A Review

So, by now, you're probably well aware who Alison Strobel is (she's the author of The Weight of Shadows, which I reviewed on here, as well as several other novels). Alison recently reviewed my book and gave me the most flattering review I could hope for. She actually compared me to Terry Pratchett, which has to be one of the nicest things anyone has ever said about my writing. You can read the review here.

A Message from Alison Strobel

Hey, guys. I have a message here from Alison Strobel, author of The Weight of Shadows, whose book I reviewed a little while back. She sent us this message back in July, but, because of a combination of unreliable Internet and my forgetting to check one of my inboxes, I just found it today. Anyway, this is what Alison has to say:

Hey there! I just wanted to say thanks to my fine blog hostess and to her readers. I have been really excited to see how many people are thinking of picking up the book because of the reviews they read during the blog tour. And thank you to everyone who entered the contest! I'll be drawing a winner on July 18 and posting it on my blog. If you haven't stopped by my blog or website yet, I hope you'll pop over sometime and say hi in the comments or on the guest book.


Also, if you're interested in hearing about my next releases and any other exciting news that happens to come up, please sign up to receive my announcements--the sign-up is on my website. I have another novel coming out in September, two more next year, and two children's books that my husband and I wrote (the first of which comes out August 1), so there will be plenty of news coming, and I try to host contests now and then on my blog, too.


Thanks again! And if you do decide to pick up The Weight of Shadows and give it a read, please come tell me what you thought of it. I mean it. :)

~Alison

The Weight of Shadows

The Weight of Shadows

Author: Alison Strobel

Publisher: Zondervan

Publication Date: May 7, 2010

Paperback, 320 pages

ISBN: 978-0310289456


I don't generally read a lot of Christian fiction. To put that more accurately, until recently I hadn't picked up a work of Christian fiction since I was still babysitting my cousins at their house (the youngest of these cousins has just finished grade 9, the oldest, her first year of university). I don't have anything against religious fiction as a rule; it's just that I rarely have occasion to read it. With Alison Strobel's The Weight of Shadows, the occasion found me - and I'm glad that it did.

The first thing that struck me about this book was how quickly I found myself caring about the characters. Not because they're the most amazing, wonderful, likeable people in the world, but, actually, because they're not. The characters in this book are, really, just people. They struggle. They make mistakes, like everyone else, some huge and life-altering and others mundane and inconsequential, but all of them mistakes that real people would make. Throughout the book, and especially toward the end, I found myself silently cheering them on or telling them off and willing them to make what seemed so obviously to be the right choices.

By the second chapter, the importance of the author's faith to her, and the roll it plays in her writing, is evident. Regardless of my own beliefs, I found myself awed by her expressions of that faith, from the inner thoughts and feelings of her three main characters to the little (but heartfelt) prayers that they utter throughout the entire novel. Before the three seemingly insular story lines start to intersect, they're held together by these thoughts, feelings and prayers.

I can only imagine the painstaking research that must have gone into making The Weight of Shadows the book that it is. Strobel offers readers a detailed look into the life and motivations of a battered woman, the workings of a shelter and the emotions of people trying to cope with long-standing guilt.

The Weight of Shadows is an interesting study in faith, love and the interdependence of people, thoroughly researched and uniquely executed. I'm glad I had the opportunity to read it.

About the author:

Alison inherited the writing gene from her father, Lee, and grew up composing stories on everything from napkins to typewriters. Her talent earned her awards throughout school, a two page spread featuring her work in her senior yearbook, and even saved her from failing college chemistry. But it wasn't until she moved to California after college that she wrote her first full-length novel, and that's when God made Alison's oldest dream come true.

--From Alison's website, www.alisonstrobel.com



For more information about the book, the author or the tour, check out Alison's Blog.

A Quick Reminder...

Just wanted to remind everyone that Saturday is Devereaux Court's stop on the blog tour for Alison Strobel's The Weight of Shadows, and that everyone who comments on the post will be eligible to win a copy of the book.

Also, on July 18, one week after the close of the tour, the author will choose one commenter from a randomly selected blog to receive either autographed copies of her first three books or a gift card to his/her favourite bookstore.

This is a pretty sweet offer, so, let everyone you know know.

Ps, while I'm reminding you about things, another reminder that inviting other writers to join our merry gang is both allowed and encouraged.

The Weight of Shadows

Our tour date is June 26, 2010, and there will be a give away. The rules are basically as follows: comment on the review/interview post, your name will go into a hat and we'll draw a winner. The winner gets a copy of Alison Strobel's new book, The Weight of Shadows.

May 11, 2010

Okay, that title is remarkably uncreative, but it's early and my brain is too fried to come up with anything more useful.

So, my authorless book tour started yesterday. Moloch and the book travel to Mississauga, Ontario next, then on from there. There has got to be an easier way to maintain the flow of information about this kind of thing - and even as I type this, I realize that that way is to become famous enough that your publishing company pays for other people to organize these things for you. I don't mind, really, it's just that I'm scatterbrained, so remembering to update this blog and my other blog with normal blog like things, as well as update the tour blog, my news page, the Facebook page and Moloch's Twitter, is difficult for me.

Anyway, I didn't mean for this post to be a rant. Just the opposite, actually. I woke up way earlier than I intended to this morning, so I've just kind of been puttering around the house, and I decided to post my daily twitter post (I still refuse to say 'tweet' in that context, and I still usually post once per day or less). Whilst on Twitter, I noticed that Godchecker had posted something about the tour. My tour. Since I've been a big fan of Godchecker for years (not only an excellent reference site, but a great one for coming up with character (or pen ;) names), this made me qo squee in a huge way. They like my tour idea, they said, and plan to steal it. So that is pretty exciting stuff.

Also pretty exciting, Devereaux Court is going to be one of the stops on the June-July blog tour for Alison Strobel's new novel, The Weight of Shadows, released today. Alison is a member of Book Blogs and she found me in the Promote Your Books group (more on that site when I write the post on networking that I have planned for the nearish future). She suggested that we trade reviews, so here we are. I'm going to be interviewing her as well, about the writing/publishing process. I'll let you know when the post will go up as soon as I know. Sometime in mid-June to early July. Also, Alison is giving us a book for a giveaway contest, so there'll be details on that.

I think that's all of my news for today. Well, so far, anyway.