Book Review: A Light on the Veranda by Ciji Ware

This is a rich mix of history, haunting harp, lush jazz and modern romance set in  the beautiful, old South, environs of Natchez, Mississippi.  

A Light on the Veranda  

by Ciji Ware

• File Size: 1740 KB
• Print Length: 480 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1402222734
• Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark (March 1, 2012)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English

Also available in print.
Genre:  Time Travel, Historical Fiction
My Rating: 4.25 of 5.0

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2012

A secret may hold for a hundred years... and then it's time for the past to take revenge

Daphne Duvallon vowed never to return to the South years ago when she left her philandering fiance at the altar. Now family has called her back to Natchez, Mississippi, a city as mysterious and compelling as the ghostly voices that haunt her dreams.

From a time when the oldest settlement on the Mississippi was in its heyday and vast fortunes were made and lost, Daphne begins to uncover the secrets of an ancestor whose fate is somehow linked with her own. In a compelling and mesmerizing tale, now Daphne must right the wrongs of the past, or follow the same path into tragedy...

Review:
Daphne has had a bad choice of beaus having rebounded to a cheating fiance, Jack Ebert, after she discovered that her boss and first love forgot to tell her he was married.  Daphne agrees to return from New York to the deep south to play her harp at the wedding of her brother, King Duvallon and Corlis (from Midnight On Julia Street.)

Daphne meets an attractive photojournalist at the Monmouth, an historic plantation house turned hotel.  Sim Hopkins is in town to do a photographic documentary of the birds painted in the area by John James Audubon in the early 1800s.  Sim has been a traveling man for many years, running from the ghosts of his failed marriage.  Daphne and Sim are drawn together by attraction and something more haunting.

Daphne doesn’t want to be a one night stand for a traveling man and Sim isn’t sure he can commit to settling anywhere. While they get to know each other and try to figure out what they might have going, Daphne is struggling with more than her own painful memories of jilted lovers.  The sounds of the harp, rain and other natural melodies transport Daphne to a vision world in the past where she watches the unfolding of the tragic story of her name sake seeking love but surrounded by sorrow.

Modern day Daphne forges forward, living with her Aunt Maddie in an old family home and juggling tea time harp playing while developing a new career as a jazz harpist.  She has to cope with stalking behavior by Jack who turns out to be on opposing sides of naturalist issues impacting the community. Pressure, confusion, doubts and jealousies build when Jack brings in a top gun attorney who happens to be Sim’s beautiful ex-wife.

Ms. Ware skillfully weaves two stories with detailed research, a remarkable setting and superb storytelling. I loved the blend of the historic story and the modern romance conflict. You can visualize the lush beauty of the past as you learn of environmental issues of the present. The idea of a female jazz ensemble including the harp was fascinating and the author used the sensual sass, like the song "Peel Me a Grape", as part of the romantic seduction.

