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book reviews |
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Multi-volume, multi-genre author Kyle Morrow, introduces us to her third volume in the Montana Romance series, Two Crow Omen: A Bryn Sheridan Montana Romance: Looking back— I blame Fate, that devious bitch; she never gives anyone a heads up, her ways mysterious. It was a Wednesday afternoon when I walked into Violet Two Bear Paw’s room, never dreaming I’d be stepping into the middle of a tribal war. Violet spat, ‘Goddamn dog-eaters.’ Her venom caught me off guard. I hesitated. Said, ‘What’d you say, Violet?’ ‘You deaf, Bryn?’ She glared. ‘That damn girl’s an Apache and so she’s a dog-eater.’ ‘You talking about Prita?’ ‘Who do ya think I’m talkin’ about, white woman?’ ‘Do you have something against Apaches?’ ‘The whole filthy tribe are dog-eaters from way back.’ I shook my head. ‘You’re kidding, right?’ ‘Makes ‘em no better than animals.’ ‘So you’re saying Prita eats dog?’ ‘No, Bryn. You stupid or what?’ Her eyes narrowed. ‘I’m saying those heathens bring trouble of the worst sort. Always have. Always will.’ I said, ‘And you’re blaming Prita for?’ Violet sighed. Looked exasperated. ‘You ignorant Twinkie. Prita’s Apache and so she’s bad luck.’ ‘If you say so.’ ‘You still don’t get it, do you?’ I shrugged. ‘Bryn, just look at the harm she’s done me. Can’t you see I’m uncomfortable as hell, having my leg up in traction like this?’ She did look uncomfortable with her leg pulled up in the air and was that why had she called me a Twinkie? didn’t sound like a term of endearment. Heck. What did I know. Violet had Blackfoot heritage and wouldn’t you think all Indian tribes stuck together? shoulda, woulda, coulda. And so Two Crow Omen begins, a Montana romance about people who live in Haywire, Montana with Native American myth and ritual.  I thoroughly enjoyed this story, once I became accustomed to the author’s unusual writing style. I actually found it refreshing and liked it quite a bit. I took my grammar-nerd hat off and shook my hair loose. On and off Indian reservations, this story is well written in first person POV, a type of writing that I love when it’s done right and the author didn’t let me down. Her scene-setting is excellent, the dialogue is so good I laughed out loud quite a number of times. The building of the characters was quite good, extending even to the horses. The story is so much fun, I give it a score of 4.8 stars.  You can buy this book:
https://smile.amazon.com/Two-Crow-Omen-Sheridan-Montana-ebook https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40736180-two-crow-omen You can follow the author: https://twitter.com/kylemontana23 https://kylemontana.com https://www.facebook.com/kyle.morrow.397 https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-morrow http://www.Amazon.com/author/kylemorrow https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/614150 Tags: action, adventure, horses, kidnapping, murder, Copyright © Mark L. Schultz 2019 except for the author’s introduction
38 Comments
7/8/2019 10:42:12 am
I am pleased with Mark's review as I am of the theory that if an author can capture the reader quickly, the reader, Mark, and as we all have found out is a grammarian and spelling perfectionist, will allow the author the errors.
Mark
7/9/2019 12:04:12 am
I certainly did enjoy your book, Kyle. Please, tell us a little about yourself. Perhaps something a little bit beyond your bio. 7/10/2019 10:16:21 am
July 10-
Mark
7/10/2019 11:44:54 am
You are welcome. I have not read those authors. There are a lot of books, I will never get to read. I did enjoy reading your book. 7/10/2019 12:42:36 pm
When I write, I write full-time as my inspiration for telling a Montana story develops so fast my fingers feel inept to keep up with my creative flow. The inspiration for this book came from my teaching experience on the Fort Belknap Reservation.
