Girls With Hammers

Rating:
Summary: No cliches here...
Review: Cynn Chadwick's second book is funny and moving. Although the story stands alone, the characters are inhabitants from Chadwick's other excellent novel, Cat Rising. It begins with Lily Cameron and her attempts to deal with the departure of her life-long friend, Cat Hood, who is off in Scotland for an extended time.

If Lily thought this was the worst of her problems she is in for a rude awakening. The path of travails that awaits her and the spiralling turmoil within as well as all around her, Lily takes us on a journey that is funny, wise, and fascinating.

Chadwick has given us a masterful portrait of friendship, family dynamics, love, and loyalty. She is one of the best authors writing today.

Rating:
Summary: Girls With Hammers
Review: I read Cat Rising, this author's first book, and was really enthused. I laughed out loud, I stopped to think, I wanted to buy a motorcycle and some power tools, and then I thought, that was good. When have I enjoyed a book more? So I waited for the new book. It is as entertaining and thought provoking as the first one. In Girls With Hammers, Chadwick has created a community of not just quirky but endearing and believable and funny people, so real that you want to meet them. You will wish for a mother like Sophia, you will want to hang out on the back deck of Ozgirlz with her. The writing is so good that you won't notice that you are actually paying attention to the clear, precise, and evocative details of the Carolina hills. You will want to have a talk with Lily Cameron, the owner of an all-woman carpentry business. You will definitely want to include Hannah, Lily's wise and patient girlfriend. Most of all, you will long for a sexy and mysterious stranger like Arlo to wander into your life.
If you are a transplanted southerner, or born and raised in the south, you will recognize the vivid and eccentric and very funny characters that seem to populate this community, from Lily's know-it-all brother to the sheriff who turns out to be just a guy she went to high school with. If you are a reader, you will be grateful for the absence of the fake southern accents and characters that frequent most writing set in the south. You won't find a Scarlet or a Melanie Wilkes in this bunch. What you will find is enough reality to make you forget you're reading a book, and make you want to pick up the phone and give Lily a call. She would advise you to stay away from the power tools and just let her do the job.
What you won't be able to do is categorize this novel. It's funny, it's touching, and it lets us accept lesbians with tools as matter of factly as we do mothers who are as interfering and pushy and outrageous as Lily's. There are no stereotypes here. Lily is original and sometimes outrageous, but you will admire her stubbornness and her loyalty and wish she was your best friend. The only down side to reading this book is waiting for the next one. Cynn Chadwick has achieved an ease of evoking character and setting that few writers do, but I am certain all writers wish for.

Rating:
Summary: Girls With Hammers
Review: I read Cat Rising, this author's first book, and was really enthused. I laughed out loud, I stopped to think, I wanted to buy a motorcycle and some power tools, and then I thought, that was good. When have I enjoyed a book more? So I waited for the new book. It is as entertaining and thought provoking as the first one. In Girls With Hammers, Chadwick has created a community of not just quirky but endearing and believable and funny people, so real that you want to meet them. You will wish for a mother like Sophia, you will want to hang out on the back deck of Ozgirlz with her. The writing is so good that you won't notice that you are actually paying attention to the clear, precise, and evocative details of the Carolina hills. You will want to have a talk with Lily Cameron, the owner of an all-woman carpentry business. You will definitely want to include Hannah, Lily's wise and patient girlfriend. Most of all, you will long for a sexy and mysterious stranger like Arlo to wander into your life.
If you are a transplanted southerner, or born and raised in the south, you will recognize the vivid and eccentric and very funny characters that seem to populate this community, from Lily's know-it-all brother to the sheriff who turns out to be just a guy she went to high school with. If you are a reader, you will be grateful for the absence of the fake southern accents and characters that frequent most writing set in the south. You won't find a Scarlet or a Melanie Wilkes in this bunch. What you will find is enough reality to make you forget you're reading a book, and make you want to pick up the phone and give Lily a call. She would advise you to stay away from the power tools and just let her do the job.
What you won't be able to do is categorize this novel. It's funny, it's touching, and it lets us accept lesbians with tools as matter of factly as we do mothers who are as interfering and pushy and outrageous as Lily's. There are no stereotypes here. Lily is original and sometimes outrageous, but you will admire her stubbornness and her loyalty and wish she was your best friend. The only down side to reading this book is waiting for the next one. Cynn Chadwick has achieved an ease of evoking character and setting that few writers do, but I am certain all writers wish for.

Rating:
Summary: Quirky, sexy, fun!
Review: Like "Cat Rising," this book takes place in fictional but oh-so-real Galway, North Carolina, but shifts the focus from Cat Hood to her best friend Lily, the original Girl With Hammer. Chadwick goes deeper into Southern Gothic mayhem in this funnier volume, in which Lily hires a mysterious, literate ex-con named Arlo to help her with the construction business she inherits from her father. This book is so much fun, and its events are completely unexpected. Yet all the elements familiar to Chadwick's readers are still there -- friendship, love, community, and beautiful, evocative prose. A winner. Can't wait to see what happens to Cat and Lily next!

Rating:
Summary: Slow start, good finish
Review: The title of this review pretty much sums it up. The ending is great - almost enough for me to bump the rating up to 4 stars. But the book takes forever to get started, and that is the reason I rated it as I did.