Bonnie Tharp Books
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Summer colds & the magic of storytelling
BD • Aug 15, 2016
I hate summer colds. When it’s raining and icy outside I anticipate I’ll get the flu or a virus, but not when it’s hot out. I don’t know why. This past weekend my hubby and I spent it sleeping, reading, eating soup, and binge watching House of Cards (Netflix). We saw a couple other great movies on HBO, too.
The book I just finished was one of JD Robb’s Death mysteries and I thoroughly enjoyed it. There’s something amazing about an author who can write so many stories about the same characters and keep bringing something new and inventive into the story. Certainly, there are always new characters and murder situations, but the main characters keep evolving and that makes the story even better. It’s set in the not so distant future, say forty years from now and much of life is the same. But getting real coffee and real meat is a challenge and only reserved for the wealthy. Pepsi comes in a tube. And while cars can elevate and fly, they don’t often so we don’t have to worry about suspending disbelief – it could happen.
Do you ever wonder why movies and television shows have exploded and there are so many channels to choose from? (Money for one, but the other is – storytelling keeps us going.) Since many channels show reruns I don’t see how they all survive, but they do, and not everyone has access to all the same stations. What makes these forms of entertainment so popular is the story. We’re captured by the actors, the scenes, the special effects, the music, the drama/comedy/adventure. We are transported into that story, maybe even flying through space on the starship Enterprise as the Romulans attack. I recently saw “Brooklyn” and I was transported to Ireland and then New York City (Brooklyn) during the 1950’s. The cars, the clothes, the music, the hairstyles, the language (love Irish accents) let me be there while I watched the story unfold.
Isn’t that the same thing we want when we read a book? We readers want to slip between the pages, into the time and place, along with the hero and antagonist, so we can experience this new world we’re reading about. I recently read “The Citadel” by Kate Mosse and I have to tell you – I wanted to be in France, but NOT during the 1940’s. The German occupation of France was horrific. Kate Mosse made the time and place come to life.
We authors want our stories to draw readers in and hold them there until the end. When it happens, it’s magical. When the moving pictures in your head get transferred accurately on the page and into the reader’s imagination – we soar with joy. We take the reader along with us and hope their experience is satisfying. Not every story will resonate with every person – but when it does – it is true magic. One of my readers sent me a message saying she had seen my character, “Annabelle” on the street in town. Feisty Family Values and particularly Annabelle had come to life for her. That’s what I call MAGIC. Another reader wrote me that she hated Regina in the first book but really liked her in the second. She said she was glad she wasn’t such a bitch anymore. It made me laugh and gave me a sense of pride as well. The character of Regina came to life for her.
I hope none of you out there get summer colds, but if you do – drink lots of fluids, sleep lots, read and get well soon.
I thought when I retired I'd be bored. Well, that hasn't happened. I'm busier now than I was when I worked. Who knew? I'm sitting in my home office waiting on the rain. It's a beautiful cloudy Saturday. Storms are predicted for later, and we need the rain so badly. My dog doesn't like storms much. He used to be so brave, but nearly being struck by lightning made a permanent impression on him and fear took it's place. Poor fellow. The neighbors have their little ones out in the cul-de-sac riding their respective fisher price vehicles, while they can. I need to get my four legged buddy out for a quick walk as well. Soon. Very soon. By now you've heard that my seventh book has been published, FROM THE DARKNESS. It's exciting and the reviews are good ones. I think it's the best one yet. If you like a mystery with heart, I hope you'll give it a read. The second book in the feisty series, PATCHWORK FAMILY, is being narrated into an audio book as we speak. I'm not sure when, but that's the plan. FEISTY FAMILY & FRIENDS is already in audio book. We love to listen to books when we're driving, but it's also great for mundane chore completion, making it so much more fun. There's a painting I've been requested to paint, two actually. I'll probably get it done in a month or so then the oil paint needs to cure before it can be handled. It's more intricate than anything I've done so far, and will challenge me. The key is taking the time needed, no rushing a difficult creation. Painting a picture is very similar to writing a book. You sketch out the idea, then build on it. Sounds simple but every step requires concentration, an open mind, and patience. Creating is time consuming, whether it's a book, a painting, a garden, a sculpture, or a healthy body. The trick is to stick with it, even when it becomes difficult. The results will be worth it. Enjoy the journey, my friends.
