Aftermath by Ann McMan

Book:  Aftermath
Author:  Ann McMan
Publisher:  Bedazzled Ink Publishing

Note to readers from Salem West: Before it was even released, many followers of The Rainbow Reader wrote to me requesting a review of Aftermath by Ann McMan, who I married earlier this year. As much as I would love to climb on my bully pulpit to tell you what I think about her latest release, it's hard for me to maintain a fair and impartial position regarding anything she writes. So, I reached out to the respected author, Susan X. Meagher, and asked if she would step in and share her thoughts on this novel.  

Please welcome Special Guest Reviewer, SUSAN X. MEAGHER, author of the I FOUND MY HEART IN SAN FRANCISCO series, ARBOR VITAE, ALL THAT MATTERS, CHERRY GROVE, THE LIES THAT BIND, DOUBLECROSSED, SMOOTH SAILING, HOW TO WRANGLE A WOMAN, and her newest title, ALMOST HEAVEN.

Special Guest Reviewer,
Susan X. Meagher

Recently, my wife and I made a trip to Italy. I have not one drop of Italian blood, but I feel as comfortable there as I do in my own town. I’m not certain why it resonates with me, but I have a few guesses.

Italy is as steeped in Catholicism as I was as a child. The nineteen years I spent in Catholic school was a minor influence compared to how the faith was the backdrop of every aspect of my life—from Catholic newspapers, magazines and comic books to Catholic camp, Girl Scout troop and sports teams. It was so deeply infused that I didn’t notice until I left that environment that everything had been imprinted on an underlayment of Catholicism.

Italy is a bit like that. Catholicism is everywhere; the art, the architecture, the calendar, even the food.

What struck me during my recent trip was how different the Italian experience must be for someone who knows little or nothing about Catholicism.

Botticelli's The Trial of Moses
from the Sistine Chapel

One day, we were on a small tour, just six people—of the Sistine Chapel. For me, who spent countless hours in an almost bare, utilitarian church in a lower-middle class town in the Mid-west, looking at the exuberant art that covered the walls and ceilings was overwhelming. A Technicolor dream that delighted me in ways I can barely describe.

But the people we toured with that day had no frame of reference. They were Americans who’d never been to Europe and had no faith background. 

One of the men actually looked around, only vaguely interested, and said, “The Pope lives here, right?”

While I applaud people who try to get out there and take a peek at the rest of the world, I have to acknowledge that you’re not going to get a hell of a lot out of the Sistine Chapel if you have no context for the place. Clearly, you don’t have to be Catholic to love religious art. But it has to help—at least to get your feet wet.

I’d apply that same analogy to Aftermath, the eagerly awaited sequel to Jericho. A reader could pick up the book with no prior knowledge of Ann’s work and easily get into it. There’s no complicated backstory that requires notes and flowcharts. But I’d recommend a different, more pleasurable tack. 

I met Ann McMan this summer at the Golden Crown Literary Society’s conference in Minneapolis and decided I had to read Jericho, given that she and her spouse were both so quick, erudite and side-splittingly funny. But I got involved in my own work and soon that pledge escaped my short-term memory.

Recently, upon being asked to write this review, I decided I’d better get busy and catch up. Reviewing the sequel without having read the urtext seemed like an unwise shortcut.

I spent a few days (big book!) with Maddie, Syd, David, Michael, and a cast of characters large enough to make Cecil B. DeMille a bit jealous, and was delighted to see Ann’s wit, energy and charm vividly displayed through her words. When I finished, I truly understood why so many people quickly became vocal fans of her writing and also why the demand for a sequel was so high.

In Jericho, Ann created a world filled with unique characters who rather effortlessly worked their way into your heart. In Aftermath, she gives readers a chance to sit down and visit with the whole gang once again.

It was fun to experience the build-up and dramatic tension of Maddie and Syd coming together in Jericho, but being able to jump into the action in Aftermath with their relationship strong and true has its own rewards. In my view, the drive behind every good romance is the reader’s desire to have the characters build a lasting partnership. Aftermath allows the reader to see that partnership in action, and experience how a real love-match can guide a couple through the peaks and valleys of life. That’s something that is satisfying in a way that the “will they or won’t they” period can’t reach.

Aftermath showed clearly that Maddie and Syd have each other’s backs. They’ve become an anchor for so many people in the town of Jericho and beyond; showing by example how love and commitment can help a person grow to their fullest potential. That’s a wonderful message, and Ann McMan sells it with the zeal of a true believer.

Read Aftermath after you’ve read Jericho. Context is everything, and I’m confident you’ll agree that reading about the strength of Maddie and Syd’s pairing is significantly more satisfying once you’ve experienced the first flickers of their attraction for one another. Or as Nadine Odell might say, Jericho is the chicken-fried steak and Aftermath is the white gravy.

Coach Bum Phillips

They’re best enjoyed together.

I'm not able to assign a Rainbow Scale rating for Aftermath because I think it's sui generis--a work with unique characteristics, rendering it incomparable. 

To paraphrase what Bum Phillips once said about a stellar quarterback, 'Aftermath might not be in a class by itself, but whatever class it's in, it don't take long to call the role.'

