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Amanda DeWees
Joined: 20 Apr 2012
Posts: 16
Location: Atlanta
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 Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 2:21 pm Post subject: |
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Hi, folks. I'm Amanda. I'm brand-new to the forum, but Miss Ruby persuaded me to come out of authorial hermitude and post. 
I'm so delighted to see readers enjoying Sea of Secrets! It's very exciting to see all your comments.
Eggletina, you mentioned Til We Have Faces, and that's such an interesting question because I have read that book and admire it a lot--but I can't remember now whether I read it before or after writing Sea of Secrets. I know that I wasn't consciously trying to make Oriel's name resemble Orual, but unconsciously, well, I can't be sure.
One bit of trivia you may find interesting: for a while I planned not to give the heroine a name at all. As it is, you've probably noticed already that most characters don't call her by name; they address her by nickname or endearment or something else, and the way they address her says a lot about their relationship.
Miss Ruby has posted a wonderful profile of me that talks a little more about the writing of Sea of Secrets, if you're interested in knowing more.
Thank you all for sharing your thoughts about my book. It makes me so happy to know that it's found readers who enjoy it! |
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Lynda X
Joined: 05 Apr 2007
Posts: 1247
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| Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 7:34 pm Post subject: |
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| I just read the section available at Amazon for free which I liked, but because of everybody's raves, I ordered it. It seemed to me, tho, to be set in America, not England, but I can't quite put my finger on why I felt that way, when it so clearly is in England. Anyone else get that feeling and able to pinpoint why? |
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maggie b.
Joined: 23 Mar 2007
Posts: 2252
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| Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2012 2:15 pm Post subject: |
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| Lynda X wrote: | | I just read the section available at Amazon for free which I liked, but because of everybody's raves, I ordered it. It seemed to me, tho, to be set in America, not England, but I can't quite put my finger on why I felt that way, when it so clearly is in England. Anyone else get that feeling and able to pinpoint why? |
This is one of the few historicals I've come across that made me feel more like I was in England than America, so I guess I had the opposite reaction. 
maggie b.
_________________
http://maggiebbooksandteas.blogspot.com
She is too fond of books and it has turned her brain. - Louisa May Alcott |
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maggie b.
Joined: 23 Mar 2007
Posts: 2252
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| Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2012 2:19 pm Post subject: |
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| MMcA wrote: | | Quote: | | My only issue is, I loathe Hamlet, so I'm predisposed to be more impatient with Herron than Oriel is at the moment. |
And I got the HEA I was rooting for, so that made me happy. (The mother though - perhaps I'm overfond of my children, but I thought she took that revelation fairly lightly.) I didn't really believe that they'd all recover from that angst to become a happy family again, but somehow that didn't detract from my enjoyment - it was all melodrama, and I could live with the implausible ending.
I really liked the author's note at the back too: I thought she achieved what she had hoped to achieve with the book. I'd read her again.
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I would read her again also. And like you, I was pleased with the HEA we received.
I totally agree re the mother at the end. You don't forgive that. I also didn't buy the whole Hugo, the will and the Duke thing. It didn't seem in the nature of the Duke, most especially since Hugo wasn't even a member of the nobility.
maggie b.
_________________
http://maggiebbooksandteas.blogspot.com
She is too fond of books and it has turned her brain. - Louisa May Alcott |
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Jane A
Joined: 23 Mar 2007
Posts: 714
Location: So Cal
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| Posted: Tue May 01, 2012 8:45 am Post subject: |
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| maggie b. wrote: |
I totally agree re the mother at the end. You don't forgive that. I also didn't buy the whole Hugo, the will and the Duke thing. It didn't seem in the nature of the Duke, most especially since Hugo wasn't even a member of the nobility.
maggie b. |
Those things were a big problem for me and definitely impacted my grade on this book. Everything in the story hinged on things that ultimately made no sense. I'm being vague to avoid spoilers! |
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Eggletina
Joined: 06 Jul 2010
Posts: 340
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| Posted: Tue May 01, 2012 10:54 am Post subject: |
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Also agreed on the mother's forgiveness being too much of a stretch. However, as this was gothic romance and not tragedy, I was willing to suspend belief.
| Quote: | Maggie b. said: I also didn't buy the whole Hugo, the will and the Duke thing. It didn't seem in the nature of the Duke, most especially since Hugo wasn't even a member of the nobility.