This can be read as a stand alone although you might not want to miss the first story, Midnight on Julia Street, set in beautiful New Orleans, where similar haunting time travel visions are triggered by smells rather than sounds. If you are a fan of time travel, lush settings and strong storylines, this is an author you will enjoy.  

~~~~~~~~~~~

Sense the music:

The beat, the blossoming synchronicity of the quintet, created in Daphne the distinct sensation of a key fitting smoothly into a lock, opening up a world of full-flavored, melodious sound. Location 2151

Thank you to Sourcebooks through NetGalley for providing this book for reading and reviewing pleasure.

This book is set in Natchez, Mississippi for my Where Are You Reading Challenge. It will also go on my ARC reading list.

Book Review and ARC Giveaway: Midnight on Julia Street by Ciji Ware

This is a good story with lots of interesting historical details.

Midnight on Julia Street by Ciji Ware

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark; Reprint edition (August 1, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1402222726
• ISBN-13: 978-1402222726

    Genre:  Time Travel, Historical Fiction
    My Rating: 4.25 of 5.0

Product Description:
This “stand-alone” prequel to A Light on the VerandaA Light on the Veranda is a romantic novel of intrigue and suspense set in modern-day New Orleans with echoes of nineteenth century Louisiana, when Cotton was King.  Corlis McCullough, a take-no-prisoners TV journalist, late of Los Angeles, and her former UCLA nemesis, King Duvallon, an historic preservationist with deep roots in the Crescent City, are an unlikely pair to join forces to save a beautiful Greek Revival building with origins linked mysteriously to those of their own ancestors during the Golden Age in the Big Easy   Both must grapple with the unlikely concept of “genetic memory,” a force that appears to be intruding on their lives and thwarting any chance for ultimate happiness.

Review: There is a wealth of history mingled with a good contemporary romance.

Corlis is a truth reporting journalist.  She has come to New Orleans after losing her position in Los Angeles for exposing too much in her reporting.  She is about to report a big society wedding but ends up reporting the couple’s devastating break up instead. While at the wedding she runs into her college nemesis, King Duvallon.

King is an historic preservationist activist who isn’t afraid to step out for his cause even though it might endanger his bid for tenure as a history professor. He is intrigued to find Corlis reporting in his city. When Corlis once again loses her job King helps her get another position with a station that isn’t afraid to report the truth.

King and Corlis have a rough history but that doesn’t stop the attraction and chemistry between them. Corlis has to keep in mind that he is a news source and she wants to keep her journalistic integrity.  King doesn’t always understand Corlis’ position and their relationship is a struggle while he is battling the greedy developer who wants to tear down some historic buildings to build a modern hotel.

Meanwhile Corlis is getting some real historic data on the block of buildings from an unusual research source. She is being transported back in time to her name sake’s historic events in the 1840s.  On different visits she sees a Southern society wedding, a quadroon mistress, a funeral, a plantation ball and other settings that are described with wonderful detail.  Although the trances are frightening, they are also fascinating. Can she find documentary proof to support her visions and reveal the important historical background of the buildings?

My undergrad work was in journalism so I liked that the heroine is a strong investigative reporter who insists on reporting the facts and the truth. I also enjoyed the rich historical descriptions, and some surprising details, of the buildings and society that encompass the entwined lives of the whites and blacks in New Orleans.

I really like time travel stories and I liked the trigger that the author uses in this story. There is also a character who helps Corlis to cleanse her home from built up energy of past lives. That was new to me and I found it to be an interesting concept.

The writing flowed well although I felt there were some minor editing errors which hopefully were caught before the final release. The romance is warm and lovely as just one aspect of the overall story.  The book is on the long side but the richness in detail made this okay for me.  If you enjoy historical fiction, especially history of New Orleans, I recommend this as an enjoyable read.

 ~~~~~

I received this book from Sourcebooks for an honest review.

TO ENTER THIS GIVEAWAY for the ARC copy:
1. Visit the author's website and tell me something of interest you found there. This is required for entry. Maybe tell me which cover you like best of her books or which one you would most like to read.

2.  For an extra entry, become a follower or tell me if you are already a follower.

3. For two entries, blog, facebook, tweet (any of those networks!) about this giveaway and tell me where you did.

It isn't necessary to use separate entries unless you want them in different chronological order.
(Four total entries possible.)

* This contest is only open to residents of US and Canada.

* This contest will close 10 PM (Central) on September 30, 2011. (This month's book giveaways will all end on the 30th except for Friday Picks, SBB or other special posts.)
The winner will be randomly selected from all entries.
The WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED between October 1 and 3. Winners will have 72 hours to respond by email or the winners form linked in the announcement.

Q&A Interview with Ciji Ware, Author of A Race to Splendor

Please help me give a warm welcome to Author Ciji Ware.

Q1. I'm always interested to discover the story behind the story. Where did the inspiration for A Race to Splendor come from?

Ciji:  When we first moved to San Francisco from Southern California in 1998, we rented a flat four blocks from the fable Fairmont Hotel, atop Nob Hill.  I soon discovered the apartment house had been designed and built by Julia Morgan, the first licensed woman architect in the state, in the wake of the devastating 1906 San Francisco earthquake and firestorm. Not long afterward, I learned that Morgan, at the mere age of 34, had also gotten the commission to restore the badly scarred Fairmont in a year’s time, all of which seemed incredible. I started digging and the story turned out to be so amazing…I knew immediately I had the subject for my next historical, A Race to Splendor—right in my own backyard!

Q2. Tell us one surprising thing about your experience writing this book, or about the research for this book.

Ciji: I was amazed to learn that the famous architect, Stanford White of New York (who built, among many stellar buildings, the Washington Square Arch), was originally hired post-quake in 1906 to restore the wounded Fairmont.  Three weeks after he got the job, he was murdered by his lover’s husband!  
In the chaos following the quake and fire in San Francisco, all the other local designers and builders were taken, except for the “Lady Architect,” who, at that point in her fledgling career, had a hard time getting hired--so Julia Morgan got the gig! It was a fluke, really.  Later on, she gained great fame as the architect and builder of the Shangri-la known as Hearst Castle on the central California coast—constructed during the years 1919 to 1947.

Q3.  Which did you find more difficult: writing nonfiction or fiction?