Happy Halloween from TRR

Happy Halloween from The Rainbow Reader

Those of you that are regular visitors to The Rainbow Reader know that I usually start out each book review with a short essay that somehow, at least in my humble opinion, relates to a theme, plot point, or cavernous leap-of-faith residing deep within the story.  I've talked about beady little eyes influencing my faith, bearded women, the base-4 notational system, and life in a small town.  

I've raved about a few books, and had to find a way to politely say that few others didn't really do it for me.  

I had the good sense to ask a few special guests to write reviews, and the better fortune that many of them accepted. 

I was honored to be asked to write pre-release reviews for Carol Anshaw, John Irving, and our very own Susan X. Meagher. 

I even got to unveil TRR's inaugural Very Best Awards in December of 2011.

But one moment stands out for me as truly the very best, and that happened on Halloween.

Let me slow down and explain a little of the backstory first...context is everything.

You see, for quite a while now, authors and publishers have been contacting me about reading and reviewing their books.  I try hard to accommodate everyone, and keep a running list of stories to review. On occasion, just as I'm about to do a review, the author or publisher will contact me and ask that I hold off on my review for one reason or another.  In that case, I almost always go to the next book on the list.  However, sometimes, if someone has just slipped a new book into my hands, I work it into the open slot.

That's where this whole story started...

It was October 25th, and I got an email from Casey at Bedazzled Ink.  After a few lovely compliments, she got down to business, as she is wont to do—she had two books that had just come out, and she wanted to know if I could review them.  I told her that wasn't a problem, and mentioned that I might just be able to slide one of them into the slot for the coming week, since I had a pending cancellation.  

She jumped on that little opportunity like a vegan on a lavendar cake...

By nightfall I had the book on my beloved Kindle, and even though I didn't know it at the time, I started to read the story that would change my life. 

It began like this:

"By faith the walls of Jericho fell down..."
                       — Hebrews 11:30

Many of you know the book I'm talking about, but for those of you who don't, it was Jericho by Ann McMan.  While the book had a handful of technical and editorial flaws, I couldn't deny the fact that there was something special about it—I knew the town, I knew the people, and I knew the love story.  Somehow it resonated deep within me, and it made me feel like someone had slipped a ruby into my pocket.

It was a pretty amazing experience, especially given that I'd never heard of this Ann McMan before.  

Still, I had a review to write, and I did my best to give it the review it deserved—that little ditty debuted on this site on All Hallows' Eve, a year ago today.

Quite often, authors contact me after a review to say "thanks," or to challenge something I said—that's part of the process.  Still, it would be over a month before I heard anything from Ann McMan, and that was only because I awarded her the TRR trophy for "Sexiest use of jagged verbal jousting and intellectual tête-à-tête in a mountaintop romance," and I happened to see my name scroll by in the left hand column as I logged onto Facebook—and you just know I had to say something about it.

The rest, as they say, is herstory...

I can't say I was ever a believer in love at first sight, and I sure as heck didn't believe in the concept of "soul mates."  But, when I really and truly met Ann McMan, it was all over for me.  We were legally married in North Hero, Vermont in April of 2012.  

Make no mistake, it was the best thing I EVER did.

So, this post commemorates the book and the review that changed everything.  

The only truly sucky thing to come of this is that I can't review Ann's books anymore.  

Thanks for stopping by and sharing this special moment with me.

Salem West
October 31, 2012
Winston-Salem, NC

Jericho by Ann McMan

Book:  Jericho

Author:  Ann McMan

Publisher:  Bedazzled Ink Publishing Company

At the risk of sounding like a bad karaoke version of John Mellencamp, I was born in a small town. Because of that, I have a special place in my squishy twitchy little dyke heart for small towns and the people that live there.  

Don't get me wrong, as a card-carrying lesbian; I'll be the first to admit that wide-open spaces almost always give way to narrow minds.

The Public Square
circa 1940

Even in the 21st Century, popular images of small town America are based on stereotypes of rural farming villages. And, whether correct or not, stereotypes exist because of convention, formula, and common conception. The stereotypical small town has been defined by the well-known and familiar written and cinematic forms of Mayberry [The Andy Griffith Show], Bedford Falls [It’s a Wonderful Life/The Greatest Gift], and Maycomb [To Kill a Mockingbird]. 

Sometimes, however, stereotypes hit the mark - just replace the horse and buggy from the photo above with a Ford F-150 pickup truck, and this small town today looks just like it did back in the 1940s.

Still, every place has something that defines it.  New York City has the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street, Broadway, and Ground Zero.  Chicago has the Sears Tower, Wrigley Field, the Billy Goat Tavern, and the El.  Seattle has Pike Place Market, Queen Anne Boulevard, REI, and the Space Needle.  Carlsbad, NM has the Project Gnome, it's expansive caverns, and it's own natty underground transuranic waste disposal site. Even stereotypical small towns have things that define them.  In mine, it is the Moravian church, the water tower, the "Y", the flat-roofed grade school, and the bricks of the old up-town.

It looks a little bit like the drawing above . . . only with more earth tones . . . and tractors . . . lots and lots of tractors. Oh, and pie.

