Review: Brash-Voiced Character Expressed With and Author's Fresh Voice
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 3, 2013
Part of A CURSED MOON by Cecy Robson BLURB BLITZ & My ReviewProvided by Author/Publisher for review on my blog from which this is excerpted. No remuneration was exchanged and all opinions herein are my own except as noted.I’ve been fortunate to read this series from the first book (I have not read the first novella THE WEIRD GIRLS) and I love the freshness of Cecy’s voice. She really immerses herself and us in Celia Wird’s voice. Celia is one of the four Wird sisters who were the victims of a curse gone wrong – one of those be careful what you wish for kind of things. Other books about her and her sisters’ lives in the Lake Tahoe area are in this feminine voice but A CURSED MOON comes from the sisters’ friend and werewolf, Bren. Bren has been instrumental in the fight against evil in the form of the Tribe a group of power hungry, up to no good supernaturals.Celia’s mate is a pure blood werewolf, Aric, who is unable to be with her for way too many reasons. All her sisters are with werewolves. Each of them possess powers as well. Celia turns into a big cat, and another wields fire, another heals.The story here gives us background into Bren’s life, and that of their other friend, a sort of nerdy guy named Danny. Danny is really smart but a comedic character whose lack of fashion sense is just sad. But he’s the guy who does research and knows who’s bad and what different signs mean.My feeling is this novella helps to expand Cecy’s voice in the first person POV of a male character. It’s an exercise I see done by many authors. This might seem a small feat, but I think one of the hardest things a writer can do is write from the other side of the gender divide. I think it’s one reason I mostly read female writers.I think Cecy pretty much nails Bren’s characterization through his voice. There’s a lot of bravado and machismo to Bren, as the description says he’s brash. Not making a guy sound like a jerk is not easy. Men are often written as too adolescent, boisterous, bombastic, with braggadocio galore. Bren seems a little adolescent, a bit of a jerk, but here it’s not a woman writing the guy that way but the character is actually that kind of guy.The trick is whether the voice grows with the character and herein it does.Cecy’s characters, except maybe Misha and his vampires, are very human for people who aren’t entirely human and who behave like humans if not with humanity. Cecy also manages to give each character something of their “other” side too. They are all distinct – although I will admit to having a hard time keeping Celia’s sisters, Shayna and Taran, as well as their mates, separate.I enjoyed this novella and hope you will too. Cecy writes with a lot of heart and empathy for her characters.