Our ancestors passed down stories to educate and entertain. Stories make the world go around. Writing is difficult and I work very hard to tell a good story. I've been writing for publication for twenty-four years and it's been a wild ride. Joy, frustration, excitement, disappointment, rejection, acceptance, good reviews and bad, tears and fear. Having delved into a new genre a few years ago, romantic suspense, I realize that the really gritty stuff isn't my thing. I don't like wallowing in the muck, the blood, and the despair. Strong women characters and flawed but kind male characters move me. After recently submitting one of my books to a contest the review made me realize just how true these things are. I like a satisfying ending. Life rambles and so do the characters and plots of my books. Keeping in mind not everyone will like every novel, the judge made me feel like a novice and that broke my heart. I've never been a literary writer, although I admire the prose of many successful literary authors. They ROCK! But it's not who I am or what I write. I apologize to any of my readers who have been disappointed in my books. My heart felt thanks go to all those readers who enjoy my novels, have left a review, and tell others you think might also enjoy them. You are rock stars, every one of you! Bless you all in the new year, may it be filled with hope, good health, and joy!
Blessings and good wishes to all my readers. If you've enjoyed my books, please let people know - writing reviews on Goodreads, Amazon.com, BN.com, Audible, Facebook, Instagram, etc. Share the love. I'm nearing the end of the first draft of FROM THE DARKNESS, another Rachel McGill romantic suspense novel. This time the stakes are even higher, there is reason to believe her parents were murdered before the house burned to the ground. But who did it and why? It should be edited and published by spring, I hope. Stay tuned!
Hoffman brings the St. Thomas island community to life. Our main characters are Jews who have escaped to St. Thomas from Spain and Portugal in the 1800s. Rachel and her best friend, Jestine whose mother is the African cook for the Pomie family, roam the island at will.
There aren't too many beaches in Kansas, and when the temperatures stay at or over 90 degrees for months on end, it scorches everything. Even our brains. I spent the biggest share of my summer reading inside, and I loved it. Thanks to the book club I belong to many new authors came into my life. (All of them are reviewed on Goodreads.com . Here's a short list: Deborah Harkness, Andrew Mayne, Jim Butcher, Pam Genoff, Barbara Davis, Matt Haig, and many more. I also read more of my favorites: C. Hope Clark, J.D. Robb, Olive Bala, and so on. Good stuff! A new story is percolating in my mind, and beginning to grow on paper, but it's in the early stages. Life was very busy this summer. We lost two family members after illnesses. It's so hard to watch your loved ones pass, but in both their situations it was a blessing. Suffering is not something any of us should have to endure at the ends of our lives. Did you ever see the movie Logan's Run? The premise: if you're over thirty you should be recycled. Heck of a way to worship youth. Crazy. The whole cast was young and were convinced that the elderly had nothing to offer. They'd never even seen someone with gray hair before the ending when Logan discovers a way out of the domed city and into the world beyond and a very elderly man. Luckily the man didn't have dementia, which is destroying so many lives these days. If you haven't seen the film, I recommend it. Produced in 1976, when special effects were in their infancy, the domed society is clean and uncluttered. Outside the dome it is overgrown (like my garden), and messy. Not too many people survived out there, so when an old man is discovered, they are in shock. At different stages of our lives being old is relative to our ages. When you're six, twenty is old. When your sixteen, thirty is old. When you're fifty, sixty appears right around the corner and then what? Retirement, hopefully. Enough resources to live comfortably, and survive economic downturns. We all pray for good health. Medical costs are in the stratosphere like so much of the economy, but it will recover, hopefully before we run out of resources. (I must think positively here.) Some societies place a lot of respect and even reverence on the wisdom of their elderly. This country, not as much. Now that I am gray headed and slowing down, I wonder. Before mom died she asked us, "Is this all there is?" It broke our hearts, but we had no answers. From where we stood, for her, it appeared to be all. Bless you all.
