As I have stated several times previously, most of my reading is nonfiction and when I do read fiction, it is generally scifi/fantasy, not the bestseller list types. The last James Patterson I read was 10+ years ago; the last Stephen King was the original publication of The Stand. But occasionally I do come across fiction outside the scifi/fantasy genre that simply captivates me.
In my fiction reading, I find that I classify a novel that I have actually read as either OK/good, very good, or fantastic. It is only novels in the last category that I consider worthy of recommending to anyone. What makes a novel fantastic? For me, such a novel has these characteristics, among others: believable characters, a good story/plot that holds my interest, tight dialogue, few errors (e.g., spelling, grammar, syntax), evokes an emotional response (e.g., laughter, concern for a character, tears), and imbues in me a strong desire to immediately purchase more books written by the author. The Promises to Keep quartet by Shayne Parkinson fall into this category.
In the Age of eBooks and self-publishing, an age when most self-published ebooks can best be described as mediocre and more often as significantly worse than mediocre, Shayne Parkinson’s Promises to Keep quartet stand out for the excellence of the writing and the storytelling. The quartet well deserves, in my opinion, being characterized as fantastic!
To be correct, Promises to Keep is a trilogy — Sentence of Marriage, Mud and Gold, and Settling the Account — followed by a sequel, A Second Chance. Because they deal with the same characters and actually follow one on the other, I refer to them as the Promises to Keep quartet.
The quartet is the story of Amy Leith, her trials and tribulations, beginning with her adolescence in the 1880s in New Zealand — the Victorian Age. It is historical fiction, a genre I haven’t read in years, that is well researched and woven into a tight story as Amy grows from youth to grandmotherhood. It is a story of misfortune and fortune; it is a story of a difficult life brought about by Victorian morality and acquiescence to Victorian norms on the frontier. It is a grandiloquent look at New Zealand’s coming of age.
It is also more than the story of Amy Leith — it is the concurrent story of her family and her cousins and how they struggle to adapt by imitation as well as by innovation. Amy is the quiet one who puts everyone else first; her cousin Lizzie is the dominant one with a heart of gold who holds much of the family — immediate and related — together by sheer force of her will.
Amy, a farm girl with dreams of becoming a teacher and seeing more of the world (or at least Auckland), is a victim of Victorian morality but a fighter; she accepts her fate but doesn’t let it destroy her essence. And her rock is Lizzie whose expansive heart embraces Amy throughout all that befalls her.
Shayne Parkinson’s books are worthy of publishing by a major house; alas, they are not. I stumbled on them by her offering Sentence of Marriage as a free ebook. The title intrigued me. Once I started it, I immediately purchased the remaining 3 books ($1.99 each at Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, and other ebooksellers) — the story was captivating, the characters real, the dialogue crisp. I admit to having cried and laughed and even having wanted to murder a character and beat another one within an inch of his life — which is simply a testament to how well written these books are.
Normally I read a novel then delete it from my ereading device — not these. I have marked them to be reread (something I very, very, very rarely ever do with any book) and for my wife to read them. I also marked them to recommend to you. The quality of these books is the quality that every author should strive to meet and represents the best of the self-publishing world that ebooks and the Internet have brought to the reading public.
You might disagree with me about these books, but you cannot go wrong giving them a try. Sentence of Marriage is free as an ebook at Smashwords and Barnes & Noble. It is also available from Amazon as a paperback, albeit a high-priced one. I eagerly await the next volume in the series.
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by sell ebooks, Shayne Parkinson. Shayne Parkinson said: Fabulous new review of "Sentence of Marriage"! https://americaneditor.wordpress.com/2010/05/21/on-books-the-promises-to-keep-quartet/ […]
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Pingback by Tweets that mention On Books: The Promises to Keep Quartet « An American Editor -- Topsy.com — May 21, 2010 @ 3:39 pm |
Richard, thank you so much for this insightful and generous review. I’m almost lost for words – a rare state for me.
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Comment by Shayne Parkinson — May 21, 2010 @ 4:58 pm |
Wow! Looks like my position as chief fan is under threat (this is fine). I’m Shayne’s husband and I thought I’d mention some of the lengths she goes to with research.
Some of the material she’s woven into her stories is adapted/inspired/whatever from family tales my father told about the farm he (and I) grew up on. Shayne spent a lot of time there as well and Amy’s valley is very similar to the valley that farm lies in. Marrying into my family was probably not exactly deliberate research for her writing, but it sure did the job!
She’s also meticulous about language and other details. Phrases and words that post date the time she’s writing are hunted down and removed. Boat timetables are checked because, even though the town is fictional, it is largely based on the place we both grew up and there was a real boat so it has to sail on the right day. She’s made period outfits so that she knows how they feel to wear. I don’t think she’s actually made butter herself, but she has made cheese. I could go on but I’ll stop there.
Like you I’m more into science fiction, but when I get reading these I can’t put them down (of course I can be accused of bias).
