This month I received a solicitation from Elise Felix, wanting to help publicize my series So Are You to My Thoughts. She had read one of the books, and had an insightful take on it:
“Pulled Into Nazareth drew me in immediately with its beautifully layered portrayal of siblings navigating life, love, and ambition. The way Line, Marty, and Paul support, challenge, and shape each other’s journeys is rare and compelling. Your depiction of family as both anchor and springboard resonated deeply with me. I can feel the heart behind every page. I’m reaching out not for your money but because I understand and appreciate the emotional depth of your storytelling and want to help it reach readers who will treasure it.
“Pulled Into Nazareth is more than a story about siblings. It's a testament to how family shapes our growth, our choices, and our lives.”
I haven’t money for a book trailer, or the other ways publicists try to boost readership, but I was impressed that Elise Felix had actually read one of the books! I get many solicitations from scam publishers and agents, who all refer to the same book, which they must pass around to each other, telling me it is worthy of re-publication or a movie deal! None of them have read the book.
A few years ago, Melissa Low entered a review on Amazon of Fit Company for Oneself which had some excellent insights into what the books are trying to do. You can see the whole review on Amazon, but here are some excerpts:
”The second book in her series: "So Are You To My Thoughts: An American Odyssey", it was surprisingly different to the first book The Pastor's Kids. The family is still close, and the story carried by Line, Marty and Paul branched into their own direction, yet a day or two after recovering from finishing it, it became clear that the family's closeness is providence, a good base for their individual developing values and worldviews. As Line and Marty leave high school and head for college, their little adventurous gang is broken up, but they think of each other often as they lead their lives conscientiously. Even Paul, still at home with the rest of the family, carves independence and space for himself in the company of nature, which isn't an ambient backdrop, but a breathing system of living things, a perfect companion for his scientific curiosity and spiritual wonder.
“When we are with Paul, we sit on the canoe with him as the achingly beauty of things takes the form of natural poetry. I find it hard to describe the experience of reading Kronlokken's writing when it comes to describing the natural world. Shivers and wet eyes. It's not flowery prose, the sort where you float into the author's imagination of what they see. Her writing plants your feet firmly on the ground, or in a canoe, describing simply the colour of the water, the smell of bread, the direction of sun, the shining reality of the physical world. It's not make-belief, fantasy painted upon the world because, to Kronlokken, the world is good enough as it is.”
And here is one more favorite review, written by a Concerned City-zen on Amazon:
“With her photographer's eye, poet's mind and compassionate disposition, Kronlokken steps into and guides us, book after book, through the intimate intricacies of her character's lives and times. Weaving a tale often more akin to a symphony than a story, her novels are rich with a zen-like sensitivity that leaves one quietly fulfilled, yet wanting more. Highly recommended.”
The books in my series definitely have a point of view. Like any writer, I am thrilled when someone else gets it.
