Friday, April 23, 2010

GLORIOUS: REVIEW AND BERNICE McFADDEN GIVEAWAY, PART FOUR, DAY TWO!

BLOGGING
AGAIN TODAY
WITH THE AUTHOR OF

SUGAR


AND


GLORIOUS


TODAY IS ANOTHER
BERNICE MCFADDEN DAY!!
CONTINUED
*****************************
GLORIOUS
BY BERNICE L. McFADDEN

ABOUT THE BOOK....A REMINDER:

Glorious is set against the backdrops of the Jim Crow South, the Harlem Renaissance, and the civil rights era. Blending the truth of American history with the fruits of Bernice L. McFadden’s rich imagination, this is the story of EasterVenetta Bartlett, a fictional Harlem Renaissance writer whose tumultuous path to success, ruin, and revival offers a candid portrait of the American experience in all its beauty and cruelty.

Glorious is ultimately an audacious exploration into the nature of self-hatred, love, possession, ego, betrayal, and, finally, redemption.

MY REVIEW:

Bernice McFadden’s GLORIOUS is the story of the life of one, Easter Bartlett, who starts out in Waycross, Georgia, and winds up all the way in Harlem and the upper class townhouses of New York. From abuse and heartache to love and success during the fabulous Harlem Renaissance, GLORIOUS is the amazing story of a woman who discovers early on that her unfulfilled resolve is what gives her strength to carry on. This inner strength is one that is to be followed so that when she does her best and follows her heart, many great things are possible. The most important thing is that she can always find peace in reading and her ability to write.

From the first chapter of GLORIOUS, I was immediately intrigued by Easter as I read about her starting out in 1910 in Georgia where she witnessed her father and sister put through their own personal tragedies and watched as her mother followed by dying of a broken heart. As she does throughout her life and the story, she left that behind to move on to another encounter where unrequited love is Easter’s torture this time. One experience after another, one love, one heartbreak…all come together to become Easter’s path in life as she makes her way up to New York and finally back to Georgia where it all began. Characters such as Rain, Colin, and Meredith are as heartrending and moving as is Easter as she encounters them because Bernice McFadden has a way with words that make the story and its characters powerful and moving, tragic and beautiful…most of all captivating as you can’t stop turning the pages to see what happens next with these well developed, multi-layered characters’ lives. Throughout all of the story, the one constant you cheer for is the comfort of Easter’s writing until there comes a time when even that is taken from her.

Whether Easter is working for a rich white woman or teaching school, or working in a traveling sideshow or with her beloved writing, the reader is transported by McFadden’s superbly written narrative. Drawn into the characters’ lives as never before, it is easy for me to give this book a high recommendation and to see why Oprah named it one of the top most promising books of this new decade and compared it to our last decade’s phenomenal hit, THE HELP.

GIVEAWAY: PART FOUR

THANKS TO BERNICE MCFADDEN
FOR THE TWO AUTOGRAPHED COPIES
OF EACH OF THESE AMAZING
BOOKS TO GIVE AWAY, SO TWO
WINNERS WILL WIN BOTH SUGAR
AND GLORIOUS !


--U.S. RESIDENTS ONLY
--NO P. O. BOXES
---INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS
IN CASE YOU WIN!
--ALL COMMENTS MUST BE SEPARATE TO
COUNT AS MORE THAN ONE!
HOW TO ENTER

+1 ENTRY: COMMENT ON THE REVIEW OF GLORIOUS ABOVE

+1 MORE ENTRY: COMMENT ON WHICH OF THE TWO McFADDEN BOOKS YOU WOULD WANT THE MOST IF YOU HAD TO CHOOSE (YOU DON'T) AND TELL WHY...SUGAR or GLORIOUS

+1 MORE ENTRY: COMMENT ON ANY OTHER CURRENT GIVEAWAY OF MINE YOU HAVE ENTERED. IF YOU ENTERED MORE THAN ONE, YOU MAY COMMENT ON EACH YOU HAVE ENTERED AND EACH COMMENT WILL COUNT TOWARD YOUR NUMBER OF ENTRIES AND INCREASE YOUR CHANCE OF WINNING.

MORE ENTRIES: IF YOU MISSED THE FIRST THREE PARTS OF THIS GIVEAWAY YOU CAN FIND THEM HERE: PART ONE, PART TWO, PART THREE

GIVEAWAY ENDS AT
6 PM, EST, MAY 10 !

