MOLLY LEE - Book Review and Blog Tour

Title: Molly Lee
Author: Andrew Joyce
Publication Date: March, 29, 2015
Purchase Links: Amazon ~Goodreads ~ B&N ~ iTunes ~Kobo
Genre: Literature

It’s 1861 and the Civil War has just started. Molly is an eighteen-year-old girl living on her family’s farm in Virginia when two deserters from the Southern Cause enter her life. One of them—a twenty-four-year-old Huck Finn—ends up saving her virtue, if not her life.

Molly is so enamored with Huck, she wants to run away with him. But Huck has other plans and is gone the next morning before she awakens. Thus starts a sequence of events that leads Molly into adventure after adventure; most of them not so nice.

We follow the travails of Molly Lee, starting when she is eighteen and ending when she is fifty-six. Even then Life has one more surprise in store for her.

Molly Lee is the story of a woman who knows what she wants and starts out to get it. Molly is about to set off on the quest of a lifetime . . . of two lifetimes.

REVIEW:

I grew up reading Mark Twain’s books.  I know Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer, Becky, and many more of Samuel Clemen’s characters that he introduced us to through the years.  I watched them float down the Mississippi, rescue Becky, white-wash fences, and all the various activities that got them in and out of trouble through the pages of his books.  They were books to grow up with.

It was a delight to have an opportunity to wander through the pages of a story that allowed us to imagine what happened later in the life of Huck Finn.  Molly Lee is the second book in the series of Huck Finn after he grew up.  In this case, it was more what happened after he had a chance encounter with a young lady at the start of the civil war, in Virginia.  Her name was Molly Lee.  The story is what happened for the next forty years, as Molly Lee went in search of Huck Finn (for she had fallen in love with him).

Though written by a male author, he presented a wonderful viewpoint of life for a young lady and then woman who was totally on her own, out west during and after the civil war.  He presented the story with humor, with compassion, but with the blunt honesty and fort-rightness that a western women of that day would have had.

I found the book to be an easy read, but an enjoyable one.  Though there were scenes that could have been very explicit because of the subject matter they dealt with, he handled it with aplomb, and dignity.  Because of this, the story is appropriate for YA as well as New Adult.  I also found it enjoyable as a Woman’s Fiction, and historical fiction read.

I would give this book a Four Star rating.

Fun Facts with Andrew Boyce (and Danny the Dog):

My Top Ten Favorite Things

(In no particular order)

1. Watching the sun come up out of the ocean. There is nothing more beautiful than a sunrise, except maybe a sunset
2. A puppy frolicking about
3. Writing stories
4. Seeing someone do a selfless act of kindness
5. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
6. Grilled hamburgers with everything on ’em
7. My dog, Danny
8. Coming into home port after a month at sea
9. A youngster’s laugh
10. All of God’s creation (except maybe mosquitoes)

I’ve been asked to write a top ten list. You know, I would love to do so. However, the ice cream truck is coming down the street, and I’ve got to get out there and get my daily Popsicle. I even have the exact change today!

Hence, I’ll be turning the honors over to my dog, Danny. Now don’t you all laugh. Danny is an author in his own right. He writes a monthly column for a blogger that gets 1,000 visitors a day. He has his own Facebook author page, and some of his fans (all women) have flown in from around the world to meet him. That is 100% true. So may I introduce you all to Danny the Dog.

Man, Andrew sure can be long winded at times. Hello, I am Danny the Dog, purveyor of wit, wisdom and wonderfulness. So let’s get down to business before Andrew gets back and screws up the whole thing.

Danny’s Top Ten Favorite Things

1. Hot dogs
2. Finding chicken bones on the street.
3. Sniffing where another dog has gone before.
4. Wait . . . let’s go back to #3. You humans are so proud of yourselves for coming up with Facebook. Well, I gotta tell you, we dogs had our own Facebook while you guys were still living in caves. What do you think we’re doing when we sniff one of our fellow canine’s pee? I’ll tell you . . . we’re reading their post and when we are done, we either “like” it (a quick tinkle) or “comment” on it (a more pronounced stream).
5. I see we’re out of time, so we’ll have to continue this later. And besides, I’ve got to con Andrew out of a few licks from his Popsicle.

Danny the Dog, over and out.

Author Bio:

Andrew Joyce's MOLLY LEE is the sequel to his best-selling novel REDEMPTION: The Further Adventures of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer. It is the story of a woman who knows what she wants and starts out to get it. Molly is about to set off on the quest of a lifetime . . . of two lifetimes.

Andrew Joyce lives on a boat in Fort Lauderdale, Florida with his dog Danny

Author Links:

Goodreads ~ Amazon ~ Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook

This tour was hosted by Good Tales Book Tours.