August Prather Is Not Dead Yet by Danielle K. Roux – and a Giveaway!
On June 3, 2019 by Jaye
August Prather Is Not Dead Yet by Danielle K. Roux
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Buy Links
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks | Google Play | Kobo
Blurb
Katherine Garnet is a writer who has never cared much about much, making it awfully difficult to create new content. Despite the fact she has the “edge” of being trans (according to her cis male editor) she is not looking to capitalize on her own personal story. Garnet tries to sneak a peek at her rival, August Prather’s, latest fantasy manuscript about a quest for the elixir of life. While reading, Garnet gets accidentally dragged into a bizarre cross-country road trip that may or may not have a purpose and begins to see parallels in the story of the manuscript and the reality of their journey. Along the way, they encounter a parade of equally troubled individuals, including ghost-hunting priests, a robot magician, a discarded piece of furniture, a runaway teenager, and a Japanese rock star. As Garnet confronts her past, she begins to understand why someone might want to live forever.
Review
Short version: Buy this book.
Long version: When I saw the blurb, I knew I was in for something special. That’s why I signed up to review this gem in the first place. My expectations were high, and Roux exceeded them by leaps and bounds.
When you read August Prather Is Not Dead Yet, you’re actually getting two stories. It’s a little more complicated than that, but I wasn’t expecting the duality there and it threw me for a loop at first. The thing is, both stories are equally fascinating. I found myself getting annoyed every time we dropped out of one story to attend to the other – and it didn’t matter which story we were switching to. I loved them both, and it’s a good thing I did. I’d elaborate, but it would be a spoiler and it would be a sin to spoil one minute of this amazing book.
The characters themselves are complex, with identities that absolutely cannot be put into a single box. Some of them are occasionally abrasive, and I loved them all.
The only moment when I had trouble suspending disbelief was the Prius. They had four adults, sometimes more, and a bizarre number of oversized objects in that thing. The physics didn’t work. It was a minor hiccup.
This book relies on the bizarre, and it won’t be to everyone’s taste. There are some difficult moments, which may be triggering for some readers. I didn’t get the sense that they were in there for titillation or “inspiration porn,” but it was a part of the plot and should be acknowledged. This book is one of those books that sticks with you long after you’ve put it down, and that you feel better for having put into your life. I received a free ARC for my own reading pleasure, but I loved it so much I’m going to buy a copy and give it to another reader. It’s one of those books I’ll come back to on bad days, curl myself around, and let it cleanse my mind and spirit.
Author Bio
Danielle K. Roux is a
writer, teacher, and historian. Her first novel August Prather is Not Dead Yet
is currently available in e-book and paperback through Parliament House Press
(and soon will be available in hardcover and audio book). Danielle has
always loved reading and telling stories – especially stories with adventure,
mystery, humor, romance and at least a little bit of spookiness. Not Dead Yet
has all this covered, with a story-within-a-story structure and a quest
for immortality in the early twentieth century paired with a present-day road
trip. There’s a lot of existential crisis and a male/male romance that is
sweet and steamy.
Danielle has been writing fiction since she was nine, after getting tired of
reading from the perspective of white, straight male characters in fantasy
novels. Her first written story involved a group of middle school girls
who find necklaces used by a dead witch that give them supernatural powers. It
was written in notebooks in purple and green gel pens that are currently housed
in a box in her linen closet. She is inspired by travelling to new places
and reading about the stories tied to landscapes. She has at least three novels
building in her brain (or wherever novels come from) and wishes she was writing
them all right now.
Danielle lives with her wife and two orange cats in the San Francisco Bay Area.
She has added a lot of young adult fantasy fiction to her bookshelves recently,
and regrets nothing. Her dream library would be accessed through a secret
door and look something like the library in the animated Disney Beauty and the
Beast, although it would also have a cute barista or sentient coffee machine
that once was said barista.
When she isn’t writing or thinking about writing, Danielle is building houses
in the Sims, listening to podcasts, or taking Buzzfeed quizzes to find out what
kind of tree she is based on her hair color. She has recently been
watching lots of old BBC period pieces, and some of them are good. She has
begun to drink Diet Coke and is worried this might be a real problem. Coffee
and tea are still her primary beverages of choice.
Author links:
https://www.instagram.com/daniellekroux/
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18202048.Danielle_Roux
Author Giveaway
Danielle K. Roux has several items available for her giveaway!
$50 Amazon gift card, an Out of Print rainbow library card enamel pin & signed copy of August Prather is Not Dead
$20 Amazon gift card, an Out of Print rainbow library card enamel pin & signed copy of August Prather is Not Dead
An Out of Print rainbow library card enamel pin & signed copy of August Prather is Not Dead
An ebook copy of August Prather is Not Dead Yet To enter the giveaway, click here.
5 comments
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This sounds like a really great, well written read! Glad you liked it! 🙂
Thank you for the review. It sounds interesting.
Thank you for stopping by! I absolutely loved this book. I resented every moment I had to put it down for things like cooking dinner for my family.
Sounds like an intriguing, different read!
Thank you so much for stopping by! It was different, intriguing, and magical. Everyone should read it.