Sharon Carter Rogers

Baby Doll è un romanzo Urban Fantasy per adulti decisamente particolare. Innanzitutto possiamo dire che questo romanzo è assolutamente adatto a tutti coloro che desiderano leggere qualcosa di diverso ma che, allo stesso tempo, fornisca molteplici spunti di riflessione. Non è una semplice lettura fine a se stessa, questo è certo.

Se siete alla ricerca di suspense, una buona dose di adrenalina e un tocco di vera originalità narrativa, non potrete non lasciarvi avvolgere e sconvolgere da questo thriller soprannaturale, altrimenti definito anche come un Christian Thriller.

Apprezzatissimo dalla critica Americana, al punto di vincere l’International Book Award for Religious Fiction 2010, Drift (Baby Doll in Italia N.d.R) assieme a Sinner e Unpretty costituiscono l'intera bibliografia dell'autrice (o autore?) che si nasconde dietro lo pseudonimo di Sharon Carter Rogers.

Baby Doll, la co-protagonista del romanzo, è la figliastra di un noto boss del crimine che finisce, per puro caso, per incontrare Boy, un drifter senza età e senza memoria, reduce di un precedente legame appena finito. Il rapporto fra i due non inizia nei migliori dei modi, entrambi hanno troppa sfiducia nel resto del mondo per ammettere anche solo la possibilità di fidarsi di qualcuno che non siano loro stessi. Non lo fanno e si feriscono, fisicamente ma non solo, più volte...

Recensione completa: http://sognandoleggendo.net/blog/?p=3103… (plus d'informations)

I couldn't wait to finish this book. Not because I couldn't wait for the ending but because it was so boring. For a few chapters in the middle it had my attention and got interesting, otherwise I'm surprised I didn't put the book aside and start reading something else. From the outset, the characters in the book were not relatable and were very annoying (even their names were annoying). At no point throughout the book did I feel concerned for the outcome of any character or the story in general. The idea of a drifter, an invisible being put on Earth by God - neither angel nor demon - who doesn't even know the purpose of his existence - makes no sense and makes even less sense by the end. When I finished the book the first question in my head was "what was the point of this story?" I couldn't answer that question at all. I would not recommend this book at all and am leery to even try more from this author.… (plus d'informations)

Picked up for less than a dollar at one of the local Goodwill thrift shops, I mainly bought this book because of it’s cover image. My attention was grabbed and I pulled the book from it’s shelf and dusted it off.

The novel itself is the second written by Sharon Rogers. It covers a small suburb that is fraught with disappearances, and a seemingly increasing drug problem. An unassuming household in the burbs holds a cult faction who reveres the work of Michelangelo as perfection. The leader of this group is capturing individuals and torturing them to get models for a reproduction of one of Michelangelo’s lesser works. It is a non-standard book of good vs evil, with the cultists on one side pitted against secretive urban monks and police on the other.

I actually rather enjoyed this book. It is a nice standalone thriller/suspense novel with well fleshed out characters and an interesting premise. Give it a shot. It surprised me and though not best-seller quality, it did not disappoint.

~~

This brings me to my main complaints on the book, neither pertain to the novel itself, but instead to the marketing and presentation of it…

First – Publishers should be more careful about categorization of books. The book was published by Howard Books / Simon and Schuster, and is marketed as a Christian book. This should not deter folks from reading it. There were some very “Goddy” moments in the book, but it was not preachy. In fact, the sections which were heavy handed were directly in character.

I know of at least three individuals who will enjoy this book, once I can get them past the tagging as a “Christian” book. You are doing a disservice to the author by pigeon holing their work like this. Let it stand for itself.

Second – Previously stated, the cover of this book caught my attention. It was gritty and well photoshopped. In writing this review, I found that the stock imagery for this cover has been used on at least 3 other books, minus the grit. A German audio book, and multiple paperback novels use a base/stock version of the cover art. One of them even carries the tag line “a novel of suspense” as does ‘Unpretty’. You would think they would have straight up bought the image rights or otherwise paid more attention to the market. Do you even realize that this has happened?

Some of the books listed here were published before Unpretty and others afterward, so I will let you do your own research, but seriously, I think this was lazy and backwards. If you didn’t want to buy the rights but liked the idea, why not just reshoot the image? Hell, are you sure you even had the rights to use this considering other books used it on novels years before you did? Just thinking aloud here..

By the way publishers, I would love a job, even sweeping floors which is where the above critique would likely land me. Thanks.
… (plus d'informations)

Sinner is about an author researching material for her next book, during her investigation she and her team follow the trail of a symbol that traces back to before the civil war. The sinner is an interesting character who dreams of crimes before they happen and tries to stop them. The book has some good action scenes, with some surprize's at the end. The story is broken up randomly by journal entries that I hated at first but all began to make sense in the second half of the book. Other then some dialog between the characters sometimes that did not seem natural the story is pretty good and has some religious tie-in's for people who are interested.… (plus d'informations)