Mark
7/10/2019 01:05:59 pm
You followed the dictum to "write what you know". I think it worked out quite nice. All of the characters seemed quite real, I really enjoyed that and the First Person POV worked well. 7/10/2019 06:49:15 pm
Being a lifelong daydreamer, the genre chose me. I actually had a relationship with a blueblood from North Carolina while living in Fairbanks, Alaska, got pregnant and of course his mom rejected me. So Prita’s story became based on my experience and of course a cowgirl needs to use a gun so shooting the STUD4ME red corvette in the flank became a given. Romance is romance and the cowboy has always been the hero to rescue women and children in distress. The myth of the cowboy is very powerful even today, and thus, I always wear a hat to stay visible and play on the unpredictability of the legend.
Mark
7/10/2019 07:32:35 pm
The cowboy mythology that so many of us in North America have grown up with is very enduring. The code of honor, acts of service are important parts of that mythos. 7/11/2019 12:22:03 pm
Cal Sharp from caligraphicsdesign, designed all my book covers for me and you can see them on my web kylemontana.com. Having an art background, I would give him a gist of what I wanted, he would send a selection, and I was able to pick one of his exemplary designs quickly. Also, being a lifelong poet, I use assonance, alliteration and imagery in many ways and refer often to the book Animal Speak for animal imagery and totems, hence the title Two Crow Omen. The Lazy Y Hanging L, was my father’s cattle brand and I use that as my book brand. In one scene, the heroine shoots a red corvette in the flank. And of course the car’s vanity plate STUD4U, plays to the blueblood young man who drives it. My book covers are subliminal introductions to the story.
Mark
7/11/2019 12:36:48 pm
You can speak art, that has to be very useful when dealing with your designer. Your father's cattle brand is interesting also. Your title caught my attention, I recognized an Indian root and crows are fascinating creatures. They had me running in circles when I was looking for a nest to make a pet of a fledgling, as a boy. 7/11/2019 03:24:29 pm
I have written two other Montana romances. My novel Black Iron Brandy is set in Lewistown, Montana and with a small town retribution for dire deeds, the ranch raised heroine Cat McKinna commits justifiable homicide. Like she says, “That first summer, darling Fred treated me like a queen and my two kids, like a prince and princess. I fell for my king. We moved into the myth of happily ever-after, a love story written in money, each chapter filled with ostentation— multi-millionaire Fred showing off his financial success in excess.” They marry. Things change.
Mark
7/11/2019 04:03:53 pm
Your books sound interesting. Rodeo erotica is a genre I have never heard of. 7/11/2019 04:25:38 pm
Wordrefiner.com said, ‘Rodeo erotica is a genre I have never heard of.’ I doubt anyone has as I created the genre after attempting to read the victimized heroine in Fifty Shades of Grey. As an antithesis I decided I would create a bold powerful heroine who takes charge of her life and the men she meets. The book Belt Buckle Bunny is Siobahn Sheehan’s, or Shiv’s story, with excerpts from her rodeo erotica books. The title comes from what successful rodeo cowboys who earn big buckles call the groupies who want sex. Shiv’s pen name C. Pussy Buck derived from me being an avid fan of Pearl S. Buck our first female Noble Prize winner in literature.
Mark
7/11/2019 09:03:57 pm
I love your sense of humor. That is great. 7/11/2019 09:20:42 pm
As a teenager I read Ayn Rand's novel The Atlas Shrugged and the influence on me has been immense. Learning that there were other folks who had similar beliefs to my inquiring mind gave me a sense of self. Ayn Rand named her main character Dagny and I told myself if I ever had a daughter, that would be her name. I do and she has become a powerful young woman and with great character, empathy and the ability to thrive.
