Le Salon Annex

Written under a pseudonym and told from the first-person perspective, in detailed intimacy, Carter Monroe’s novel reads like a   roman à clef .   Journey   captures only a few days in the summer of 1971 in North Carolina. The narrator and protagonist, Eddie Watson, is a nineteen-year-old college student looking to escape his family and find some fun. What begins as a night out for Eddie with friends and acquaintances, who are all attending a concert, gradually becomes the onset of an insightful quest for his self-awareness and identity. And this is only the beginning for him. Find   Journey .

"Reading Open A " copyright 2016 Kristin Fouquet Some believe there is a correlation between the creation of great art and suffering. The artists in Kimberly Richardson’s novel Open A must succumb to sacrifice to embrace their passions and their art. The “Dark Gift” each of these eccentric characters possesses is a creative talent entwined with madness. We view this Gothic dream through the eyes of Graydon Fayette, a master violinist who has an extraordinary relationship with his instrument. Graydon’s uncle is the luthier of his violin and a mysterious man who produces elusive wines from unusual ingredients. The Fayettes are an ancient Southern family who enjoy the privilege of a dark influence unbeknownst to normal society. While their relationships with one another do not adhere to the usual mores, they are civilized and polite in their formalities and rituals. When Graydon becomes enchanted with the beautiful, alluring Aerin, and subsequently her twin brother, he f...

"Reading All Our Yesterdays " copyright 2014 Kristin Fouquet Only several pages into Erik Tarloff’s novel All Our Yesterdays , I knew I was going to adore it. Was it naïve optimism? Was the plotline already so riveting I didn’t think I’d ever be able to put it down? Maybe a little of both, but the simplest reason was because I immediately loved the protagonist. The story begins with a first person recollection of when he, Zeke, met his love, Molly, at a party in 1968. Through this flashback, the reader gets a glimpse into the decent, good guy he is and will prove to be over time. The setting is Berkeley in the late 60s and early 70s, a backdrop of rapid social change and heightened political awareness, juxtaposed with contemporary Berkeley. Because of Tarloff’s masterful construction, one is not reliant only on Zeke’s first person account, which occurs in the chapters from the past. These “then” segments shift back and forth with “now” chapters delivered in third p...