RaveLone Star Literary Life[A} bold first novel with no holds barred on sensitive topics, such as mental illness and depression, sexuality, body shaming and objectification, and the high cost of fame on health and relationships ... scintillating yet heartbreaking ... Sloan’s writing and narration are smooth and promptly bring the reader into a world filled with sunny smiles that mask unspeakable pain ... ideal for anyone who wants a behind-the-scenes peek at the tarnished truth that magically transforms into a glittering veneer when that first musical note resounds and that blinding spotlight shines.
Kelli Jo Ford
RaveLone Star Literary LifeIn an explosive and deeply emotional debut novel, Kelli Jo Ford keeps a tight rein on the prose and lures the reader into the world of these women, held together by the threads of blood, anger, and the complex duty to self and to each other ... While Crooked Hallelujah outlines the adversity and poor choices of these women in Cherokee Nation, the story is filled with ardent beauty in serving ailing and aging mothers and forgiving them for their harsh judgement and unrelenting desire to make life better for the daughters that follow ... The narration in Crooked Hallelujah teeters between choppy and smooth as silk, based on the specific point of view, providing an undulating movement that mimics the solid yet tough love for each other that flows through the veins of these women. The dialogue often comes across as lamenting as the women express resentment at life’s fickleness and unfairness and then switches to a gentle caress as each daughter acknowledges her mother’s strengths and weaknesses. Toward the end of the story, the apocalyptic scenario in the small town of Bonita provides poignant imagery of how the lives and loves of these women change and collapse into chaos yet remain linked by that resilient thread that refuses to unravel, even when everything has devolved into wreckage and everyone else is gone ... While Crooked Hallelujah is short on humor and lightheartedness, and at least one subplot needs a bit more closure, readers will appreciate and perhaps relate to the realistic breakdown of relationships within families and eventual reconciliation, or at least an attempt at compromise and acceptance, that brings everyone back together. Real life between mothers and daughters is both exquisite and messy, and Ford masterfully shows that amidst all the disarray and bruised lives is a love so strong that nothing and no one can extinguish it ... Ford captures the tension and grace of these relationships, crafting an exceptional story that places the reader firmly in the midst of these lives, feeling the heartache and hope across the pages.