Jericho is the feisty debut novel by author Ann McMan. Librarian Syd Murphy’s life has hit a series of speed bumps, and she takes an eighteen-month position establishing a new library in the small mountain town of Jericho, Virginia. The spunky, petite blonde’s plan makes sense, a new town, a new job, and a whole lot of time to figure out her future. Before she ever sets foot in Jericho, though, the tall, dark-haired, and valiant Maddie Stevenson and her trusty steed, Pete the Golden Retriever, rescue her.

Maddie is an enigma to Syd and most of the residents of Jerico. Educated at Stanford, med school at Penn, and former Assistant ER Chief at Penn Presbyterian, she is one of the locals, but an outsider as well. Maddie spent a large portion of her youth in Jericho, and returned to take over her father’s medical practice after his sudden death two years earlier. Outside of her close friends, David and Michael, Maddie focuses on work and keeps mostly to herself.

However, Syd is a force to be reckoned with – she is sweet, kind, beautiful, smart, irresistible, and has a wicked sense of humor that keeps Maddie on her toes. The two women form a fast friendship, but almost immediately begin to secretly struggle with their mutual attraction. And, if that’s not enough, Syd is straight and going through a divorce, and Maddie somehow forgets to mention her sexuality to her new best friend. Almost everyone who sees these two women together believes it’s only a matter of time until they figure it out. However, even in a bucolic setting like Jericho, things can lurch wildly out of control before you realize anything is happening.

Who among us has not spent many an hour wandering happily through The Royal Academy of Bards?  Well, truth be told, probably a few of us have missed out, but not many.  I know that early on in my Lesfic reading career it was a constant source of stories, inspiration, and information on up and coming authors, as well as established authors that I couldn't find in print.  So, it goes without saying that I was intrigued and a bit giddy to learn that Ann McMan's Jericho was 2011's number one vote getter for The Royal Academy of Bards Hall of Fame.  

As a friend from graduate school once said, "Them's some pretty big shoes to fill." She also said, "Them's not spats, them's my thigh highs", but I rarely get a chance to use that wonderfully rich little one-liner.

Jericho is not a quick little love story, it's a fully-involved romance novel clocking in at over 400 well-written, well-conceived pages. From it's opening paragraph, the reader is greeted with rich detail, flowing internal dialogue, witty humor, jagged verbal jousting, and a joyous intellectual tete-a-tete.

The story is based on the simple and familiar premise of straight girl meets gay girl, and after an angsty battle of push and pull, realizes she's not really straight after all. What makes Jericho stand apart from the rest of the pack is the depth of Ms. McMan's main characters, the full flight of supporting characters, and the fresh set of twists and turns along the way.

I'll readily admit that I'm always a bit leery of "love at first sight", and I'm pretty sure that Syd and Maddie didn't fall in love over the flat tire. However, the quirky thing is that my brain wanted them together, even before the natural blonde in the front seat was introduced. The more I think about it, as the reader, my observations and inclinations were very much in synch with the friends, family, and town folks that witnessed Syd and Maddie together. I love how the author is able to illicit that response in me.

I find it refreshing to see two women who have an immediate attraction take their time to pursue friendship, figure out what it is they are really feeling, war with themselves over what they want verses what is the right thing to do, and eventually have the guts to put everything they hold sacred on the line to win the girl. There was a huge risk that the story could have veered off into the land of buttercream icing and chocolate sprinkles, but it didn't. I appreciate the author's vision and patience with the relationship between these two main characters, and its supporting role within the story as a whole.

There are several wonderful and dynamic supporting characters within Jericho. The fabulous David and Michael are wonderful gays that are both stereotypical and unique. I love that both men play significant roles in the lives of Maddie and Syd, but have lives and minds of their own. Roma Jean is both a Godsend and comic relief. Syd's parents offer support, wisdom, and humor, and her brother wouldn't turn down the opportunity to be a rival for Maddie's affections. Lizzy Mayes adds a delightful little nugget of jealousy into the mix. Celine adds edge and unexpected depth in the end. Pete is handsome, goofy, and loyal to a fault. And, lastly, Jericho itself is a wonderful character through its townspeople, architecture, beautiful mountain vistas, and hidden secrets.

If you are a traditionalist and love a good, old-fashioned lesbian romantic swoon, then Jericho is a must have for your collection. The characters are memorable, the dialogue is fresh and feisty, and the plot is somehow both familiar and all brand spanking new. Ms. McMan throws in snappy shout outs to literature, classical music, local wines, and even small engine repair. There's a beautiful love story, joyous friendships, high drama, a doped-up bad guy, barbecue, and a little old lady with a squirrel gun.

In other words, a little somethin' somethin' for every taste.

Ann McMan's Jericho enchanted me from the opening page until I sat the book down wondering when I'd get the opportunity to read it again. This author and her story are not to be missed if you love a good romance with memorable characters and smart dialogue. I'm giving it a high and tight 5.1 out of 6 on the Rainbow Scale, and letting it be known right now that I am anxiously tapping my foot, barely maintaining my composure, as I wait to see what Ms. McMan can come up with for an encore.