Ciji: This may sound strange, but I spent 23 years of my earlier career as a working reporter and on-air commentator, meeting deadlines every day when I was a broadcaster for ABC in Los Angeles.  For me, writing news and nonfiction was a “job” and I gained the confidence, toiling all those years, to do my “just the facts, ma’am” assignments with no fuss, no muss.  There was no time or room to indulge in “writer’s bloc.”  Writing fiction has always been for me an absolutely pleasure, and I suppose having to produce words each day for all those years with no excuses has rendered me one of those writers who simply write and don’t agonize over it much.

Q4. Is any of your writing from your own experiences or is it completely your imagination?

Ciji: My nonfiction (the latest of which is Rightsizing Your Life:  Simplifying Your Surroundings While Keeping What Matters Most) has parts of my own story woven throughout all the factual and prescriptive material in such a “self-help” genre.  When it comes to fiction, my commitment to getting the facts right (even if I’m chasing a story that’s two-hundred-years old) has brought after researching and writing six historical novels to the subject of “What were the women doing in history?”  And that’s probably because I was “the only woman in the room” years ago in many of my on-air jobs--a female broadcasting pioneer, I guess you’d say—and so I’m always seeking to find other women in earlier eras who broke those barriers in their fields.  I found women playwrights at Covent Garden and Drury Lane theatres in London; I discovered women musicians in the court of Marie Antoinette; I uncovered women artists working for Josiah Wedgwood in his pottery factories.  I think my own experiences of working in fields dominated in the twentieth century mostly by men has been a central theme in my own fiction.

Q5. Do your work career/hobbies/interests influence your writing?

Ciji: It’s kind of the other way around!  After I wrote my first historical, Island of the Swans, a biographical historical centered on the life of Jane Maxwell, the 4th Duchess of Gordon,  I became what my husband of 35 years fondly calls “a Scot-o-manic,” dressing everyone in a kilt whenever the occasion slightly called for it.  During that period, I learned Scottish country dancing and even joined a troupe (akin to American square dancing), and, after living and working in New Orleans for a year writing Midnight on Julia Street, I became a passionate devotee of southern specialties like gumbo and grits and even bought a guest house in the French Quarter!

Q6. How long does it take to research and write your books?

Ciji: That’s actually been a problem in my career—I cannot research and write a decent historical novel in a year.  Because I’m such a stickler for the facts--and because I earn a living by my writing; it’s not a hobby--I have to work simultaneously at writing jobs that actual pay money. That has meant I always had a “day job” writing, as with my 17 years at ABC in LA, or I’d stop to write a nonfiction book which I found paid a living wage, or take a gig, as I did last year, writing a 9-part series for AARP, The Magazine.  Since my background was as a reporter (and even with the Internet saving huge amounts of time), I still insist on “going there” to see and experience what I’m writing about.  That has meant eight trips to Scotland; many to France, New Orleans, Natchez, or wherever else I set my books, since the setting is just as much a “character” in my books as the heroines and heroes.  My first novel took five years; Wicked Company took three; and I managed to do the paranormal historicals like Julia Street, A Light on the Veranda, and A Cottge by the Sea in two years.  My publishers would rather it be different, but they know I’m not a lazy bones…just fanatically thorough, I guess you’d say.

Q7. Do your characters live with you as you write? Do they haunt your dreams?

Ciji: I feel the most awful pang when I finish the book and the characters stick with me for months afterward.  I’m currently having dreadful separation anxiety from Amelia Hunter Bradshaw and J.D. Thayer in A Race to Splendor.  These two, in particular, have been hard to let go of as I almost get the sense that they’re still walking around Nob Hill!  We’re having a big launch and costume party for the book at the beautiful Fairmont Hotel this month, and I fully expect Amelia and J.D. and maybe the “real” Julia Morgan to show up.  Many people will be in 1906 attire as we’re holding the event on the eve of the 105th anniversary of the San Francisco earthquake and firestorm.  Who knows?  Maybe they’ll turn up?

Q8.  Do you have any rituals that help you get in the mood to sit down and write?

Ciji:  A cup of tea by my side—but away from the keyboard, as I have twice tipped liquid into my laptop. Aaaarg!

Q9. What do you hope your readers get out of your books?

Ciji: I write to entertain and enlighten and I hope my readers, especially of the new one, A Race to Splendor, will come away from the book dazzled by the courage and moxie it took for these fabulous women to excavate and renovate a gorgeous beaux arts hotel in 1906-07! I also want them to revel in the story of a woman, Amelia Bradshaw (a composite character based on the lives of the people who worked with Julia Morgan restoring the Fairmont to its former splendor), who struggled with the same issues that many working women—and men—face: how to integrate their passion for what they do with the important “others” in their lives. Can they learn to balance love and work and responsibility?  By what means are genuine partnerships between men and women forged so that everybody wins?  These questions faced pioneers in any field, and they are central to what my latest book is all about. Plus, I want readers who don’t live in San Francisco to leave their hearts there when they close the book.  Those of us who do inhabit this wonderful region have already lost ours….


