Reflections in the Nile

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Summary: Clear your calendar for a week! Reflections is a blast!
Review: Aside form the fact that I lost large quantities of sleep and virtually ignored my son and spouse, I thoroughly enjoyed reading Reflections on the Nile. The heroine is spunky and stubborn, reminding me of my favorite Barbara Kingsolver heroines. Never having had much interest in anything about Ancient Egypt except Yul Brynner, I am now thoroughly fascinated and hope to visit as soon as they air-condition the place. My Jane Austen sensibilities were somewhat surprised by the steaminess of certain scenes, but I did find them, ahem, educational. I highly recommend this book

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Summary: Diana Gabaldon look out.You have competition
Review: Chloe Kingsley has traveled from Dallas, Texas to Cairo, Egypt to commemorate her sister Camille obtaining a doctorate in Egyptology. When visiting a country like Egypt, there is an advantage to having a sibling with a degree in that nation's antiquities. Chloe can visit sites not normally seen by a tourist. However, there is a lesser known disadvantage when one randomly wanders ancient relics. Strange things occasionally are mystical ly set in motion. To Chloe, one moment she is wondering the halls of the legendary temple at Karnak. In her next moment of awareness she finds herself in the body of an Egyptian priestess, RaEmhetepet, circa 1452 BCE. Soon the displaced twentieth century traveler finds herself caught between politics and plots that m ake the modern day American political parties seem like friendly bed partners. The country plunges downward towards anarchy as a Hebrew demands to lead his people into the desert and the competition for ruling the nation between the Pharaoh and her heir has heated up. It is up to Chloe and a physician, who she now loves, to save the country (and perhaps future civilizations) from total destruction. REFLECTIONS IN THE NILE is an extremely interesting time travel historical fiction that readers will enjoy, especially the Exodus time period that comes so vividly alive in the hands of J. Suzanne Frank. The characte rs are exceptional and the story line is totally engrossing, making Ms. Frank seem like a writer with several classics under her belt rather then a debut novelist. The ancient Nile has rarely seemed more immortal as desc ribed in this tale. Harriet Klausner

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Summary: SPELLBINDING! I EAGERLY AWAIT THE AUTHOR'S NEXT NOVEL.
Review: Few books capture my attention like J. Suzanne Frank's debut novel did. An avid reader with preferences toward mystery and horror novels, I found myself "transformed" into a history buff, a romantic, and a dreamer. Ms. Frank's exquisitely-detailed storytelling makes the reader feel as if they are the one drinking fig wine while floating down the Nile in Egypt's arid surroundings. The slow-burn intensity between the two main characters - the feisty Chloe/RaEm and the deliciously mysterious Cheftu - kept me turning pages well into the night. I was so enthralled by this book that I could barely put it down and obsessed about reading it while I wasn't. My eagerness to read each chapter was both fulfilling and depressing when I reached the end of the book. I can only hope Ms. Frank writes a sequel, as this book's ending left many possibilities and this reader very hungry for more. Although I recently finished reading it, I might just pick it up and read it again tomorrow - returning to my desert dreamscape. If you read nothing else this year and are looking for a gripping fantasy intertwined with realistic events and circumstances, you must read this exceptional book.

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Summary: A page burner that will keep you up all night!
Review: First book?! This author is dynamite! I lucked up on this while browsing in the library--love historical novels and the time travel idea appealed to me. Busyness left this little gem sitting for a week and after an action packed weekend, I thought I'd read a little to unwind. HA! This book kept me on the edge of my seat and I literally had to force myself to put this fascinating work down at 2:45 a.m., knowing I had to drag myself out of bed at 6:30! I plan to run, not walk to the nearest bookstore to buy my own copy for future re-reads, as well as the next two installments. All I can say is keep writing Ms. Frank, and when will the next sequel appear?!

