Review of A Sitting in St. James

Williams-Garcia, Rita.  A Sitting in St. James.  Quill Tree Books, 2021.

In 1860, sugar cane was usually a profitable business for Louisiana plantations.  However, at La Petite Cottage in St. James, this is not the case.  The plantation has fallen on hard times, much to the dismay of eighty-year-old widow Madame Sylvie Bernardin Guilbert and is nearly bankrupt.  Much to her disappointment, Sylvie’s son, Lucien, has gambled, spent, and drunk their fortune away.

 

When she was only thirteen and being raised in a French convent, Madame Sylvie married Bayard Guilbert, twenty years her senior.  Sylvie, who lived at French Court for a time, was used to being pampered and having her way.  When Bayard takes her to Louisiana, she thinks she has been brought to a special kind of Hell, for it is nothing like France.  She hates the climate, the terrain, and the slaves that work on the plantation.  Not only that, but Sylvie thinks her social standing is way above anyone else’s in St. James, and she only speaks French by choice.  She is also the only heir to a vineyard in France.

 

On her seventieth birthday, Sylvie takes a six-year-old slave girl from her family to be her personal handmaid.  She declares the girl is her birthday present and renames her Thisbe.  As she grows, Thisbe learns to speak French and takes care of Sylvie’s every need.  Without showing it, Thisbe watches and listens to everything that happens in the house.

 

Lucien hopes to save the plantation by marrying off his son, Byron, who is secretly gay, to Eugenie Duhon, the daughter of another plantation owner.  He also has grand plans for his mulatto daughter, Rosalie, whom Sylvie disdains, and Laurent Tournier, the half Black, half Creole son of another plantation owner.  Sylvie is paid by her best friend, Juliette Chatham, to turn her tomboy daughter, Jane, into a lady.  During the midst of all this, Byron’s “friend” comes to visit, so Sylvie plans a party for him and decides she absolutely must have her portrait painted by a famous French artist.

 

For her novel, A Sitting in St. James, author Rita Williams-Garcia, has received starred reviews from three professional journals.  The author, who is a descendant of slaves, herself, has done a meticulous job of researching and writing about plantation life in the period just before the Civil War begins.  The thought she has put into interconnecting the lives of slaves and their white plantation owners is exceptional.  The novel is, at times, hard to read and digest because of the harsh descriptions of slaves’ daily lives and the horrors in the way they were treated by their white owners.

 

The novel is completely character-driven, most of whom are completely fleshed-out.  My favorites are Sylvie’s maid, Thisbe, and Jane Chatham, who comes to live with the Guilberts.  Thisbe is so smart and cunning, although Sylvie could never tell, because she hides it so well.  I could almost feel the hairbrush that Sylvie would beat Thisbe with when she was upset with her.  Even through the beatings, Thisbe is stoic, strong, and unwavering.  Jane, on the other hand, has only known love from her deceased father, and so she grows up emulating him.  He has taught her to hunt, fish, and ride her wonderful horse, Virginia Wilder.  Jane is literal in her thinking and brings humorous moments to an otherwise dark story.

 

A Sitting St. James is a treasure and a history lesson that every young adult should read.  Give this rich, saga-like, page-turner to lovers of historical fiction and those who want to know more about slave life before the Civil War.  I highly recommend it for public libraries and upper high school students and give it five out of five fleur de lis!

 

Thank you to Edelweiss and Quill Tree Books for allowing me to read and review this book.

Review of Access Restricted by Gregory Scott Katsoulis

Katsoulis, Gregory Scott.  Access Restricted.  Harlequin Teen, 2018.

Speth Jime ends the tyrant Rogs’ oppressive hold over Portland with a resounding boom.  As a result, in a futuristic, dystopian United States, where all forms of communication is owned, Portland’s citizens are hoping the “Silent Girl” will guide them in their quest to be free from word and gesture oppression.  Speth and her friends make a getaway from the dome on the “Outer Ring” while the government is trying to restore Portland’s Wi-Fi and bring order.   Unfortunately, Silas Rog’s sister, Lucretia, and her lawyers are close behind the escapees.

