Erin Pringle

My favorite novels can be any fiction genre as long as when the book ends I really miss the characters. I either want the characters to continue to be part of my life or I want to follow the characters as their lives continue to unfold.

Hezada! fits easily into my favorite classification. The characters seem real, not flat representations of some type of human or a personification of some specific trait. The story revolves around the well developed characters. I like the Midwestern setting but it's not a breezy, happy tale of small town Midwestern life some plot twists thankfully prevent things from things from being clear and simple. The aging performers in the shrinking circus could be be depressing but the circus manages to maintain its dignity.

No spoilers but small town life is dying. The small traveling circus is no longer. Yet the flawed people who live in small towns and those who once ran the circus will carry on and help each other.… (more)

I was overjoyed when I found out I'd won a hard-copy book from LibraryThing's Member Giveaway. Erin, the author was gracious enough to send me a signed copy together with a personal message in a card too. ☺

The stories in the book however are far from cheery. But not in a bad way. In fact, the stories are well-written that I needed moments to digest at times at the horror that befell some of the characters in there.

The Floating Order is a collection of 19 short stories that revolves around children and the stuff they face...
http://thinkb4aftertot.blogspot.com/2010/08/floating-order.html… (more)