The third Sunday of each month, from May through October, Historical Cowtown Museum admission is FREE. Local authors will be present in the large banquet room (beside the entrance). There's books available in many different genre's: science fiction, fantasy, family fiction, romantic suspense, historical fiction, Christian testimonials, children's books, and so much more. I hope you'll come and see us, enjoy the Historical Cowtown Museum, and find your next good book to read. Other vendors will be on the grounds to sell food, crafts, artwork, and jewelry. Best wishes to all!
Another romantic suspense novel is now available (FROM THE SHADOWS) and I hope you will enjoy it. This is a follow on story to FROM THE ASHES, with Rachel, Thomas, Casey, and Michael. These books have been so much fun to write. There's a bit of a twist at the end of SHADOWS that I'll spend some time addressing in the next book. Readers are asking me when the next one comes out, but you guys read them a whole lot faster than I can write them. It's quicker to turn a novel around since I've retired from my day job, but life has a way of inserting itself and disrupting our plans. Therefore, I don't really know when the next one will be coming out. Family health issues have reared their ugly heads and we're all busy helping each other, trying to get stronger, and hopefully improving. For one of the family, healing is not in the cards. A friend of mine once said, "We play the hand we're dealt." That is the honest truth, we have no other choice in the matter. Not when it comes to family and friends. We do what needs to be done. And there's still the specter of COVID lurking everywhere. It's better, thank you God, but it's not gone. It would be nice if everyone would be grown up and take the shot, wear the mask, socially distance, but... You all know what I'm talking about. Someone asked me the other day if I knew anyone who'd been vaccinated and NOT gotten COVID. Heck yes, my hubby and I, my brother and his wife, my best friend and her husband, my kids and their families, and many more that I can't think of at this moment in time. Okay, enough of that. I'm excited about the romantic suspense novels I've been writing. They are a blast to create. So far I don't have too many reviews on Good Reads or Amazon, but I've gotten messages on FB, Instagram, & Twitter from happy readers who said they were enjoyed. You know the value of reviews, right? It guides new readers to books others have liked and that's a good thing. Publishing in this day and age is very easy, but the market is flooded with millions of offers. The only way to know a good one is if it's been reviewed. SO, please review my books so others can find them. Those of you that have written reviews are ROCK-STARS! I'm so glad spring is here. All of the trees and flowers wearing their new buds and colors are stunning. There's one little drawback, though, allergies. "Heavy sigh." I try not to let it spoil the beauty of nature's awakening, but it is hard some days. I wish you all good health, joy, and safe travels. Don't forget to take a book along for down times. And be a rock star and leave a review, we authors really appreciate you readers. We need you!!! Best of all things to you.
I believe this is the first Melissa Bourbon mystery I've read and I really enjoyed it. Quirky characters and situations, a little murder and magic, what's not to like. Oh, and the hint of romance is always nice. Harlow Cassidy is rumored to be a descendant of Butch Cassidy, and the myth of an Argentinian blessing to all the female line appears to be true. Her great-grandmother had her "gift" and always seemed to get her way. (Don't know if that's always a good thing.) Her grandmother is a goat whisperer, which is a crack up. And her mother's emotions magically impact plants, flowers, and weeds especially. Crazy, but oh so much fun. Harlow doesn't appear to have received her "gift" yet, so she feels a bit cheated. She does, however, have a way with fashion design that complements the wearer. That's a gift, in my book. This was a lot of fun to read and I did have trouble putting it down. The murderer kept me guessing until the end. Enjoy the ride, this is a good one.
