Joanna Gawn

I was given this book to read through the Making Connections ARR group, thank you.


First off, I have to say that I really wanted to like this book because the idea is right up my alley, but I couldn’t get anywhere near half way finished with it. I could only get to page fifty. The reasons for my not continuing to read this book are explained below.

The two main characters in this story are Kiera and her boyfriend Jason. We experience the story in first person through Kiera’s eyes and in third person through Jason’s eyes. The way we experience the story through Kiera was highly irritating for me. Kiera narrates the story in what is almost like a dream like trance. Even the strangest things that happen to her, like being transported to an unknown place, is greeted with something akin to, “I felt a peaceful feeling wash over me, I’m filled with laughter and happiness.” This happens numerous times within fifty pages. Kiera’s emotional detachment to what was happening made it impossible for me to relate to her. I can’t identify with a character if they have no emotions or links to the events happening around them. On the other hand, Jason’s part of the narrative was able to draw me in more because it was in third person.

The Cordello Quest begins with Kiera being very disappointed that her boyfriend, Jason, has told her that he is moving for a better job. She thought that he was going to ask her to marry him, but didn’t. Instead he drinks too much and then falls asleep. While Jason sleeps Kiera wanders off toward some boulders, where strange things start to happen. What I didn’t like was that almost immediately Kiera is transported to this other place with barely any build up in the story and Kiera is totally cool about it because the 'peaceful feeling' came over her. The tone of the narrative is like looking through a misty haze, I guess I would compare it to someone who is on valium. People have reactions, people have emotions, but most of the time Kiera feels pretty much neutral about everything that is happening and this is all explained away by Kiera as something similar to “I don’t know why I felt this way, but it just was.” I thought the lack of explanation by the author was a lazy way to get from one point to the other without having to give a reason on what had transpired.

So the things that bothered me were: the too sudden jump to another world without explanation and the emotionless reactions of Kiera so that I couldn’t relate to her or what was happening to her. The hazy tone of narrative that didn’t make me ‘feel’ anything, but felt like someone was ‘telling’ me what’s happening to them. I want to experience a story and this book does not let me experience it.

In the end I couldn’t get further than fifty pages because of the way Kiera narrated the story with a lack of emotion that was too irritating. I give this story 1 star, but I think there will be people who like this style of writing even though it turned me off.


… (plus d'informations)

There’s something special about Short Stories and even more so when it comes to Flash Fiction and it takes a lot to craft a decent story with a limited word and do it well. In their collaborated effort with “Crystal, Fire and Water,” Joanna Gawn and Ron C. Dickerson succeed to doing precisely that. Their Flash Fiction duets, each presents a different interpretation of what their character is seeing and feeling, which heightens the enjoyment of reading each set.

I understand the challenge each of these authors are facing in writing each of the stories contained in this book, because I’ve written numerous commentaries for a community newspaper; as well as over 125 Flash Fictions consisting of only five sentence. It is for this reason I’m giving their effort here 5 STARS.

Robin Leigh Morgan is the author of “I Kissed a Ghost,” a MG/YA Paranormal Romance novel.… (plus d'informations)