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Comment by Roger Parkinson — May 21, 2010 @ 7:56 pm |
[…] not always the case: in a later post, Rich recommends the ‘Promises to Keep’ quartet by Shane Parkinson as a well-written […]
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Pingback by Self-publishing and poor editing « Inside Hawley Lodge — May 26, 2010 @ 5:19 pm |
[…] books that are hard to find are the books like those written by Shayne Parkinson, Richard Tuttle, and Celina Summers, independent authors whose books are well written, well […]
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Pingback by Finding the Needle in a Haystack of Needles (I) « An American Editor — June 16, 2010 @ 7:52 am |
[…] may recall, I highly recommended the Promises to Keep Quartet by Shayne Parkinson in an earlier article. My wife wanted to read the quartet but […]
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Pingback by Some Worthwhile Ideas for eBook Devices « An American Editor — June 22, 2010 @ 7:05 am |
[…] mentioned earlier, and Shayne Parkinson’s Promises to Keep quartet, which I reviewed here and here, deftly prove. Each of these books cost less than $3 yet are exceedingly well-written and […]
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Pingback by The Lure of eBooks: Gotcha! « An American Editor — September 10, 2010 @ 4:37 am |
[…] mentioned earlier, and Shayne Parkinson’s Promises to Keep quartet, which I reviewed here and here, deftly prove. Each of these books cost less than $3 yet are exceedingly well-written and […]
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Pingback by The Lure of eBooks: Gotcha! | The Digital Reader — September 10, 2010 @ 5:55 am |
[…] Tyley, as is the case with the exceptionally talented New Zealand writer, Shayne Parkinson (see On Books: The Promises to Keep Quartet), remains unsigned by the major traditional publishing houses. Makes me wonder if there is a Down […]
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Pingback by Two ebooks from Smashwords you should read | eBookanoid.com — March 30, 2011 @ 3:46 pm |
I couldn’t agree more!! I loved this series and flew through all four books and now I want more! I hope there will be some. I am recommending this to my friends.
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Comment by Danielle — November 14, 2011 @ 11:50 am |
[…] Parkinson. For those of you unfamiliar with the quartet, I reviewed the books 2 years ago in On Books: The Promises to Keep Quartet and again in On Books: Promises to Keep are Promises Kept, and have been waiting for the next book […]
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Pingback by Worth Noting: Daisy’s War by Shayne Parkinson « An American Editor — May 18, 2012 @ 4:02 am |
A glowing review, but I’ll take you to task on your statement that ‘most self-published ebooks can best be described as mediocre and more often as significantly worse than mediocre.’ I’d say ‘some’, not ‘most’, or even ‘a lot’ if you insist, though I see few bad ones these days. (I suspect that authors without high standards don’t submit their books to me for review because i make it clear that if theyt haven’t employed an editor, I probably won’t finish the book) I created the Awesome Indies listing to give credit to those self published and Indie published books that meet the kind of standards you’d expect from a traditional publisher. A growing number of such authors employ professional editors to make sure that their books are high quality. The books on the Awesome Indies list are there because they’ve been recommended by people with your kind of qualitifcations, in fact I’m adding ‘Sentence of Marriage’ to the list because of this review. The list is only a few months old, but the number of books grows weekly. Have a look at the crtieria for being on the list and the submissions process, and I think you’ll agree that although you may not like all the books on that list, they all come up to professional standards.
If you come across any other books that you think should be on the Awesome Indies list, please let me know. http://awesomeindies.wordpress.com
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Comment by Tahlia Newland — May 29, 2012 @ 10:27 pm |
Tahlia, for every indie book that I read from beginning to end, I delete 9 to 10 after reading the first few pages. That ratio strikes me as being supportive of my statements. Of the indie books that I do read from beginning to end, very few are worthy of a 5-star rating; most fall between 3 and 4 stars, which I consider mediocre at best. Do not confuse mediocrity with inability to read. Mediocrity means the the book is not worthy of a review or a recommendation by me.
As for other books, if you search my archives using the Worth Noting and the On Books tags as filters, you will find additional books that I highly recommend by authors such as Vicki Tyley, L.J. Sellars, Rebecca Forster, Michael Hicks, and David Crookes.
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Comment by americaneditor — May 30, 2012 @ 6:24 am |
[…] of a book that I think highly of, Shayne Parkinson’s Sentence of Marriage (for my review, see On Books: The Promises to Keep Quartet) were two particular reviews. The first review gave the book a 1-star rating, anonymously, of […]
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Pingback by The Uneducated Reader « An American Editor — August 6, 2012 @ 4:01 am |
[…] of a book that I think highly of, Shayne Parkinson’sSentence of Marriage (for my review, see On Books: The Promises to Keep Quartet) were two particular reviews. The first review gave the book a 1-star rating, anonymously, of […]
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Pingback by The uneducated reader | You made it here. You must like books! — August 12, 2012 @ 6:13 am |
[…] also have a list of ebook-only indie authors, like Emma Jameson, Michael Hicks, Vicki Tyley, Shayne Parkinson, Rebecca Forster, and L.J. Sellers, among others, who I consider must-read but whose ebooks are at […]
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Pingback by Why Aren’t Publishers Pushing eBooks? « An American Editor — August 22, 2012 @ 4:03 am |