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I wondered why the identities of the trustees were a mystery to begin with. It didn't seem realistic to me that Hugo in particular would have been made one given what they knew and suspected about him.
Overall, though, I did enjoy the story. |
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maggie b.
Joined: 23 Mar 2007
Posts: 2252
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| Posted: Tue May 01, 2012 2:45 pm Post subject: |
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| Jane A wrote: |
Those things were a big problem for me and definitely impacted my grade on this book. Everything in the story hinged on things that ultimately made no sense. I'm being vague to avoid spoilers! |
They impacted my grade but overall I still really enjoyed the story. I thought the author did a great job of capturing the essence of the gothic - that impending sense of doom, the young, naive heroine, the brooding hero - perfectly. So I wound up overall liking the book and giving it about a B/B-. The author needs to work on her plotting - the trustee thing with Hugo was frankly ridiculous. The mom thing stretched my disbelief - it was clear the Duchess was very fond of her new husband and would tolerate almost anything from him but that made no sense. I mean there's forgiving and then there's being blind to someone's horrid character flaws. This fell into the latter for me.
I would recommend "The Haunting of Maddy Clare" to anyone looking for a good gothic. That was beautifully written and plotted.
| Eggletina wrote: | | Overall, though, I did enjoy the story. |
In the end this is how I felt as well.
maggie b.
_________________
http://maggiebbooksandteas.blogspot.com
She is too fond of books and it has turned her brain. - Louisa May Alcott |
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JWinter
Joined: 01 May 2012
Posts: 3
Location: USA
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| Posted: Wed May 02, 2012 3:52 am Post subject: |
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| Sounds like a good read, although I'm not a huge Goth Romance fan, I'm willing to give it a go, I'll go and find right now and start after I'm finished with Fifty Shades Freed. |
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Jane A
Joined: 23 Mar 2007
Posts: 714
Location: So Cal
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| Posted: Wed May 02, 2012 8:22 am Post subject: |
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| maggie b. wrote: |
They impacted my grade but overall I still really enjoyed the story. I thought the author did a great job of capturing the essence of the gothic - that impending sense of doom, the young, naive heroine, the brooding hero - perfectly. So I wound up overall liking the book and giving it about a B/B-. The author needs to work on her plotting - the trustee thing with Hugo was frankly ridiculous. The mom thing stretched my disbelief - it was clear the Duchess was very fond of her new husband and would tolerate almost anything from him but that made no sense. I mean there's forgiving and then there's being blind to someone's horrid character flaws. This fell into the latter for me.
I would recommend "The Haunting of Maddy Clare" to anyone looking for a good gothic. That was beautifully written and plotted.
| Eggletina wrote: | | Overall, though, I did enjoy the story. |
In the end this is how I felt as well.
maggie b. |
I, too, enjoyed it. Up until the end. But at that point, where all is revealed, I was so disappointed that the entire situation revolved around such improbabilities that I felt cheated. My grade was more in the B-/C+ range. A different plot resolution would have kept my grade much higher.
And thanks for the rec on the gothic! |
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maggie b.
Joined: 23 Mar 2007
Posts: 2252
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| Posted: Wed May 02, 2012 9:18 am Post subject: |
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I hope everyone likes the Maddy Clare book. Mrs. Fairfax recommended it on the Recently Read thread and I thorouhly enjoyed it.
I hope this means gothics are back on the rise. I enjoy them - not in great quantity but reading several a year is nice.
maggie b.
_________________
http://maggiebbooksandteas.blogspot.com
She is too fond of books and it has turned her brain. - Louisa May Alcott |
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MissRubyJones
Joined: 22 Apr 2008
Posts: 78
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janet w
Joined: 11 May 2007
Posts: 363
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| Posted: Sat May 19, 2012 3:47 pm Post subject: Hope there's a Gothic Revival! |
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| I always loved them -- ordering and looking forward to reading one of my fave tropes. |
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MissRubyJones
Joined: 22 Apr 2008
Posts: 78
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| Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2012 8:32 pm Post subject: |
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| It was great to see this book reviewed by AAR, and also to see that someone else loved the character of Oriel as much as I did. I hope we're going to see a bunch more gothics from Amanda DeWees! |
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