Title: THE SHADE UNDER THE MANGO TREE
Author: Evy Journey
Publisher: Sojourner Books
Pages: 330
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
BOOK BLURB:
After two heartbreaking losses, Luna wants adventure. Something and somewhere very different from the affluent, sheltered home in California and Hawaii where she grew up. An adventure in which she can also make some difference. She ends up in place where she gets more than she bargained for.
Lucien, a worldly, well-traveled young architect, finds a stranger’s journal at a café. He has qualms and pangs of guilt about reading it. But they don’t stop him. His decision to go on reading changes his life.
Months later, they meet at a bookstore where Luna works and which Lucien frequents. Fascinated by his stories and his adventurous spirit, Luna volunteers for the Peace Corps. Assigned to Cambodia, she lives with a family whose parents are survivors of the Khmer Rouge genocide forty years earlier. What she goes through in a rural rice-growing village defies anything she could have imagined. Will she leave this world unscathed?
FAVORITE QUOTE FROM FIRST CHAPTER:
"I roll my luggage across the concrete entryway, pass the hibiscus hedge, and stop to pluck a bouquet of its flaming-red flowers. Its home is a vase on the coffee table in the living area. To signal I’m back. While visitors surf, tan on the beach, don flowery muumuus and shirts, and slurp maitais or Hawaiian punch while ogling hula dancers, I look forward to domesticating with Grandma."
BOOK COVER:
This cover from what I'm understanding went through a couple of changes (the glory of self-publishing - don't like it, change it I love it) and I have to say I love this change. Do you know I've never had a mango but so appropriate on this cover.
FIRST CHAPTER REVIEW:
And this is the very reason I do these first chapter reviews - to read authors whom I've never read before. What a shame I have missed out on so many because of the time factor. The author in this case, Evy Journey, is so blissfully talented and I don't even know if she knows it so putting that out there right now. So we have the main character, Luna, returning to her grandmother's house for the summer. It's this chapter where you get a glimpse of Luna being back at grandmas:
I pick up traces of the scent of green mangoes from her hair, mixed with the lingering bouquet of jasmine. Grandma has never worn perfume or cologne. Instead, she picks jasmine from her garden every morning and tucks it under her long hair, pulled back and twisted into a bun above the nape of her neck. The first few years of my summer visits after returning to my family in California, I slept with Grandma on her king-sized bed for a week or so. I often fell asleep, snuggled close to her, inhaling the hint of jasmine from her loosened hair.See what I mean about Ms. Journey's writing? Sucked me right in. And that only touches the surface. With this first chapter we get a glimpse of Luna's life - she's come back to her grandmother's for the summer but two months go by and she's off to another adventure. Can't wait to read more!
KEEP READING?
Definitely! I'm figuring by the title that grandma's mango trees are going to mean something and I can't wait to see if I'm right. I'm also curious what happens with Luna. Definitely will keep reading and will leave a full review soon!
Amazon → https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KFMR9SG
Meet The Author
Evy Journey, SPR (Self Publishing Review) Independent Woman Author awardee, is a writer, a wannabe artist, and a flâneuse who, wishes she lives in Paris where people have perfected the art of aimless roaming. Armed with a Ph.D., she used to research and help develop mental health programs.
She’s a writer because beautiful prose seduces her and existential angst continues to plague her despite such preoccupations having gone out of fashion. She takes occasional refuge by invoking the spirit of Jane Austen to spin tales of love, loss, and finding one’s way—stories into which she weaves mystery or intrigue.
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