Driving around looking at the lovely holiday decorations is fun. You're snuggled warm in your car and hopefully someone is with you to join in the "ooo ahh" chorus. It's much more fun with friends. During the holidays not everyone is having fun. There's so much going on which can be stressful. We are acutely aware of the loved ones who are gone and feel their absence. Many of our nation's people are struggling with illness, food insecurities, homelessness, and financial difficulties. All the pretty lights won't fix those issues, but for a little while we can find joy. When a Christmas song comes on the radio or is being broadcast in a store, it lifts my heart. I want to dance and sing along, just like I did when I was small. I find my gift desires run to experiences instead of objects. The joy of something lovely to eat or drink and friends/family to share it with. Laying under the decorated Christmas tree, looking through the branches, absorbing all of the color and shine. Those were great memories and magical times. Grandmother had a silver tree and the revolving colored disc which lit up red, blue, orange, and green. In the fifties that was magical and amusing to watch. It's cool that a new generation is discovering them again. For the real tree purists, the led light options are nearly countless. And, no, strings of lights still get tangled and end up being frustrating to sort out. But once they are on the tree, it is transformed. The light I miss, is the light in the eyes of my grandsons or my son when they were small. They made the holidays such a pleasure. May you all share in the light of hope, love, and peace.
Christmas is coming. The kids are grown and moved to the other side of the country. We're older now and decorating is more a chore than fun anymore. But I remember when Mom was getting older (Pop was gone) and she didn't feel like pulling a tree from the basement so she decorated a big plant instead. She made it look so pretty with little red bows on the limbs. We took a cutting from that plant, it's a variegated thing that will take over the house if you don't cut it back. We call it the "mom plant" for lack of the correct name. One of these days I have to use my plant identifier app and see what's what. When my son and his family lived in town and my eldest grandson was nine or ten, he and I put up Mom's Christmas tree and decorated it for her. She played Christmas records and gave us cookies from the store, by then she wasn't baking as much. We had great fun, he decorated the bottom and I decorated the top. We both filled in the middle and loved the homemade ornaments that my husband had made when he was small. There were ornaments that my son had made as well. The memories warmed the heart, and mom gave us several of those ornaments when she quit putting up a tree. That little guy is thirty now, if I am doing the math right. He and his wife have a lovely fur baby ( a dog for those who don't use the term with affection). I haven't seen their apartment for a couple of years, and never at the holidays so I don't know if he decorates a lot. I imagine a tree that he and his wife decorate with ornaments they've obtained since they've been together. I've sent them new ones over the years so I hope they were the start of new memories for his family. I do remember a photo of their tiny first tree with affection. I've seen photographs of the trees that my son and his wife have put up over the years. Ginormous comes to mind. I even recall one whose top bent over because the ceiling was lower than they thought. The trees are always beautiful, with ornaments that they've accumulated over the years. Some the boys made them while in school, some I donated to their first tree (ones that meant something to my son), and ones I've sent them since, too. It's my hope that they make lovely memories. When my son was little we made home made ornaments with flour and I don't recall what else, baking them until they were hard. We applied paint when they cooled and they were enjoyed for years. Eventually they cracked and the hooks came out, but they lasted a good long time. I made felt ornaments one year and some of them would still be on my tree, if I had one. I am quite proud of the felt Santa, with his pink cheeks (courtesy of felt a red felt pen). He's still in the ornament box in the basement. My son learned to make god's eyes in art class, I believe during grade school or junior high, and several of differing sizes were always present. This year I bought a gorgeous stained glass ornament from a cousin who made it. A iridescent white tree with colorful glass beads that catch the light. It hangs in the front window with a few others I picked to keep it company. We have a small tree on the mantle with green foil paper for limbs and glass balls. It is rather cute, if I do say so myself. And it's high enough off of the ground our puppy can't dismantle it. His unending curiosity and destructive nature is the main reason we didn't put up a large tree. I didn't want to be yelling at him for the next month for attacking it and removing the ornaments to chew. Mom is in an assisted living facility now and has her own tiny tree in her room. In the atrium they have a humongous tree with colorful twinkle lights. The chairs around it are usually occupied and the residents chat and enjoy the lovely decorations. I think I could go on and on here, but it's time to do something else (like edit my latest book). Happy Holidays to you all. Stay safe and healthy, and if you travel, "God speed."