As Many Twists as a Maze

Erica James does more than surprise the hell out of her readers with The Queen of New Beginnings. When Clayton Miller is accused of a more than horrendous act - he goes into hiding and he meets the voice-over actress Alice Shoemaker whilst in the middle of his current illness, writer's block.

When she opens the door to his creative mind, both Clayton and Alice receive more than they've bargained for. With as many twists as a maze and gruesome confessions, The Queen of New Beginnings evokes a diverse array of feelings from the reader that will leave them looking to their own past to find their future.

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The plot of this novel was wonderfully laid out and kept me guessing as to what I thought would happen next. Alice was an amazing true to life friend that I had the pleasure of relating to. Hiding behind a faux self-image to protect herself from a world that had shown her just how harsh it could be, Alice fought back against the world, hoping that someday she would find the perfect person that would allow her true-self to shine. 

The other characters in this novel were unique, quirky, tornado representation of people. Erica James didn't hesitate to give each person good and bad qualities. I found myself searching for a mirror to hold up to each character just to ask them: "What the hell are you doing?"

The only problem I had with this novel was the pace. And I know this because it took me more than a week to read it. When I read a novel, I sit down and in (usually) two days time, I'm finished. However, with novels that have a pacing problem, I find the novel drawn out to nearly a week. I can't be too upset with this small detail because I feel that the plot was drawn out to give the readers a chance to connect with the characters. Which worked out rather perfectly. 

The Queen of New Beginnings on Amazon

rating: 3/5 cups

Hurting the Ones We Love

The Queen of New Beginnings by Erica James has me wondering if the saying that "we hurt the ones we love the most" is truer than it seems to be.

The two main characters seem to be falling deeply in love the more they get to know one another, but Clayton is betraying Alice before their sentiments for each other are shared. Does he realize what he's doing to her by writing a creative piece about her family history without her knowledge?

As humans do we have an innate selfishness that keep us repeating this cliche and is that what makes it truer than it seems? Shouldn't knowing the cliche keep us from doing it?

Why do we find history repeating itself when we should be learning from the past...

The Pretense of Sanity

It seems that a main theme in The Queen of New Beginnings by Erica James is insanity and how that links to the art of pretending.

Alice retreats into her mind's eye to live the life that she wants, but is a perfectly reasonable woman on the outside.

Clayton (Mr. Shannon) is overly judged and ridiculed for his mysterious outburst and labeled insane, in need of help.

Alice's parents, during her family flashbacks, are depicted as completely insane, over emotional, and over reacting. Obviously unstable.

Yet, Alice's parents are the only ones in the novel who don't pretend to be someone they aren't. And when Clayton stops pretending is when the gauntlet of insanity is thrown at him. Thus the link between sanity and pretending, and the pairing of insanity with the reality of identity.

Could insanity really be interpreted as letting your true self show one hundred percent of the time? The flaws in the theory are many, yet it holds quite a bit of depth.