Mark
7/11/2019 09:28:46 pm
That is really neat. I read and enjoyed that book as a young adult. While in high school, I was reading mostly sci-fi with a little fantasy thrown in. I guess I shouldn't call Tolkein's LOTR little, I read it three times before the end of high school. 7/12/2019 12:13:42 pm
When I write, I enter the zone of my main character. I own her. I create a woman I like and we become best friends. Her quirky, bold, sassy, empathetic and humorous dialogue, drive the action. The reader is captured by the deep emotional component, a few character weaknesses, the unexpected, and reads on to find out what she will be saying and doing next.
Mark
7/12/2019 12:37:51 pm
That works very well, in my opinion. I love the idea of her becoming your best friend. Since you know her so well, you pull off the First Person POV grandly. 7/12/2019 02:44:00 pm
Only in my first novel did a supportive reader show me where areas of my work became too tedious. Her guidance helped me immensely, as did attending Aberystwyth University in Wales and earning an MA in creative writing. I learned how to hook the reader and say more with less. The value of that experience enabled me to write with very little content-editing. Also, from growing up a shy an introverted kid who lived her life in books, I worked at becoming gregarious. My encounters with various Montana folk, give me a rich milieu in which to flesh out other characters and they seem to write themselves.
Mark
7/12/2019 03:12:10 pm
What a wonderful reader. That's how I started as a proofreader, more or less, reading a book written by a friend a very long time ago. There were no computers or spell checkers when I started. I thought computers would cut my proofreading career short, it didn't take long before I saw how wrong my thought was. 7/12/2019 04:27:08 pm
No one has said so. I don’t tell anyone as I just use parts of their character and when I killed my ex in Black Iron Brandy, I am sure he would recognize his badass self at the end of the relationship. In fact, I hope he reads my book and sees himself and his nefarious deeds at the end. Well, I did make him out to be a worse character but that’s fiction for you. And it was my desire to kill him that finally motivated me to write my first book. Very cathartic too. I highly recommend such an endeavor for anyone with writer’s block.
Mark
7/12/2019 05:08:47 pm
I think that is the most original cure for writer's block I have heard of. 7/13/2019 10:44:14 am
What I really enjoy about writing fiction is setting up ongoing conflicts to enrich my characters. Getting numerous characters involved becomes a ruckus game with often unexpected happenings. Teasing and humor play a big part as does the defense of the good guy or gal by friends and family. Generally all my antagonists are outsiders, or what we call folks who moved here from elsewhere. They move here clueless about local social mores, develop anger issues, and often are verbally and or physically abusive. This plays well against us good old Montanans who live by the cowboy code of honor. Remember, what’s fun about writing fiction, is you can create biases with blasé.
Mark
7/13/2019 01:16:39 pm
That is an excellent method for the setting you chose. It's quite believable and natural. I think almost everyone has experienced that type of interaction at least once in their life. 7/13/2019 03:04:03 pm
What is your writing routine when you sit down to write?
Mark
7/13/2019 03:31:04 pm
Muses can take any form necessary, so I am not surprised that yours is a horse spirit muse. 7/13/2019 06:59:09 pm
I hope my readers follow me on my main heroine’s journey and have fun doing so. We all need an escape, and my fun reads allow the reader to forget our troubled world. I also hope they remember to stand up for what is right and not follow a negative crowd. A caustic crowd mentality catches people unaware and can be enticing when all seems dire. I ask that all people remember we are all human beings with hopes and desires. Let us all be kind and empathetic.
Mark
7/14/2019 11:09:48 am
I love that perspective and wholeheartedly endorse it. There is not enough kindness and civility in this world. I love humor, it feels so good to have a hearty laugh! Your book has some very funny moments in it, also. 7/14/2019 12:23:38 pm
What popular modern authors have influenced you?
