By Maureen Linehan:
“Tonya Plank’s debut novel, Swallow, is as engaging as any book I have read. Although it does seem to be a little long at first (just over 400 pages), the character development is so appealing that once you start reading you find yourself eagerly anticipating what will come next, as you will undoubtedly sympathize with Sophie, and hope that she finds peace.”
Read the rest here!
I just saw this review of my novel. It was posted a month ago, but somehow I’d missed it.
It’s interesting because Rae says she can identify with my protagonist, Sophie, because she had something similar called selective mutism. I hadn’t heard of that before and so looked it up. It’s where a child doesn’t speak in certain situations, although the child can speak and does so at other times. It’s an anxiety disorder, as is Globus. Interesting because I remember having something similar when I was a child. I remember my father thinking I had a speech impediment and having me enrolled in a speech class in … I think it was either kindergarten or first grade. I was in a special ed class with kids who had severe lisps and couldn’t pronounce groups of words properly. The teacher told my parents that wasn’t what was wrong with me and the class wasn’t helping me. I don’t remember what happened, but eventually it must have gone away. I’m just now remembering it.
Just got another review of my novel by lit blogger Mystee, at A Moment With Mystee. I’m particularly happy because this isn’t the usual type of book Mystee reads, and she still liked it.
She concludes with: “This book leaves us wide open for a series. Will there be another Sophie book? Even if there isn’t this one is definitely worth picking up.”
Wow, thank you Mystee! I don’t know yet if there will be a sequel. I guess it depends on how this one fares in the long run. I’m working on something else at the moment, but had originally intended for there to be another Sophie book (with the second more focused on dance; I wrote the first one before I’d become a dance fanatic), so I’m absolutely thrilled there is interest!
Also, I’m going to be doing a Q&A with Mystee later in the week. How gracious of her 🙂 — will be my first author interview! So, I will definitely be linking to that when it’s up. Read the rest of her review here.
Also, I see the book has now been made available on Barnes & Noble.com (their list price is $10.79), as well as Amazon, and Smashwords.
Oh update! Mystee just published a guest post I wrote for her about the novel, my reasons for writing it, etc. It’s the first opportunity I’ve had to publicly chat about it, so if you’re interested please read! And thank you again to Mystee, who basically rocks!
From Elizabeth A. White at Musings of an All Purpose Monkey:
“Plank has created a wonderfully three-dimensional and quite believable character in Sophie, and Swallow presents an almost painfully realistic portrait of a young woman’s journey from emotional repression and self-doubt to emotional freedom and self-assurance.”
Read the rest here.
Thank you so much, Ms. White! I’m so beyond thrilled that people are really liking the book!