GOOD LUCK!
*******************************************

39 comments:

Linda Kish said...

I would choose Sugar first.

lkish77123 at gmail dot com

Linda Kish said...

It is a blending of truth and fiction.

lkish77123 at gmail dot com

Linda Kish said...

I also entered the Lemon Tart giveaway.

lkish77123 at gmail dot com

Margie said...

It is interesting that the main character finds inner comfort in reading and writing, even after so many tragedies and heartbreaks in her life. She is a strong woman.
mtakala1 AT yahoo DOT com

Margie said...

That's a tough choice...both books sound wonderful to me! But I guess I would pick Sugar, simply because the characters are common people and it would be interesting to see the friendship develop.
mtakala1 AT yahoo DOT com

Anonymous said...

I think the book sounds like a good story with an accurate historical background. I love it when writers do that.
debp
twoofakind12@yahoo.com

Anonymous said...

I would choose Sugar first, because I like a novel about friendshipss and how the characters change and evolve because if it.
debp
twoofakind12@yahoo.com

Margie said...

Entered for 1 Cents a Dance.
mtakala1 AT yahoo DOT com

Margie said...

Entered for 1 Cents a Dance.
mtakala1 AT yahoo DOT com

Margie said...

Entered for the Lumby Series.
mtakala1 AT yahoo DOT com

Margie said...

Entered for 212.
mtakala1 AT yahoo DOT com

Margie said...

Entered for 31 Bond Street.
mtakala1 AT yahoo DOT com

Angie said...

When you said it was also a story of unrequited love you drew me in. Stories of love like that are so heartbreaking.

aksimmo at brainerd dot net

Angie said...

I would choose Glorious. First of all, her name and the title are so beautiful. Second I love that it is so much a story of redemption.

aksimmo at brainerd dot net

Angie said...

I also entered to win Lemon Tart

aksimmo at brainerd dot net

Margie said...

Also entered for She-Rain
mtakala1 AT yahoo DOT com

Margie said...

entered for My Sister's Voice
mtakala1 AT yahoo DOT com

Margie said...

Entered for Lemon Tart
mtakala1 AT yahoo DOT com

traveler said...

Sugar would be my first choice. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com

traveler said...

Interesting historical and unique novel.saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com

traveler said...

I entered Lemon Tart. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com

traveler said...

I entered 212. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com

traveler said...

I entered The Lumby Series. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com

traveler said...

I entered She-rain. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com

traveler said...

I entered my sister's voice. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com

traveler said...

I entered The Mapping of Love and Death. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com

traveler said...

I entered Lift and The Middle Place. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com

traveler said...

I entered How Clarissa Burden Learned to Fly. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com

traveler said...

I entered I Thought You Were Dead. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com

traveler said...

I entered Love is the best medicine. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com

traveler said...

I entered Guess How Much I Love You. saubleb (at)gmail(dot)com

traveler said...

The Dr. writes from the heart and feels that owners are as involved in the health of the animals as the dogs.saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com

Pamela Keener said...

As always I love your reviews they keep me coming back day by day. Thank you for that and also for introducing me to new to me authors.
The review peaked my interest in the fact that you said throughout the story her writing brings her comfort until that is ultimately taken away. Makes me want to pick the book right up and start reading.
Love & Hugs,
Pam
pk4290(at)comcast(dot)net

Pamela Keener said...

Both books sound intriguing I would choose Sugar. The reason being I love the premise of Sugar being taken in by her next door neighbor and both of them dealing with their past hurts.
Love & Hugs,
Pam
pk4290(at)comcast(dot)net

Pamela Keener said...

I entered My Sister's Voice giveaway.
Love & Hugs,
Pam
pk4290(at)comcast(dot)net

Pamela Keener said...

I entered Buying Time giveaway.
Love & Hugs,
Pam
pk4290(at)comcast(dot)net

Pamela Keener said...

I entered I thought you were dead giveaway.
Love & Hugs,
Pam
pk4290(at)comcast(dot)net

Pamela Keener said...

I entered Middle Place & Lift giveaway.
Love & Hugs, Pam
pk4290(at)comcast(dot)net

Pamela Keener said...

I entered Love is the best medicine giveaway.
Love & Hugs,
Pam
pk4290(at)comcast(dot)net

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