AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT & REVIEW - Ruth Mitchell

 Good morning, readers!

First off, I have no clue what happened to last Thursday's Writer's Tip. I scheduled all of them for November. We'll see what happens this week.

Today, I'm shining the spotlight on our Writer's Nest author, Ruth Mitchell. I met Ruth at the Ozark Creative Writer's conference last month. She is soft-spoken, pleasant and passionate about her subjects.

Here's a little bit about Ruth:

Ruth Mitchell has led an exciting and adventurous life through her careers as a novelist, freelance writer, travel writer, publisher, editor, columnist, entrepreneur, and jewelry designer. Her non-fiction articles have appeared in Art & Antiques, The San Francisco Bay Guardian, American History, Fodor's USA Travel Guide and Fodor's Great American Vacations, Watercolor, American Style, Niche, Wedding Dresses, and Sailing magazines. Ruth also wrote Arkansas Heritage, a state adopted Arkansas history textbook for elementary aged children.

BEYOND is her second fiction. 

Author, Marla Contrell had this to say:

“I loved that I never knew what the next turn in this book would be. I loved how carefully Mitchell treated her characters, alive or dead, two-footed or four. She writes with so much passion and compassion. And it shows in the phenomenal stories she creates.”—Author Marla Cantrell

Imagine a world where ghosts can be seen (but not heard) on computer screens via artificial intelligence and the collaboration of ‘seeing’ dogs. Follow the story of Laura Haskell, a fantasy writer, and her beautiful white German Shepherd, Cloud.

Laura is a successful author who needs to get sober. She lives in a haunted hotel in San Francisco with Cloud, who can see the ghosts. When Sean Wilson appears in her life, everything changes.

Ghosts have puzzled the living for as long as humans have walked the earth. Beyond takes the reader on a journey which reconciles the questions of their plausibility. Sean and his crew revolutionize how ghostly apparitions are perceived through the use of Artificial Intelligence. This leads to discovering who Laura's mysterious grandfather was and sparks an unlikely romance between Laura and Sean, but will they stay together?

As Laura sobers up her life changes for the better. She finishes the book she has been struggling with, captures Sean's heart, and has a faceoff with an Etheric Revenant. Once the family ghosts have been identified, the ratings for Sean's reality ghost show skyrocket and Cloud becomes famous, creating a new set of challenges.

Readers are in for a rollercoaster ride as they suspend their belief and get to know Cloud and his unique perspective as well as the ghost of Laura's eccentric grandmother who once was a celebrated Madam, serving the elite gentlemen of San Francisco. If you are one who enjoys a fast paced, exhilarating read with mind-expanding ideas presented in a skillfully written and entertaining fashion, then this book is for you.

For me, personally, this book was not my style. While the scientific approach is interesting, I found the overall structure of the story difficult to follow. The head-hopping (switching from one point of view to another) within the same scene is a major flaw, especially when one of those persepctives is Cloud's. While Cloud's perspective is a fun, quirky aspect, he still has to be treated as any other character.

Ruth does portray the struggle with alcohol additiction well, and the growth of Laura's character with the help of ghost hunter, Sean. (she had me at the Scottish brogue and green eyes)  I wanted to see more of Laura, from her head and less from Cloud's.

I was also confused at first by the hotel being in San Francisco rather than The Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs AR she appeared to be portraying. As someone who knows the area, my head was in the original Crescent while Ruth was trying to convince me we were in San Francisco. 

Without giving too much away, I flipped through pages of what appeared to come directly from Wikipedia in complete context.  While this may have worked for Ruth's non-fiction books, the same rules do not apply to fiction. Alexis is not a character nor did I want to read encyclpedia description. Instead, I would like to have been inside Laura's head, getting her take on what she was hearing Alexis tell us. 

Ruth can tell a good story and she constructs beautiful, realistic characters.  

Fiction and non-Fiction rules have very different profiles. I encourage Ruth to find a good critique group who knows fiction writing. 

I'm giving BEYOND....

. 7

Other books by Ruth include her first fiction - White Oak as well as her non-fiction about co-dependency... Living Happy, Joyous and Free.

You may purchase your copy on B & N and  Amazon

You will find Ruth on social media via the following links:

 FACEBOOK   TWITTER   INSTAGRAM   GOODREADS  

AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE

All my best

~Angela