Reviewed by Donna Meredith It’s Not Like I Knew Her, by Pat Spears, shines as a classic coming-of-age story exploring a young woman’s poignant awakening of forbidden desire. This Tallahassee writer and Florida State University graduate wrangles words with the clarity and style of a true wordsmith. Her sentences percolate with the right rhythms and […]
SLR Welcomes New Contributor Pat Spears
May 3, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Pat Spears is the author of two novels: Dream Chasers (Twisted Road Publications, 2014) and It’s Not Like I Knew Her (Twisted Road Publications, 2016). Her short stories have appeared in numerous journals, including the North American Review, Appalachian Heritage, Seven Hills Review, and anthologies titled Law and Disorder from Main Street Rag, Bridges and Borders from […]
“Miss Dreamsville and the Lost Heiress of Collier County,” by Amy Hill Hearth
January 20, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Daniel James Sundahl There are ladies with stories to tell, maiden ladies, of course, but also ladies with worldly experience, oral histories for sure, and in the south the stories are most fun when they rub against one another, meandering down and along rivulets until collecting in a main stream. I recall, for […]
“Miss Dreamsville and the Lost Heiress of Collier County,” by Amy Hill Hearth
October 21, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Philip K. Jason This review originally appeared in Florida Weekly. It is reprinted here with the permission of Florida Weekly. This sequel to Miss Dreamsville and the Collier County Women’s Literary Society (2012) should satisfy those who filled the many book club appearances through which the earlier title was effectively marketed. It inches […]
September Read of the Month: “The Wiregrass,” by Pam Webber
August 31, 2015 by 1 Comment
Reviewed by Phil Jason It’s 1969 and helicopters drum above the town of Crystal Springs, Alabama twice a day. At ten each morning they leave Fort Rucker for a training field: Field 10. Twelve hours later, the choppers leave in formation to make the return trip. The scheduled explosions of light and noise define the […]
July Read of the Month: “A Tree Born Crooked,” by Steph Post
July 8, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Phil Jason I almost missed this one, which is among the most original and striking Florida novels I’ve encountered in my almost nine years of walking this beat. No gorgeously hued Sunshine State here. This is the Florida of grit and grime state: the North Florida that is really Southern, rather than the […]