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Summary: the plot weakens
Review: First of all, I think Ms. Frank is still in the stages of developing as an author, and I believe her subject matter was a bit too ambitious for a new writer. She tried to mesh uncertain Egyptian myth with even more uncertain Biblical lore, and this would be a daunting task for the most skilled of writers-a category in which Ms. Frank does not belong. As for her representation of Biblical lore and ancient Egypt...a more muddled, mangled, misleading mish-mash of superstitious mythology would be hard to find outside the regions of some of the world's more freakish cults. It seems that at some point about four chapters into the text, Ms. Frank got tired of researching her subject and let her imagination get the better of her. It's at this point that, even by suspending my disbelief to the breaking point, I found myself mentally gagging over the confusion of the author's intent. I know it's a bad sign when I have to keep reminding myself that it's only a novel, not a historical text or a news article or anything else that is supposed to be based on fact. As for the characters of Chloe and Cheftu, I kept losing track of their motivation, their purpose for even being in the novel, what caused them to fall in love with one another (oh yeah, she's a gifted artist, he's a gifted physician...oh, and they're kind, sort of). The characters inexplicably kept slipping their skins and doing something completely out of sync with their personalities; so much so that I often flipped back a few pages to see if I had missed something through inattention to detail. Plus, the characters shrug their shoulders WAY too much. BUT, on the plus side, I did hang around until the weak, silly ending, so I feel justified in recommending it for a summer beach read at best.

Rating:
Summary: Original, but not up to par
Review: I am a huge fan of ancient Egyptian historical fiction, and maybe if I had not read so many excellent books in the genre, "Reflections" would have gone down easier. The book is not nearly as descriptive as Pauline Gedge or Wilbur Smith. Margaret George and Gedge do a far better job at characterization..."Who are these people?," I found myself asking throughout the novel. Some nice settings and original ideas, but Frank needs to work on her cardboard characters and repetitive delivery.

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Summary: Reflections in the Nile
Review: I couldn't put this book down! It was fascinating, suspenseful and erotic. I loved it.

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Summary: Interesting book, but plot left lots to be desired!
Review: I found this book at the library and wasn't sure that I would like it, considering that it was science fiction about time-travel. Well, I was right. I found the plot very silly and hokey and thought that it was like some dumb, old B-rated movie. However, it was her vivid descriptions of the plagues that make me give the book four stars. Mrs. Frank really described them in a way that I never thought of before. She made them seem real and horrible, like YOU were RaEm, stepping on and sqashing frogs, swating away the bighting flies, stumbling in the darkness, and holding on the Cheftu, praying that God doesn't take his life. Also, because of this book, it made me understand the importance of the plagues that God chose to send. The killing of the first-born wiped out all of the important and non-replacable people who ruled Egypt's kingdom and made it a mighty empire. And about the darkness falling, Mrs. Frank showed me the significance of that plague, that to the Egyptians, it meant the death of their beloved god, Ra, who was reborn every morning and floated across the sky in his golden barq, only to die each evening and be re-born again. Because of this book, I grasped how the Egyptians panicked and went into total chaos because their god was not re-born. Over all, this novel, even with it's pathetic plot, is good, only in the fact that it describes the Exodus so well. However, I think that we all disagree with her theory of Hatshepsut being pharaoh at that time.

Rating:
Summary: Really opened my eyes!
Review: I had read other "flung back in time" novels and, while I loved the Gabaldon series, figured with this one I would be just reading fluff. Boy, was I wrong. This book really made the Exodus vivid to me and made the Bible come alive. Getting vicious satisfaction out of crunching on the locusts, dealing with the Nile as blood, and the staffs turning into snakes! I was enthralled right from the start, and bought them for my mother, who loved it as well. I would recommend to anyone.

Rating:
Summary: Really opened my eyes!
Review: I had read other "flung back in time" novels and, while I loved the Gabaldon series, figured with this one I would be just reading fluff. Boy, was I wrong. This book really made the Exodus vivid to me and made the Bible come alive. Getting vicious satisfaction out of crunching on the locusts, dealing with the Nile as blood, and the staffs turning into snakes! I was enthralled right from the start, and bought them for my mother, who loved it as well. I would recommend to anyone.