Reviewed
by Bev Robitai- Indie Author's Lounge
Auckland, New Zealand
Apr.
28, 2011
The hero of this romance is indeed a first class male, which is refreshing in a
genre where the heroes are often, at least at the start, domineering, truculent
and aggressive. Alex Bentley is actually nice – a desirable male lead with
integrity as well as good looks. He treats frustrated writer Rachel Clark with
kindness and decency, never snarling or behaving badly as their relationship
unfolds. Rachel is a lively and intelligent heroine, and she too behaves like a
real person, not a limp flower at the mercy of her emotions.
Given that two such smart, sensible people would have no trouble in getting
together, it takes a strong plot to keep them apart, and Raven West provides
this very convincingly. The stakes increase with each turn of the story, leading
to a fully satisfying conclusion thanks to the cleverness and persistence of the
characters.
The writing style is clever too, there are repeated phrases and a symmetry in
the characters’ actions which serve to lift First Class Male to well above
average. You may feel that you know more about the US Postal service than you
expected by the end of the book, but you’ll have enjoyed a strong and vibrant
story about people who are well worth spending time with.
Leni Kaye - Contest Winner - Romancing the Book
September, 2010
I just finished First Class Male and Rachel and Alex are still with me.
Is there a sequel to this book and if so is there any mention of Bob the bartender in it?
I loved Alex and he was through and through a good guy. Normally, the good guys are shown as boring, but Alex had many dimensions that supported his beliefs (his heartbreak as a young man and his drive in his belief in his profession).
It confused me a bit in the end at the reception because his comments about marriage and babies and women staying home didn't go with the image that I got of him. I can understand his wanting to have a wife and children and bringing them up with the values that he believes in, but when he put down writing as a profession it didn't quite gel with everything that I read about him up to that point. And he writes, too. As I was reading I wondered if he was going to get published or something like that.
Also, I kept thinking that the letter that Rachel wrote to the Post Master General was somehow going to be exposed in some way. And she'd had the problem with character development and the male voice was weak. Alex's changes helped her get a deal, but he didn't want any credit. Then she needed his help again to start the next book. I just kind of had a feeling that the editor would see a difference in the writing. And it seemed as though she kind of blocked out the fact his changes improved her work.
I just kind of felt like Alex was treated harsher than her ex boyfriend and yet Rachel still felt a need to save her ex even after she found out that he kept his being married a secret when they slept together and his threats about reporting her for sleeping with her client. I don't think that Alex would've run so easily from Cynthia's threats and that Rachel would've forgiven him so easily. I'm not sure if I missed this, but when Rachel signed the deal the editor said that it was coming out in ebook first, but when she went on her first tour and when her room mate threw that party she was signing books.
I liked the way the descriptions were woven into the story like the one about ex boyfriends and old shoes. And the line about the only zipper in the room was undone. That was done well and added such flavor.
This book could also have been written as a bit of a romantic suspense. The character and the story grabbed me and I didn't want to stop reading.
I enjoyed seeing Rachael in action when she was in the courtroom and putting the case together. And it was good to see the Postal Service portrayed in a different light and getting a chance to see some of the inner workings of their world.
First
Class Male delivers!
Thom Green, editor,
The Summit City Mailbag
Summit City Branch No. 116, National
Association of Letter
Carriers
Fort Wayne, IN
Very
few “outsiders” have taken up championing the good of the Postal Service
over the years, let alone putting their thoughts to paper. Author
Raven West is one such person, and she did just that in her latest book, First Class Male, (The
Lighthouse Press, Inc.) Other books have been written in the past,
chronicling the “going postal” phrase, but they concentrated on the violent
side of the term. Ms. West doesn’t do that. She has taken the phrase, and
through the character of a small-town postmaster expounded upon what is good
with the Service.
In
it’s own self praising way First Class Male appears
directed towards the tight-knit family of postal employees. If that is the case,
then it has hit its target. That’s not to say it’s not a book non-postal
employees would not appreciate - because it is..
From
the beginning, Ms. West describes PM Bentley at 32 years old as the fastest
rising employee in his district to go from letter carrier to postmaster of
Crystal Lake. She paints him as just an average guy, who hooked up with the post
office to pass the time. In doing so she develops his character as a person who
has come to love his job, and is extremely offended at every public attack. A
trait so readily identifiable within the walls of all post offices. Because the
author did such a complete job of researching her subject she didn’t have to
take liberties with the truth, like so many other authors of fiction do.
First
Class Male
is not a tear jerking, good guy gets the girl in the end type of book. No, not
at all. It is a book that provides all postal employees with the feeling there
is someone from outside of our realm who cares about how we are constantly
taking it on the chin, and that is refreshing. All clichés aside, First
Class Male delivers.
