Thursday, April 12, 2018

Amanda

Amanda. (Sunfire #1) Candice Ransom. 1984. Scholastic. 368 pages. [Source: Library book sale]
First sentence: It had been raining forever, endless rain that dripped down the windowpanes. Amanda Bentley could not stand the cramped hotel room another minute.

Dear Scholastic:
If I thought begging would do any good, I would plead with you to republish the Sunfire romance series originally published in the 1980s. The "name" books were my favorite-and-best books from my middle years--my first introduction to the wonderful genre of historical romance. It's a love that's still going strong, by the way. I know the Sunfire books don't contain vampires, werewolves, fairies, or demons. But why should romance novels contain such in the first place. If they were worth publishing in the first place--which they so clearly were--they are worth republishing.

I have given it a lot of thought. I have. And I think it would be wonderful if the books were republished as e-books for the same price as the original paperback books were released. Granted, I would love to see PRINT copies as well. But I imagine that they would cost more than the lovely $2.95 of the originals! But for an e-book, the thought is IT'S WORTH EVERY PENNY.

Becky

Dear Candice Ransom:

Thank you a million times for being the awesome writer that you are. (Thank you for being awesome in general!) I will forever be a fan of yours--your picture books, your early readers and chapter books, and your novels. My first introduction to your work was through the Sunfire romance series. They were--they are--some of my favorite books ever. You gave me a glorious gift--a love of reading.

I still get giddy thinking about the fact that you know who I am. That in 2009 Winchester came to visit me for a few days.

As long as you keep writing, I'll keep reading.

Becky

Premise/plot: Amanda's hopes and dreams are thwarted by her father's gambling ways and big dreams. He decides to steal away from Boston--with her--and start again. On their journey south, he gets a fever to go WEST, to go to Oregon. Amanda does NOT want to go, yet, she finds herself heading west in a wagon, in a wagon train, all the same. It will be the most challenging time in her life, but will the journey change her for the better?

My thoughts: Is Amanda my favorite Sunfire romance?! Maybe. Perhaps my favorite Sunfire romance is the one I've read most recently. Though I will say Amanda is probably always in my top five.

I enjoy a good wagon train story. Why can't wagon train stories become trendy again?!

Amanda brings to mind the only western that I love. You see, I am allergic to westerns in general. The western that is an exception to the rule is WESTWARD THE WOMEN (1951). 

© 2018 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

2 comments:

Alyssa Nelson said...

I love this book and completely agree--they should be re-released as ebooks. I feel like, if anything, the money invested would be earned back from people being nostalgic and wanting to re-read it.

Michelle Ann said...

I've not heard of these books but they sound interesting. Funnily enough, I was not generally interested in Westerns either, but loved the TV series Wagon Train when I was in my teens. What is it with wagon trains!