Mark
7/14/2019 12:42:52 pm
I so agree, I have spent many sleepless nights when I was much younger because I kept telling myself, one more chapter. I couldn't put the book down. Isaac Asimov comes to mind for me, his Foundation Trilogy floored me, among other books and authors. Tolkien's LOTR is another. 7/14/2019 02:18:05 pm
My writing moves fluidly with little thought. The dialogue creates the action, creates the narration, creates the story or vice versa. My characters do all of this work. As to the question of how I use the five senses in fiction, this is the first time I have been asked. As a life-long poet, I should have realized the importance of such awareness, and in my first three novels visual imagery has been the most important. Of the other four senses, I use the sense of smell the least, and using all of the senses will be in the forefront of my muse to enrich my next novel.
Mark
7/14/2019 04:19:23 pm
You have a most cooperative muse, I love how you describe the process. I don't think I have ever heard it described in that way before. Every author has a unique way of doing what they do. 7/14/2019 09:00:25 pm
When I first retired to my dream town here, I worked at the Spa Hot Springs Hotel for over two years. With the support of the owners, I sold over six cases of books of forty per case, by talking to the guests and selling my cowgirl persona, as I always wear boots and a hat. People enjoyed the personalized signing. Then last summer at our Red Ants Pants, July music festival, Pam Tillis came in to soak in the springs. I signed and gave her a book and she took one to give to Lori Morgan. I also mail out a copy here and there and sent one to Kevin Costner when he was in Darby, MT last summer making a western TV show. I have business cards I pass out to those who might seem interested. And as to why I picked wordrefiner, your site came up, Mark, was affordable, and it took so long to get to this process, that I figured you were in demand because other authors were pleased with your services, Mark, and the word has spread. I had also read somewhere that promoting yourself on Twitter is a no, no. The last time I posted on my Facebook was about a year ago when I finished self-publishing my 3rd book. Before that, maybe another year hence. Thus I figured that an inundation of posts on both sites would not be too offensive to my followers.
Mark
7/14/2019 09:47:24 pm
Marketing is a multi-headed beast, it has so many different aspects. You have done well pursuing the personal angle. You could take that a step further and try to place small counter displays in places where tourists go, as the "local author". You could expand your presence locally by seeking interviews on local tv, cable access, radio or college stations. 7/15/2019 10:58:53 am
For about fifteen years, I have been a member on and off of the Authors of the Flathead in Kalispell, Montana, a inspiring an very worthwhile group of active writers. Writers from all around Montana, join. The group presents craft-of-writing workshops by members as well as guest speakers. They organize satellite writer's critique groups and online critique groups to reach members who are not local. But most importantly, they host the Annual Flathead River Writers Conference - a nationally acclaimed two-day event that includes agents, editors and publishers from all over the country as everyone wants to come here and visit Glacier National Park. The Flathead River Writers Conference is an exclusive conference in its 29th year and plays host to high-profile authors, editors, agents, publishers, and other literary figures. The conference takes place every fall in the beautiful Flathead Valley. I have attended five times and am signed up to go again this fall as the conference offers a very inspiring one-on-one feel as it limited to 100 attendees.
Mark
7/15/2019 11:31:29 am
That conference sounds wonderful. Very intimate with such a small group and powerful for networking and meeting new friends. 7/15/2019 02:05:36 pm
Yes, I have a cowboy hero. My father, Lyle William Morrow, a rancher and my cowboy hero, inspired me to pursue my dreams. He died in 1999, and I miss him. I model my life after my dad, using his strong moral cowboy code as my guide for living. Growing up on an isolated ranch in the Missouri River Breaks, I would ride my horse and daydream. I became an avid reader young, lost myself in books and began writing my own stories and poetry. Writing has remained a passion, my goal to be the Montana author people want to read. Give them a fantastic escape into to the western way of life, how we talk, interact, what we do for fun, what we find funny. Montana is my passion. I love my state, the people who live here and write books to tell our story.
Mark
7/15/2019 04:18:40 pm
That is so very sweet. Your father is your hero. I am working on that with my children, I think I am doing it right. Two of three live within three miles of us. Leave a Reply. |
Who am I?An avid reader, typobuster, and the Hyper-Speller. I am a husband, father, and grandfather. Archives
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