Raven West: title - First Class Male
4 stars
**** This story combined small town life with big city crowds. It showed
surprising insight into the daily life of postal workers and readers will find
the author seemed to do much research on the various duties in the job! The book
has several sub-plots that will keep the readers involved and wondering what
will happen next. However, the ending will leave many readers satisfied and many
others frustrated! Very good reading within these pages!
Summary:
Rachel Clark left her career as a New York lawyer for a shot at her dream of
writing books. The man who had been her partner in the courtroom and her lover
at home, Mark Greystone, refused to stand by her and left. For two Summers she
rented a place in the small town of Crystal Lake. During that time the
Postmaster, Alex Bentley, had witnessed Rachel's manuscripts for Legal Briefs be
rejected dozens of times. When Rachel mentioned giving up if the manuscript was
rejected again, Alex broke several postal regulations by holding her manuscript
for one full day and spending the night making a few little changes to the
story. Changes that sold the book, launched Rachel's writing career, and hurt
their friendship that had recently become more. While Rachel was in New York
promoting her new book and writing the next, Alex was promoted to Director of
Postal Operations in Albany. The two are brought back together when Alex was
arrested for allegedly embezzling two hundred and seventy-three thousand dollars
from the post office while he worked in Crystal Lake! Rachel stopped everything
to be his attorney, especially when she found out that Mark Greystone was the
one trying to lock him up!
**** HUNTRESS BOOK REVIEWS
(Reviewed by Detra Fitch)
Posted: http://www.huntressreviews.com/fict.htm
* *
*
Raven West carries a first-rate story populated with involving characters
through to the reader's emotional doorstep.
An delightful and excellent read. -
William F. DeVault,
author.
***
Review by Bill Riepe,
Literary critic and book reviewer for the Cheesequake Village Voice.
In this second novel Raven West introduces us to Rachel Clark, a tough, sharp, successful assistant prosecutor in New York. With a great career, a fashionable apartment, and a well-endowed stud for a lover Rachel would seem to be a girl who has it all, right? Well, not quite. The hard, flinty, go-for-the-jugular persona we see in the courtroom isn’t really Rachel at all, at least not the whole Rachel. She has become disenchanted with life in the fast lane, and the law no longer holds zest for her. Nagged by a restless urge to write, she turns away from the rat race and retreats to the mountain fastness of Crystal Lake to pursue her Muse.
There, freed from the distractions of the big city, she completes her novel, titled Legal Briefs, inspired in part by her experiences in the D.A.’s office. Although postage expenses for the ms. soon begin to rival the national debt, and she gets an occasional word of encouragement from an editor, the book doesn’t sell. Rachel finds herself at the end of a long, dismal, seemingly endless paper trail of rejection. With funds low and morale even lower she’s on the threshold of despair, filled with that dark, deep down dread of every unpublished writer: "Maybe I have no talent."
Succor comes from a most unlikely source. The local postmaster, Alex Bentley, has a keen eye for a comely lass, and Rachel is all of that. More importantly, he’s a gentleman of sensitivity and discernment, not exactly qualities one expects to find in a small rural post office. As the author of some published non-fiction pieces himself, he understands well that the return of each one of those bulky envelopes means another rejection for Rachel, and he begins to share her disappointment.
When one of her mss. accidentally falls from a mail pouch, Alex cannot resist the temptation to read it, and thereby sets in motion a remarkable series of events. With an intuitive sense for plot and drama he makes a few key revisions that transform an ordinary story line into a winner, and mails it off. Rachel, of course, is entirely unaware of his intervention.
The book is not only accepted by a prestigious publishing house, but Rachel is signed to a four book contract. She’s overjoyed until she sees the first proofs and realizes someone has tampered with her work without her knowledge and consent. The fact that it has been improved is of no consequence to her; she’s furious and determined to find the "culprit" Alex, wary of her displeasure, is reluctant to reveal his role and, besides, he is the last person Rachel would suspect of having been the agent of the unauthorized revisions.
That’s as much as can be told here without compromising the story. Suffice it to say that from this point on the author skillfully blends a mixture of romance, mystery and suspense into a marvelous concoction that explodes into a surprise ending. You may think you’ve got this one figured out, but take it from me you couldn’t be more wrong.
Raven West has also created a testimonial, a ringing endorsement of the splendid work done by the men and women of the United States Postal Service. Her research must have been prodigious, because authenticity leaps from every page. We learn, for example, that the famous Postal Service motto, Neither snow nor rain ……etc., is a phrase that had been translated by a Harvard University professor, George H. Palmer, from the text of a poem by the Greek writer, Herodotus.
Red Wine For Breakfast, Raven West’s first novel, established her as an interesting new writer on the scene, and held out the promise of exciting things to come. That pledge has been amply redeemed with this book. With First Class Male Raven West has done a First Class Job.
