Title: Spin the PlatePublisher: Black Rose Writing
About the book: Spin the Plate is the story of Jo, a woman who has come through a traumatic childhood, not battered and broken, but powerful and enraged. A tattoo artist by day, she roams the streets of Boston nightly to forgether past and feed her two passions: rescuing mistreated creatures and inflicting bodily harm on their perpetrators. Unassuming and unafraid, Francis, a man harboring a secret of his own, is the one person Jo can't seem to scare off. Right from the start, he sees clearly the caring soul buried deep within Jo's hard exterior and puts into motion a succession of life-altering happenings.
My thoughts: I wasn't quite sure what to think when I started reading this novel. Jo, the main character, is a really tough woman, who was always looking for someone to either get into a mental/verbal fight with, or looking for someone who deserved to have their face smashed in. I wasn't sure that it was going to keep my interest, but I kept reading.
Francis was then introduced. He was a quiet man who thinks he has dreamed about Jo, or someone like her, and starts to follow her around - trying to work up his nerve to ask her out. Even though Jo is brusque and dismissive with him, he hangs on and for reasons even she can't define, she accepts his offer of dinner.
They begin to form a friendship with Jo giving Frances a listening ear to his theories and stories about the world without bias, and Frances bringing a calming influence to Jo's life. She slowly begins to trust him - and she has trusted no man because of her childhood abuse by her father. (This was also the source of her rage).
This is a good story about hope after the survival of dire circumstances. The coming together of two opposite individuals able to form something wonderful together that was unreachable when they were apart. I ended up reading the entire book in one sitting. I liked the way that my impression of Jo changed. In the beginning of the book she is described like this: ". . . very big, extremely strong, and surprisingly fast. She was 257 pounds and stood 5' 11" in her Chippewa hikers. " (p5) You really don't get a physical description of her later in the book, but when seen through Frances eyes - "She looked exactly as he always imagined her: serene. He drank in her beauty and explored each nuance of her exquisite face." (p182) As I progressed through the book, and Jo starts to trust and lose some of her rage, it seemed to transform her outward appearance as well.
~I received a complimentary copy of this book from Walker Author Tours in exchange for my review.~
To find out more about the book - please visit www.spintheplate.com. You can also visit the other blogs on this tour:
October 4: Blog interview with Suzanne Alicie, plus with Jennifer on the A Cup of Coffee and a Good Book BlogTalkRadio show at 3:30 Pacific Time.
October 5: Book review by Kristi Herbrand of Books and Needlepoint
October 6: Book Review at Joan of Shark
October 7: Book Review and guest post from Laurie at Reader Girls
October 8: Book review by Michelle Devon
Spin the Plate
Publisher/Publication Date: Black Rose Writing, May 2010
ISBN: 978-1-935605-39-3
198 pages
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