Speth is not sure what to do next, but she wants to locate her parents, who are “Indentured”, working as legalized slaves, in Crab Creek in the Carolina dome.  To find them, she and her friends must cross the country outside of the regional domes.  On their journey, they face challenges, adversity, and danger but learn that Speth has helpful supporters in other domes. 

Once reunited with her parents in Tejico, formerly Mexico, Speth and her sister, Saretha, face a grueling, prejudicial trial back in Portland, where they will try to prove that the Rogs stole Saretha’s likeness for use as a famous movie star.   Even though she dreads and fears returning to Portland, Speth realizes that the trial is about more than her family—it is about freedom.

Access Restricted, the second and final book in the Word$ duology, begins moments after the first book, All Rights Reserved, ends.  The chapters are titled with words and phrases, many of which are trademarked, listed with their costs, which get increasingly larger as the story continues.  The reader learns that many names, especially those of foreign origin, have been shortened, both because they cost less and also so that people will not learn about their ancestry.

The characters are fascinating and multi-layered.  Speth, the main character, is a strong, reluctant heroine, not expecting to cause a rebellion, or even be a part of one.    The minor characters have distinct personalities and play a large part in the plot.  The Rog family members are evil, manipulative villains--cold, calculating, and controlling.  The author is especially gifted at world building, creating a vivid technology-enhanced world, where advertisements play constantly on screens in citizens’ homes and inside the domes.

The plot is mesmerizing and engrossing, filled with nail-biting action, thrilling chase scenes, and spy drones flying around.  This series is very timely because it is certainly something that could eventually happen.  Although some backstory is given, it is my recommendation that readers read the first book before reading this installment.

I highly recommend Access Restricted and the Word$ series for middle school, high school, and public libraries, and especially for collections where libraries have purchased All Rights Reserved.  It is a real page-turner, and I give it five out of five fleur de lis!

Review of Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch

Raasch, Sara.  Snow Like Ashes. Balzer +    Bray, 2014.

On the continent of Primoria, there are four Season Kingdoms—Spring, Summer, Winter, and Autumn, which sit on a chasm of magic.  All of them have eternal seasons and female rulers who wield magic through conduits, talismans to control their kingdoms.  The Rhythm Kingdoms—Paisly, Ventralli, Yakim, and Cordell—go through all four seasons and have males who rule through their conduits.  The eight kingdoms lived in more or less in harmony until Angra, Spring’s evil conduit, and his army attacked and destroyed Winter, broke its conduit in half, and killed its queen.  Only twenty-five of Winter’s citizens were able to escape; they rest were killed or taken to Spring’s work camps.

Sixteen years later, only eight Winterians remain of those who escaped.  They are constantly moving around so as not to be captured by Angra or his general, Herod.  The eight citizens spend their days trying to survive and searching for their conduit.  Finding the two halves of their conduit would mean freedom, the return of magic, and the rebuilding of their kingdom. 

The two youngest Winterians—Mather Dynam, Winter’s future king, and Meira, an orphan—infants when the attack on Winter occurred, are now teenagers.  Their leader, Sir William, has trained them to fight fiercely for Winter.  Meira knows Mather will one day be her king and is of a higher class, but she still has feelings for him.  On her first journey to look for the conduit, not only does Meira have an encounter with Herod, but she also recovers half of Winter’s conduit.

This leads to a series of events in which Meira, guided by encrypted dreams, becomes first a commodity, then a soldier, and finally a prisoner.  She must deal with courtly politics and Angra’s evil magic to find her true destiny and place in Winter.

