Strings of Color: Marian L. Thomas

A quote starts each chapter in the book and I felt it was the way to start this review.

"Everything we go through in life is like a string of color, which pulls us this way or that." She said as she crossed one sting over the other. "That's how come we get so twisted in life. Can't grab our own strings and pull them in the direction we want them to go. No, we allow someone to not only hook us but to sting us along."

The plot follows 4 women and the men around them. Simone, a talented young singer but as she learns about her family and past she has to consider how far she will go for love now. Naya a jazz singer, who has built a world around her that seems to be falling down around and and now she really has to face secrets of her past. Mona, has to face the secrets of her past with all the changes that are happening around her, but how much damage has she done and can fix it now. Misty, has lived her life one way and thought one thing for so long when she finds out that might not be all the truth is she going to be able to face the changes she knows in her heart she needs to make.

The plot of all of these character's lives are entwined throughout this whole plot. There are moments where I couldn't keep them all straight and sometimes I still am confused by their pasts and how they are all related. But, it is in a good way, a way that I know they all go together and know that their relationships will work out together.

The confusion worked in this plot for me. It drew me in to the plot as I wanted to see all the elements work out. And see how all the characters grew, learned and faced what they need to through the plot. I would give this book 4 stars, but I do still need to read it again to make sure I understood all the elements.

This review is part of chick lit is the new black tour. I was provided a copy of the book, but the thoughts and summary are my own.

About Character Development: Kimberly Lin

Today I have a guest post by Kimberly Lin about one of my favorite parts of Recession Proof the character development. Enjoy!
You know, I want to sound all professional and say that I know what I'm doing and that I have a great process for creating characters but the truth is I really don't. (Side note: I should probably be filtering myself in this guest post, however running amagazine has taken over my life)  In the same way, I don't measure out my ingredients when I cook, I don't really know what goes into my character development. All I can say is that I think of them as real life people that have psychological, societal and familial reasons for doing the things they do. 

I've heard many authors say that they must get to know their characters as they write and this is very true for me. The easy part was picking what I wanted to write about because it was something that I was experiencing at the time. The tough part was identifying the various reasons why my characters have the fears they do and why they react the way they do.

For Helen, (and this is very different from my own life so it was a challenge)— her parent's separation, her mother's abandonment and her fears of being ostracized from her new family unit really were the catalysts and the underlying reasons of why she chose to give up her passions and settle for status quo. She didn't want to rock the boat and sacrificed her own happiness in the meantime. I started writing Helen's journey and reactions but I didn't write this back story into the first chapter until I actually finished the book. It took me thirty chapters to fully understand her and as I write this now— it is very similar to when a person goes to therapy to examine why they do what they do.

I pay as much attention to my supporting characters as much as I do to my main characters. I tend to provide the back story as I introduce them into the story just so the reader feels well-acquainted with them and genuinely cares about what happens to them.

All in all, it's a really fun process to play make believe and I'm just glad and thankful that Recession Proof has gotten the response it has.

Recession Proof: Kimberly Lim

Helen has a job that sucks the life out of her, a boyfriend of 6 years that is safe and does nothing else for her, that she doesn't even live with, and with no time for it is on the edge of a nervous breakdown. Something has to give, so she moves in with her boyfriend to see if that can save their relationship, her best friend is pregnant and her fiancé is sick, leading Helen to shift some of her focus away from work.  Not long later she finds herself unemployed, boyfriend less, ands the support system for a single mother. But, Helen finds that she is finally happy and maybe it is time to consider what she wants and find a career that brings her happiness. So, Helen heads down that path fumbling in love on the way and considers waiving up a few times. But, with her friends and families support she can find and keep her own happiness.

I flew through this book. The characters and the writing style made me want to keep going so I could find out more, and how they were going to deal with the situation they were faced with now.  Though there were times where you really wanted to be like, duh you shouldn't have done that or that is so cliche don't do it. But, overall those elements made the character seem real and were responses that would happen in real life.  Though outside the situation when you see them happening you still want to say don't do it.

One of my favorite part about this book was how time passed in the book. It took place just over a year. And the breaks and then pickings up caught me for a moment the first few times but once I got use it it I could just go with ok, so three weeks/two month/ etc has passed and nothing really happened.  The nothing happening was important as it showed the need for something to happen which is where we were picking up at something happening.  Time frame is always something I struggle on in writing, so I could appricaate how it was used here. Also, since Helen went through some big changes it was nice to see those take place over a reasonable timeline rather than look I grew up and learned to x in the process of a month like plots can fall into sometimes.

Another, strong part if this plot was the supporting character. Yes, Helen is the main character and the one we expect to do the growth and change. But, I think all of the supporting characters learned something and did some growing in the plot and I appreciated that.  Even if you had trouble relating to Helen change there was her sister's growth, her ex boyfriend figure stuff put, and more that you could also relate to. I give this book 4 stars and would suggest it to friends as a new way to look at chick lit, it is not oh my life is horrible/let's go shopping or win my ex back, but my life if just ok and I think I need more than that. It is hard to get to more than that, but have to try.

This review is part of chick lit in the new black blog tours.

I was provided a copy of the book for review, but the summary and thoughts on the book are mine.