Tag: In Darkest Peru by Louise Lyons

A MelanieM Review: In Darkest Peru by Louise Lyons

Rating: 2.75 stars out of 5

In Darkest Peru coverRhys White’s life has take a sharp tumble.  His boyfriend of 5 years has dumped him and his employer just told him that her services are no longer needed. And although Rhys is sure that he can find another job as a computer programmer all his interviews to date have gotten him nothing.

Oddly enough it’s a stuffed animal given to Rhys as a gift that prompts Rhys to do something extraordinary and out of character for him. He buys a plane ticket to Peru.

Rhys’ adventure in Peru starts out well enough, but then disaster strikes. All of his belongings are stolen. Everything is gone—passport, wallet, phone, clothing, the lot.

Stranded in Cuzco, not too far from the famous Machu Picchu, Rhys tries to find someone to help him. He’s about to give up, when a sexy Brazilian named Rafael, comes to his rescue

I was excited to read In Darkest Peru by Louise Lyons for several reasons. One –  Lyons is a new author to me and I always enjoy finding new writers.  And secondly, the location, Peru, specifically Cuzco and the Inca Trail which is also a huge hook for me.  Unfortunately this book fell far short of my expectations.

The opening pages revealed that the author started off her story on a creative and endearing platform of an idea.  Are you familiar with Paddington Bear?  That wondrous bear of the enormous red hat and blue coat?  No?  Well, his story, a favorite childhood book for many (A Bear Called Paddington) starts out with a small bear who was a stowaway, traveling from “Darkest Peru” to the United Kingdom.  It seems that Rhys’ boyfriend had gifted him with a stuffed Paddington Bear whose gaze prompts Rhys to go off on an adventure of his own after being dumped.  And much like Paddington, Rhys might have just as well had a sign around his neck that reads “Please look after this boy.  Thank you,”  to borrow Paddington’s line.

See?  Right there, Lyons had me.  Rhys was a sympathetic believable human being and I wanted to know more about his story.  So far so good.  But then Rhys landed in Peru, that magical, inspiring land of the Incas and Rhys’s journey and story start to head off course.

If an author is going to use any exotic or foreign location as a setting for their story, then they need to make that place come alive…people, places, culture.  Make us believe that their characters are actually walking the land, and listening to the language and eating the local food.  But here?  Take away the names and the fact that the story states that Rhys flies to Peru, takes various transport here and there, you could relocate this story to Manchester or Liverpool or Kansas and it would give us as much local flavor.  Rhys visits a museum in Cuzco that he said he always wanted to see but other than the name we never find out why.  He flies over the famous  Nazca Lines in a plane and notes he’s disappointed it was over so fast.  Well, so are we because there’s no description of the Nazca Lines or what he sees or is feeling high above them.   That lack.. of physical descriptions, emotions, feelings and thoughts…its everywhere here. What descriptions to be had here are slight in length, shallow in layers, and altogether lacking in any believable content and authenticity. Rhys continually “tells” us where he is going and that maybe he is sweaty but not much else.  A few sentences that felt like plodding paragraphs and the famed Inca trail is done with.   What a wasted opportunity for Rhys and the reader to make Rhys feel a part of the ancient and mystical trail and great adventure it represents.

Basically, its all forgotten when Rhys gets robbed and rescued by another hiker, a man from Brazil who wants to be a guide.  But do we get any indication why (his name is already escapes me) wants to be a guide?  Does he bring any emotion or knowledge really of the trail and conditions they hike?  Nope, not to be found here either.  Let’s just say that much sex ensues and leave it at that.  Really the only reason it feels that Peru and the Inca Trail were used as settings as all was to enable Lyons to use that great idea at the beginning with the stuffed bear.

Now some will say “well, how about the romance?”  What romance?  There is no HEA or  HFN.  No, this is a vacation hookup story, albeit one that gives the main character a little bit more of a backbone that when he started.  The best thing about this story? That bit about the stuffed bear and Paddington’s connection to Peru. I only wish this story had lived up to that inventive and wonderful concept.

So if you are expecting love or romance, this story will leave you absolutely irritated at the lack thereof.  If you are expecting vivid descriptions and a feel for the country and ancient history, you won’t get that either.  If you want a book that makes Peru and its history and people come alive, pick up Ariel Tachna’s The Path.  It’s exemplary and you will feel you are walking those ancient arduous trails to a shining conclusion with its characters.  And if you want an endearing tale of adventure, look no further than A Bear Called Paddington.  Now’s there’s an adventure for you!

Not so here so I definitely recommend that you give this story a pass.  I will try another story from this author and see what promise I may find there.