Q10.      If you could have readers finish a sentence what would it be?

Ciji:  What makes me happiest in all the world is_______?  (Not what you think should make you happy, but the thing or activity that makes your heart soar?)

 Ciji enjoys hearing from readers at www.cijiware.com

Thank you for such an informative interview, Ciji.
Check the Review and Giveaway for a chance to win the ARC for this fine book.

Book Review and ARC Giveaway: A Race to Splendor by Ciji Ware

This is definitely a rich and splendid romance.

A Race to Splendor by Ciji Ware.

• Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark (April 1, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9781402222696
• ISBN-13: 978-1402222696  

      Genre: Historical Fiction
      My Rating: 4.5 of 5.0

Product Description:
Set in the tumultuous aftermath of San Francisco’s devastating 1906 earthquake and fire, and based on the lives of several women apprenticed to famed Julia Morgan, California’s first licensed woman architect, this historical novel tells of the fiercely-fought competition between Nob Hill hotels to re-open their doors by the first anniversary of the disaster–proving to the country and the world that the city would rise from the ashes.  Amelia Hunter Bradshaw, fresh from earning her certificate in architecture at the prestigious L’Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, finds herself, through a series of flukes and mishaps, in the employ of the one man determined to best Miss Morgan, Amelia’s mentoress and friend.  Intrigue, political corruption, and an undeniable attraction to the mysterious James Diaz Thayer threaten not only to jeopardize her personal life, but also prove fatal to all she holds dear.

Review: This is a beautifully rich romance.

Amelia Bradshaw is a beautiful, bright woman who studied architecture in France. She returns to San Francisco to take over her Grandfather’s famous Bay View hotel. Unfortunately her father has lost the hotel in a poker game to James Diaz (J.D.) Thayer, the son of a city leader, and Ezra Kemp, a corrupt social climber. Amelia loses the legal battle for the hotel and agrees to work at night with her old school friend Julia Morgan who has already established an architecture office.

As Amelia begins to close up one dawn she feels the building shake. She is aware of pencils rattling in a cup and then she is struggling to get out of the building and stay alive. She dazedly seeks her father at the gambling club next to the Bay View and finds J.D. injured, her father with a broken back under a table and others dead.  Amelia’s father insists that she look for the cards he had as he claims that he won the hotel back with a royal flush but she only has three of the cards.

The fires that follow the quakes destroy the Bay View and the nearly completed Fairmont Hotel. The owners of the Fairmont begin to rebuild with the goal of opening by the one year anniversary of the quake. J.D. decides that he too will re-build the Bay View and the race begins. Julia Morgan’s firm is working on both structures until she fires Amelia over a disagreement. J.D. wants Amelia to be his architect so she stays on that project while Julia’s firm continues the work on the Fairmont.

The Bay View rebuilding is plagued with lack of materials and labor. The labor unions won't allow the use of the Chinese but Amelia and J.D. secretly use their labor at night. But the hotel suffers from sabotage as Ezra threatens J.D. to repay loans.  Amelia and J.D. grow close as they work together on rebuilding. Then Ezra  blackmails J.D. insisting that J.D. marry his daughter. Even though Amelia has hoped for more, she begins to believe that J.D. only cares about the building and not about her.Will they be able to complete the Bay View before the Fairmont is completed? And who will own the Bay View when it is completed?

The story is strong on details of the quake and fire. Even though some of the statistics reflected in the story were very interesting, I wasn’t sure that such precise details of the fire heat and extensive damage would be known so soon after the disaster. I enjoyed the vivid and rich descriptions of the earthquake and the rebuilding.  The characters are well developed and the interactions, from hate to love, between Amelia and J.D. are emotional, natural and make for a splendid romance. I look forward to reading more by this author.

xxx

Thank you to Sourcebooks for the book to read and review.

This giveaway is limited to US entries because of the weight of the book.  I hope many of you were able to get a copy of this marvelous book at the reduced price offered last week.
TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY FOR THE ARC COPY:

1.Visit the author's website and tell me something of interest you find there.
Please leave your e-mail!

2. For two extra entries comment on the Author's Interview.

3. For and extra entry answer the Question posed by the Author at Q.10.

4. For an extra entry, become a follower or tell me if you are already a follower.

5. For two extra entries, blog, facebook, tweet (any of those networks!) about this giveaway and tell me where you did.

(Seven total entries possible.)
It isn't necessary to use separate entries unless you want them in different chronological order.

* This contest is open to US only.
* No P.O. Boxes Please - for shipping reasons.
* This contest will close 10:00 PM (Central) on April 22, 2011. The winner will be randomly selected from all entries.