June/July 2008 Book Club Selection: Violet Dawn by Brandilyn Collins

[Tarin]

The votes are in! Violet Dawn by Brandilyn Collins is the selection for the June/July period (mystery genre). Official discussion of the book will open on June 15th. Please don't post opinions until then, in order to give everyone an opportunity to finish the book. Happy reading!

[righter1]

Thanks, Tarin! Guess I'll go pick up a copy tomorrow--I read it once, but it was over a year ago, and I'd LOVE to re-read it (may end up picking the other 3 books, too!) Great read from what I remember... I could barely put it down!

[GentleJourneyAu]

I have been wanting to read something by Brandilyn. I constantly note her name on lists of favorite authors. Elaine

[ProfessorAlan]

I will be out of the country from the 11th-23rd, so I'll join the discussion late!

[Gravity]

Good choice! Ya'll are going to love Brandilyn's work!

[Laina]

It looked like we were going to be reading this book so I ordered it and got it about a week ago. I've read it and can't wait to discuss it with everyone. Happy reading!

[Tarin]

Today's the day! Discussion is now officially open, everyone! :)


Violet Dawn was the first I’ve read of Brandilyn's work, and it took all of the first half-page for me to see why she's gathered a collection of avid fans. :) Her prose is solid, her plotting strong, and her characterization a far step above the cardboard cutouts found in many "small-town" novels. The book was a fast, enjoyable read. That said, my only notable complaint is that it was too fast. The bulk of the story took place in less than one day, which really didn't allow much space for developing character motivation and thematic resonance.

For that reason, I have to give it 3 out of 5 stars.

The Good:

*Characters. Brandilyn had a good-sized cast of characters to deal with, but she managed to keep any of them from feeling flat or stale. Kanner Lake is most definitely a town peopled with individuals.

*Fresh imagery. The prose really jumped out at me on a number of occasions. The freshness and ingenuity of some of her similes and descriptions made details absolutely pop. She took potential cliches and turned them on their heads. For example:

"Head down, Paige birthed like a frenzied woman-baby from the black chamber into the dim garage." (pg. 46)

"Paige could feel the weight of her own body against the floor, as if somebody had turned up the pull of gravity." (pg. 161)

"Dark scenes from her past sooted her brain." (pg. 282)

*POV. She demonstrated a masterful use of and control over her POVs, esp. in Part 1, where she intersperses the introductions scenes of her POV characters with the lengthy scene of Paige removing Edna San's body to the lake.

*Christian elements. I thought the Christian elements in the story were handled very well. Brandilyn did a great job presenting Christian characters who base their lives on Christian mores without letting it get unbalanced or didactic.




The Bad:

*Too short. The tension is high from page one, and Brandilyn keeps the story zipping along without giving her readers a chance to remove their fingernails from between their teeth. But because she never slowed, some of the interesting scenarios and potential subplots in the book were never explored as they could have been. I like a book to have enough thematic resonance to leave me with something to chew on at the end, and I really didn't find that here.

*Disproportionate. Paige spends almost 100 pages discovering, hiding, and cleaning up after the body - and yet the mystery is solved, the bad guy caught, and the body recovered in less than a day. The lengthy and graphic opening and the violent ending bookended a story too slim to support their weight.

*Paige's character. Perhaps this is just personal opinion, but I felt that, considering her upbringing, Paige's mindset didn't ring true. Here we have a young woman with a strong sense of right and wrong (even if she doesn't always heed that sense); a sweet, caring nature; and a slightly naïve mindset. I have a hard time believing that a child who was raised in an atmosphere where drugs, theft, and sleeping around were all considered normal would be any of these things.

*Introduction. In the introduction, Brandilyn makes mention of how she altered Idaho's geography and how she transplanted several "real" businesses to her fictional town. Although I certainly like to know details like these, I don't like to know them before I read the book. Knowing that Kanner Laker couldn't possibly exist in Idaho's geography doesn't help my suspension of disbelief.

*Citing her own work within the book. On the same note, I was instantly snapped out of the story when she mentioned a character reading Web of Lies, one of Brandilyn's own books (from another series). Perhaps this is due in part to my sincere dislike of cameos in fiction, but this struck me as very gimmicky.

None of this is to say that I don't highly respect Brandilyn's skills as an author. I look forward to reading another of her works! !thumbsup!

