To get better Southern food lore, you’d have to turn to Craig Claiborne–but give up a few chuckles along the way.

From making cornbread to crafting sugared violets to seasoning a cast iron pan, you will find an endless assortment of clever ruminations on the Southern kitchen. West’s recipes are basic, delicious, and fool-proof, but her confidences regarding failures, successes, and draws in the kitchen that hook the reader and lure her in. Her anecdotes regarding family and friends will alternate between leaving you howling with laughter and shuddering. The uncles in the family all die young, but the aunts know it’s really “death by butter”. When Aunt Dell invites West over for an impromptu roast, the family finds the seasoning has been tainted by none other than weevils. They watch fascinated and horrified as Dell strains the sauce and serves it anyhow. West goes on hot pursuit of a bed supposedly from the childhood home of Margaret Mitchell and walks away with not only the bed but a delicious gingersnap recipe that might have originated from a childhood friend of Ms. Mitchell.

“Consuming Passions” straddles a fine line between witty and informative, leaving the reader to soak up every word and then reread the book. West’s work has since broadened to encompass mainstream fiction such as her popular Teeny series. Yet when I find myself with a craving that I can’t identify, be it literary or culinary, “Consuming Passions: A Food-Obsessed Life” is a regular cure all.

Consuming Passions: A Food-Obsessed Life

West’s Delicious Cellulite-Enhancing Blog

Paper Woman by Suzanne Adair

“Paper Woman” by Suzanne Adair: A Riveting Historical Read
While searching for a new Southern historical novel to enjoy, I was shocked to encounter a book set in Georgia during the American Revolution. Given that Georgia is one of our nation’s thirteen original colonies, it should come as no surprise that there are fine Southern authors willing to give the South its due regarding another important time period in history. Too often we lose ourselves in the romanticism of the Civil War and forget the importance of the Southern theater of the American Revolutionary War which even many historians have failed to give full credit.
“Paper Woman” is set in Alton, Georgia in 1780, and it is the first of a trilogy of mysteries. It begins innocently enough at a country dance during which we meet heroine Sophie Barton, a twice widowed woman in her early thirties who has earned the nickname “Paper Woman” by running her father’s printing press. Before the night is out, her father, outspoken Patriot Will Barton, has gone missing. Sophie then must identify his body as well as the bodies of two other comrades, but the local redcoats seem less concerned about the murders than they should. We are then plunged into a plot of mystery and international espionage when Sophie vows to uncover what happened to her father. The journey carries us from Georgia to Florida and the Caribbean.

I don’t know where to praise Suzanne Adair more: for her fine attention to historic detail or for her art of producing wonderfully sketched characters who seem living and breathing friends. Sophie Barton is less glamorous than most heroines penned during this era, and this omission makes her infinitely more likeable. She is eager to see what life holds outside of Alton, competent at her duties at the printing press, and less than moved by the prospect of remarriage. The cast of characters who travel with her on her journey is equally pleasing. Her brother David is a rake whose womanizing exploits will leave the reader with a dry chuckle from one incident to the next, and fellow adventurer Uncle Jacques is the kind of man fresh from the pages of a tall tale. Finally, half-Creek and ex-lover Matthias Hale delivers just enough tortured complexity to round out the characters. I must commend Adair for doing such a beautiful job of including the Creek Indians throughout her plot in such a seamless, believable way. Authors have long shied away from the presence of Native Americans in Southern culture just as they have ignored the American Revolution.
Equally refreshing was the fact that Ms. Adair did not feel the need to include famous historical figures in her novel. The story is carried on the backs of believable characters without altering the course of history. There is nothing so disappointing as weaving George Washington and other contemporaries into a novel when the reader’s cursory glance at a time line reveals it to be impossible.
That being said, as refreshing and adventuresome a book as this is, it is not light reading. The plot is complicated, and it was easy to get lost in the hours before bedtime. At times it felt like the banter between characters was a bit heavy and unrealistic, but it also helped to pump fresh energy into a book which requires all of one’s attention. While I admire Ms. Adair’s commitment to historical accuracy and feel that we gloss over many a topic that ought to be covered in historical fiction, the references to menstruation were too numerous. Once or twice would have been enough to add gritty realism.
I think Suzanne Adair is a fine novelist as well as a very bold one to tackle topics of our Southern heritage that are often overlooked. I look forward to reading more books by Ms. Adair, and out of a total five stars, I will happily assign 4 stars to this book.

Author Website

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River’s Bend by Charlsie Russell

“River’s Bend” is a strong Southern Gothic suspense novel that begins on a gripping note of intrigue and steadily ratchets up the tension throughout the development of the plot and leaves the reader satisfied (but depressed that the book had to end).

Set in Mississippi around 30 years after the War of Northern Aggression, handsome and wealthy Rafe Stone visits the home of businessman Joseph Collander hoping to buy the majestic River’s Bend home. Mr. Collander has no intention of selling the place; he has more pressing matters on his hands. He has an orphaned niece, Delilah, who has drawn the eye of his daughter’s intended and tells Rafe he can have the place for free if he’ll marry her.

Delilah is a veritable beauty and a spitfire. The reader feels nothing but sympathy for her as she has become the Collander family scapegoat through no fault of her own and wrestles throughout the course of the novel with her desire to belong to and be loved by another with the emotionally safer course of going into business for herself. A secret family tragedy that taints her name with scandal becomes apparent when Rafe takes her to Natchez to live in River’s Bend.

It is the looming phantom that is River’s Bend which haunts and drives the plot of the book and serves further to heighten the tension between newlyweds Rafe and Delilah. River’s Bend, which began as a humble cabin nearly two centuries before and grew to a magnificent showplace replete with tales of misdeeds, towers above Rafe and Delilah as well as the other colorful citizens of Natchez. It reeks of murder, adultery, and treason–not to mention whispers of stolen gold. No buyer has managed to live there long before fleeing the premises.  As Rafe and Delilah investigate each other’s secretive origins and struggle to trust one another, the shadows and noises at River’s Bend loom over them and manage to cast doubt even at relatively peaceful times.

As Rafe and Delilah get to know one another, delightful antics ensue. Their conversations range from distrustful to flirty to angry as they waltz about the uncomfortable dance floor of marriage to a complete stranger. It would also be remiss not to mention the sexual tension between the two. The chemistry between this couple is evident in every conversation and every spat. Delilah, who has a history of feeling abandoned, experiences disappointment and feelings of rejection that are nearly palpable when Rafe decides to try to be respectful of her and let them get to know one another before they consummate the marriage. The language regarding their relationship as it progresses is lush and invigorating:

She hadn’t known how to kiss a few mornings ago in New Orleans, but had been
game to learn, and he’d spent the next three days helping her perfect the technique.
She’d mastered it now, better than any whore on Bourbon street, and he was
eager to teach her more in the way of a whore’s tricks.

Rafe’s and Delilah’s sparring comes to a delightful head against the ghosts and mysteries of Riverside, to an ending that feels all the more complete for the two coming clean about their respective identities. The reader also garners closure regarding the scandals of the house, closure that is well-rooted in Mississippi history. Well-researched and with plenty of romance and suspense, River’s Bend is a novel that I wish I had known about sooner. This book is what I’ve been hoping for since I last read “Steamboat Gothic” by Frances Parkinson Keyes. I have already picked up Camellia Creek, also by Mrs. Russell, in the hope of making some new friends with her richly developed characters.

Purchase on:

Amazon | Smashwords

Swing by the Loblolly Writer’s House to learn more about Mrs. Russell’s novels and educate yourself regarding the world of self-publishing.

Loblolly Writer’s House