Snow Like Ashes, Sara Raasch’s debut novel, is a wonderful fantasy read.  The world building and the concept of designing kingdoms based on seasons are fresh and beautiful.  The main characters are strong, heroic, and selfless, ready to sacrifice anything--even death--for Winter.  The descriptions of the battle scenes are so real, the reader will feel he is right there on the battlefield fighting with the soldiers!  In addition,  if you like love triangles, you will not be disappointed!  The cover art is awesome; it depicts a chakram, a type of throwing knife, Meira’s weapon of choice, on a bed of fresh snow.

The only negative about the novel is the pacing.  The plot sometimes slows down and takes awhile to pick up speed again.  However, there is enough happening during the slow parts to keep readers motivated to continue reading.

Snow Like Ashes is the first in a series of the same name.   Icicles Like Kindling, a novella eBook-only prequel, was released in September.  It covers Meira’s life from her infancy to age sixteen and was originally intended to be the prologue in Snow Like Ashes.    Ice Like Fire (Snow Like Ashes #2) will come out this year!

This book will be enjoyed by fans of Kristin Cashore’s Graceling series and readers of The Games of Thrones series by George R.R. Martin.  I highly recommend it for middle school, high school, and public libraries.  I give it four out of five fleur de lis!

Review of The Jewel by Amy Ewing

Ewing, Amy.  The Jewel.  HarperTeen, 2014.

Once they reach puberty, all girls in The Marsh must have a blood test to determine if they have certain characteristics, which will qualify them to become surrogates to the royal families who live in The Jewel.  Due to a genetic quirk, royalty are unable to give birth to their own children. A Girl who “passes” the blood test is removed from her family and taken to live in one of four holding facilities in The Lone City, where she is trained to use her special powers, or auguries.  The auguries include the ability to change the color of an item, the ability to change the shape of an item, and the ability to make things grow.  Eventually, after several years, the girl is sold at auction to the highest royal bidder and becomes the surrogate for that family.

Violet Lasting, now sixteen years old, has spent her last four years in the   Southgate Holding Facility, preparing for her life as a surrogate.  She has wanted for nothing while living in the facility, has achieved extremely high scores on her augury tests, and is an accomplished cellist.  However, she has missed her family and home in The Marsh deeply.

At auction she is sold to The Duchess of the Lake as Lot #197 for an enormous sum and goes to spend her days in a lovely palace, where she has beautiful clothes, wonderful meals, enjoys lavish parties, and has her own suite of rooms.

However, there is a dark side to being a surrogate. Violet is a nameless “pet” to The Duchess of the Lake, forced to wear a leash and collar when they go out, as do all surrogates.  She is at The Duchess’s beck and call twenty-four hours a day.  Her body is not hers; it belongs to the doctor who performs experiments on her and to The Duchess, who wants Violet to use her abilities to grow a baby in three months as opposed to nine.

When Violet is secretly offered a way to leave The Jewel and her life of surrogacy, she has to decide if freedom is also worth leaving forbidden love and her best friend behind, as well.  Some decisions are hard, especially when they involve trust, promises, and love.

This terrific debut novel by Amy Ewing is the first in her new series, “The Lone City”, and is filled with excitement, surprises, and intrigue.  The world building is exquisite.  In The Jewel, which is painted as a fairytale-like place, everyone lives in castles, and all lifestyles are extravagant!  The city is decorated like it is Christmas all the time! There are headstrong royal women and power plays to see who can produce the first daughter, who can shun whom, and who has the most talented and beautiful surrogate.  All the royal women are conniving and mean-spirited!

Ms. Ewing has included such strong characters in her book—Violet, Garnet—The Duchess of the Lake’s unruly son; Ash—companion to Carnelian Silver, The Lady’s niece; and Lucien, the Lady-in-Waiting who prepares Violet for the Auction.  I am really looking forward to their continuing story in the next installment!

This dystopian/fantasy/romance will be enjoyed by readers who liked The Selection series by Kiera Cass.  However, be prepared, because it is much more sinister!  I recommend it for grades eight and up and for public libraries.  I give it five out of five fleur de lis!!!!