[Tiata]

Tarin, I agree with you on all counts! I can't think of a thing to add LOL.

I found myself really enthusiastic about this story when reading the opening scene. Brandilyn obviously knows how to hook a reader. WOW! But, by the time I finished the book I felt that there should be so much more. It was wrapped up too neatly and too quickly. I wondered if it might have even been an editorial decision to shorten the book. It just seemed to change in speed and intensity.

The antagonist seemed a little 2-dimensional. He seemed to come out of nowhere.

I loved the merging of Paige past and present. That was nicely done, though obvious.

My favorite characer was the quirky writer. LOL I just love it when writers toss in a writer. It's always fun.

I look forward to following these characters through the series. I will be reading more.

In Him,
(who knows the plans He has for us)
~T~

[Shell-Bell]

I just came across this group last week, so I'm a little behind. Fortunately for me, my local library had a copy and I've been reading like a mad woman, jumping at the slightest noise!!!

I read Part 1 at the library. I was so engrossed in the intensity of the story, that as I walked out, I felt like someone might be following me to my car!!! How silly is that!

I tried to pick out some things that I've been learning, like looking at her POV, and showing-not-telling... I could really see the difference, her writing is DEFINITELY showing-not-telling. I also liked that one quote: "Head down, Paige birthed like a frenzied woman-baby from the black chamber into the dim garage." (pg. 46) Very very nice. :cool:

I did notice the chapters were a little short, which is kind of refreshing to me, because I'm not a very good reader and sometimes it's hard for me to follow long drawn out chapters. The only thing I didn't care for (so far) was how quickly she jumped from one character to the other. I know she's trying to introduce everyone, but it was kind of hard to keep up with.

Well, that's all for now... It's getting late, so I think I'll scare myself a while before I go to bed!!! :p

[Laina]

[QUOTE=Tarin;164555]Today's the day! Discussion is now officially open, everyone! :)




*Paige's character. Perhaps this is just personal opinion, but I felt that, considering her upbringing, Paige's mindset didn't ring true. Here we have a young woman with a strong sense of right and wrong (even if she doesn't always heed that sense); a sweet, caring nature; and a slightly naïve mindset. I have a hard time believing that a child who was raised in an atmosphere where drugs, theft, and sleeping around were all considered normal would be any of these things.

Hi Tarin,

I like your review of Violet Dawn. I agree with a lot of what you said. I wanted to say that I grew up in a home that had similar issues as Paige's. My sister who is a year older than I am turned out wild while I was the shy naive one. So it is realistic for Paige to be this way. Environment isn't the only thing that determines our character.

One thing that wasn't realistic to me was the fact that she was able to drag the dead body of Edna San out of the hot tub, into her vehicle and into the lake.

Even still, I loved the book and will definitely read more of hers.

[GentleJourneyAu]

What can I say? Very smooth writing; very clear. Excellent build. Likable characters. Yes, not a lot of character growth, but I don't think you get so much of that in mysteries, and Miss Collins hints at potential for growth in several characters to follow in the next books in the series. Satisfying ending. It took me a couple of chapters to figure out that "T's" were tourists, I may have missed something though as I was reading faster than usual trying to see what happened next. The one thing that bothered me was her ellipses of words in certain phrases, but it may be a western USA thing. I have noticed in in the writings of others from the midwest. For instance, "a good quarter mile away". I want to supply "of a" between the "quarter" and the "mile". There were quite a few more in the prose. In the dialogue, it makes sense, but not the prose. I did enjoy the book, and would recommend her now having read her, but like Tarin, I am not all about action and reaction, I like a little character development. I agree, too much time was spent on getting that poor corpse from the hot tub to the lake. Miss Collins' deep point of view was very well done, not overpowering. Unfortunately, I did not like the phrase you two quoted about bursting forth from the crawl space. I thought it and several other similes of hers were forced. I could see her thinking, "Hmm, how can I make this comparison vivid and not trite." Hope that doesn't sound picky. It is just my opinion. My overall opinion was...Excellent read. Can't wait 'til the next.

[GentleJourneyAu]

Oh yes, I forgot to say I loved the extended simile (not really a metaphor) of Black Mamba
uncoiling out of bed and catching the rays and darting his tongue etc. Each time a section describing him came up, I looked for the snake-like characteristics she would use.