Monday, January 13, 2014

Book review: Elderberry Croft, Volume 3 (July through September) by Becky Doughty





The action takes a more serious turn in volume 3 of the serial novel Elderberry Croft by Becky Doughty. Once again, we turn our attention to characters who were previously introduced briefly but are now developed in much more detail. Park manager Eddie’s younger brother Donny is the main character of July Madness. Donny is more handsome and charismatic than his brother, but he is having trouble finding his place in life even in the very forgiving Coach House Trailer Park community. In August Memories, Al is faced with a dilemma that stretches the abilities of even Willow Goodhope to help, but like Donny he is given a glimmer of hope. This episode also reveals much more about Willow’s past, but in many ways the mystery just gets deeper. In September Longing, Willow reaps some of the good will she has sown in the community as Prudence and Carney support her in a difficult situation.

After finishing volume 3, I felt sorry that the series is drawing to a close but happy that I still get to savor three more monthly episodes in volume 4. Volume 3 definitely leaves you ready to pick up volume 4 to see how the story line will play out. In the ebook I did notice several minor errors that should have been picked up during copyediting, especially in the July Madness episode, which was somewhat surprising given that the two earlier volumes were carefully edited. But it was easy enough to figure out what the correct word was and move on with the story.

Originally published month by month on Becky Doughty’s blog beckydoughty.com, the individual episodes July Madness, August Memories, and September Longing are still available there. Volume 3 is available at an ebook in the usual places including Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and Smashwords.  The whole series of 12 episodes may be purchased as a single ebook volume or as a paperback book.

No comments:

Post a Comment