 

Cover art by Jay’s Covers by Design.  Beautiful cover, one of my favorites this month.  I only wish the book had lived up to it.

Sales Links:  Wayward Ink Publishing     All Romance (ARe)    Amazon      Buy It Here

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 51 pages
Published February 13th 2015 by Wayward Ink Publishing
ASINB00SSCKT58
edition languageEnglish

Journey Into the Darkness with Louise Lyons “in Darkest Peru” (author guest post and contest)

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Synopsis

Shy and geeky Rhys White, has recently been ditched by his boyfriend of five years. On top of that heís been made redundant from his job as a computer programmer.

IndarkestPeru-WAYWARDINKPUBLISHING-smallpreview

Tired of being boring and unadventurous, he throws caution to the winds and buys a plane ticket to Peru.

Rhysí adventure in Peru starts out well, but then disaster strikes. All of his belongings are stolen. Everything is goneópassport, wallet, phone, clothing, the lot.

Stranded in Cuzco, not too far from the famous Machu Picchu, Rhys tries to find someone to help him. He’s about to give up, when a sexy Brazilian named Rafael, comes to his rescueÖ

Buy links

Giveaway

Prizes:  $20 WIP Gift Card,$5 Amazon Gift Card,1 x eBook copy of In Darkest Peru and1 x eBook copy of Conflicted or†Second Bite of the Cherry (winnerís choice)

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Cherished childhood memories and my early writing attempts by Louisa Lyons

One of my best memories of being a small child, was something that I believe had a bearing on me becoming a writer. My grandmother (known as Nana) on my mother’s side lived about 5 miles from where I lived with my parents, and every weekend we went to spend the day with her. But at Christmas, my dad would fetch Nana and she’d stay with us for a few days, sleeping on the sofa.

As most children do, I’d get up early in the morning and creep into the lounge where Nana was sleeping, and she let me sit under the blanket near her feet while she told me fantasy stories. Usually they were about me, but with magical powers. Imagine a little girl who could grow wings when she wanted, and fly off with the birds, looking down at everything below and going to visit anyone she wanted?

Stories like this inspired me to make up some of my own, and by the time I reached 8 years old, I learned to use my mum’s old manual typewriter so I could put the stories on paper rather than keep them in my head.

From 5 years old onward, I had horse-riding lessons and every Sunday without fail, my dad would drive me to the riding school a few miles away from our house. I remember one bad winter where we had so much snow, Dad couldn’t get the car out of the drive, so rather than let me miss my riding lesson, he went to the local farm and borrowed their 4 wheel drive vehicle so he could get me to the riding school. No one else’s parents did that, so I had one-to-one riding fun that day, and I was able to choose which horse I wanted to ride. I learn to groom it, tack up and then got to ride as well that day. I think the session was way longer than the usual hour!

My horse-riding featured in my writing in the early stages, and the first stories I churned out on that old typewriter, were about little girls and ponies, and eventually teenage girls with horses.

I had a great love for animals, and still do, and I seem to remember writing not only about horses, but other creatures too. Aged about 12, I entered a writing competition in my English class and my story about a fox cub and her adventures in the wild, imaginatively titled “A Nature Hole of Survival” won the competition. I didn’t handle my 15 minutes of fame too well at the time, however. My English teacher called me up on stage in the drama hall to receive my prize, and I was so embarrassed I stood there laughing hysterically and was unable to say anything! Hopefully things have improved since then.

About the author

Louise Lyons comes from a family of writers. Her mother has a number of poems published in poetry anthologies, her aunt wrote poems for the Church, and her grandmother sparked her inspiration with tales of fantasy. Louise first ventured into writing short stories at the grand old age of eight, mostly about little girls and ponies. She branched into romance in her teens, and MM romance a few years later, but none of her work saw the light of day until she discovered Fan Fiction in her late twenties.

Posting stories based on some of her favorite movies, provoked a surprisingly positive response from readers. This gave Louise the confidence to submit some of her work to publishers, and made her take her writing ìhobbyî more seriously.

Louise lives in the UK, about an hour north of London, with a mad Dobermann, and a collection of tropical fish and tarantulas. She works in the insurance industry by day, and spends every spare minute writing. She is a keen horse-rider, and loves to run long distance. Some of her best writing inspiration comes to her, when her feet are pounding the open road. She often races into the house afterward, and grabs pen and paper to make notes.

Louise has always been a bit of a tomboy, and one of her other great loves is cars and motorcycles. Her car and bike are her pride and joy, and she loves to exhibit the car at shows, and take off for long days out on the bike, with no one for company but herself.

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