Amanda StrongResenhas

From Amazon description:
On a journey to uncover her family’s story, Spotted Fawn travels through time and space to reclaim connection to ancestors, language, and the land—creating a path forward in this essential graphic novel.


In the dreamworld she bears witness to a mountain of buffalo skulls. They stand as a ghostly monument to the slaughter of the Plains bison to near extinction-- a key tactic to starve and contain the Indigenous People onto reservations. On this path, Spotted Fawn knows she must travel through her own family history to confront the harsh realities of the past and reignite her connection to her people and the land. Her darkroom becomes a portal, and her photographs allow her glimpses into the lives of her relatives over the course of four chapters of this book, which follow the phases of the moon. Time and space become unlocked and unfurl in front of her eyes. Guided by her ancestors, Spotted Fawn’s travels through the past allow her to come into full face—like the moon itself.


Adapted from the acclaimed stop-motion animated film of the same name, written and directed by Amanda Strong, Four Faces of the Moon brings the oral and written history of the Michif, Cree, Nakoda and Anishinaabe Peoples and their cultural link to the buffalo alive on the page. Deeply resonant and beautifully rendered, this graphic novel retelling is essential reading.


Backmatter by Dr. Sherry Farrell-Racette (Michif), an associate professor of Native Studies and Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Manitoba, provides information on Michif culture and history and the injustices of colonialism.

Deeply toned graphics move the sparsely worded story forward. Strong tells of her connections with her forbears, and how that connection has gifted her with the inner strength to hold on to her heritage. Five languages are used, reflecting the historic role of Metis as interpreters and linguists, but English is used as the overall text to help those of us handicapped by limited knowledge of other languages.
As impactful as the message was, I was also impressed by the message encrypted in the long list of those who had worked on the original animated filmstrip. It shows a community working together can create a path to the future. I am so grateful that indigenous people still have the strength to come out of their protective coloring and defend this Earth we live on from the actions of the greedy ones.½

Twists in Time is an anthology of time travel stories. I usually don't read anthologies or time travel for that matter, but I found these stories interesting and engaging. These authors are very creative in their story telling. The writing is superb and the stories are powerful. I was pleasantly surprised with this anthology. I won Twists in Time in a blog giveaway, and all opinions are my own.

This was only my second book by this author, and I loved it as much as the first one I read, Juliette and the Monday ManDates. I found All the Way to Heaven a delightful love story. Ms. Doughty doesn't take you to heaven, but maybe the next best thing. The way she describes Italy, the olive gardens, balconies, sunsets, the pastries and even the wine, you can almost see, smell and taste it. It was like taking a mini vacation right from my own backyard. I would highly recommend this to anyone who has a love for travel, especially Tuscany.

I thought that this was surprisingly good read. I was expecting some explicit sex scenes because the setting is in Italy and a lot of international romance novels tend to be filled with drinking and sex. (Warning: There is quite a bit of drinking.)

The story opens up in a restaurant where Ani is out celebrating with friends. In the upper scale restaurant, she sees her boyfriend/college professor out with another woman---who turns out to be his wife. It's quite a shock for her. She had been given the impression that he was a bachelor.

Moving on--she goes to Italy and meets two men who both adore her. What's a girl to do? Ani really isn't in a position to "trust" men right now. In a sense, I feel that she's still reeling from her heartbreak. But she's willing to "have fun" because she's only going to be there for a short time. The memories of an international romance or two may be just the thing she needs....

I received an arc in exchange for an honest review

I found this to be a very different read, after reading the blurb you think that you are going to get one thing and it totally surprises you.

The plot was intriguing and there were twists and turns with in the book that kept you guessing.

The characters were easily related to and the writing very good.

I will be looking forward to seeing what Amanda does next,

This story circulates through three different womens lives; Chloe, Morgan, and Brynn. Each woman hold a connection to facebook, one is friended by her first love of when she was 17 that sends her through a whirlwind of reoccuring feelings, Another rekindles a friendship with ex-boyfriend from high school who was the bad boy that turned around and forms a wedge between her and her current family, and other deals with an admirier of her husband who proves to be trying to get in good with her husband and earn the title of "certified home-wrecker".

Amanda Strong creates a realistic novel, about what seems to be happening with relationships since the influx of social networking. Facebook has been known to rekindle old romances as well as new; lead to affairs that are usually realized via the web, and also the visual flirtation of past crushes and/or exe's for everyone who's "friended" can see. Social networking plays a huge role in her society, and It keeps growing, I don't think its a fad that's going to go away anytime soon, and Amanda Strong paints a realistic story with the dramas and adventures that happen amoungst the pages of facebook.

The story for me was fast-paced with a lot of twists and turns that I didn't see coming, the one thing that bothered me was the ending. I wish the connection would have been made earlier in the story between all three of the woman, (although I had guessed that somehow they were connected), and felt that the story ended way to abruptly and felt unfinished. I felt like their were questions that weren't answered; such as what happened with the relationship between Brynn and Timothy???

Overall, This book was worth a read, it was funny, realistic, and heart-warming/breaking all at once, definitely a good book to throw in your beach bag this summer!!½