Relatively Normal Secrets
by C. W. Allen
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GENRE: Middle Grade Adventure Fantasy
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BLURB:
Tuesday and Zed Furst are perfectly normal
children with perfectly strange parents. Their father won’t discuss his job,
their mother never leaves the house without her guard dog, and the topic of the
family tree is off limits.
When a last minute “business trip” gets the adults
out of the way, Zed and Tuesday decide to get to the bottom of things once and
for all. Too bad some thugs with shape-shifting weapons have other ideas. Their
escape leaves them trapped in the modern-meets-medieval Falinnheim, where
everyone insists their father is a disgraced fugitive. They hope whoever is
leaving them coded clues may have some answers, but they’re not sure they’re
going to like what they learn.
If they ever want to see their parents again,
they’ll need the help of a smuggler with a broken compass, their unusually
talented dog, some extremely organized bandits, and a selection of suspiciously
misquoted nursery rhymes.
Zed and Tuesday may not have all the answers, but
one thing is certain—when it comes to normal, everything is relative.
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Excerpt One:
Their father was fond of saying the dog had not managed to learn anything in the years that followed, but that was not strictly true. While it was true that she did not come when called or sit on command, the dog had in fact learned many tricks. Nyx had learned quite early on, for example, how to help herself to the contents of the refrigerator. No one was quite sure how an animal without thumbs was capable of opening a refrigerator door, since she had never been caught in the act, but an entire ham doesn’t simply get up and go for a stroll during the night, now does it?
Zed imagined some people would consider it normal to take a dog along to run errands—as long as the dog could fit comfortably inside a purse, that is, or at the very least wait patiently in the car. But Nyx was neither tiny, nor well-behaved and patient. She was, in fact, huge. Her bristly black fur and legs that seemed much too long for the rest of her frame made her look like a gigantic hairy spider. His mother spent nearly every moment in the dog’s company, and whenever she needed to go inside the grocery store, or post office, or other location where dogs are generally unwelcome, she brought Nyx along to wait in the car for her return. Nyx made use of this time by bouncing anxiously from seat to seat, smearing her nose on the windows.
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Review: It starts off with a treehouse meeting with Zed and Tuesday, discussing another “Paranoia Lecture” involving their dog Nyx. To them, “adults are weird…always losing their car keys and wake up every morning looking like zombies.” Evidently Tuesday thought there was always something not normal with their parents. She goes off on her wild theories and Zed makes note of them along with some plausible explanations. You’re almost like a detective yourself here.
The narrative was simple and rather engaging, although it was pretty slow and mediocre. Not much happens until they encounter home intruders with transforming weapons and end up escaping to a bizarre land—a sci-fi Wonderland, if you will. From that point, it’s a frantic race to find out the truth once and for all. But what were they looking for exactly? Their parents? A way home? The secrets of their family? It’s not very clear what they’re looking for as you try to sort the hyper—often clever—dialogue of the characters. I liked the fantasy adventure and the mystery aspect, but getting into the details of the journey were a little complex for a middle grade story.
Overall, this was a fairly good read and a unique story.
Rating: 3 stars
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
C.W. Allen is a Nebraskan by birth, a Texan by experience, a Hoosier by marriage, and a Utahn by geography. She knew she wanted to be a writer the moment she read The Westing Game at age twelve, but took a few detours along the way as a veterinary nurse, an appliance repair secretary, and a homeschool parent.
She recently settled in the high desert of rural Utah with her husband, their three children, and a noisy flock of orphaned ideas. Someday she will create literary homes for all of them. (The ideas, not her family.)
Relatively Normal Secrets (Cinnabar Moth Publishing, Fall 2021) is her debut novel. She writes fantasy novels for tweens, picture books for children, and short stories and poems for former children. Her work will appear in numerous anthologies in 2021. She is also a frequent guest presenter at writing conferences and club meetings, which helps her procrastinate knuckling down to any actual writing.
Keep up with her latest projects at her website: cwallenbooks.com
She is much funnier on Twitter than in person: twitter.com/cwallenbooks
Author’s page Cinnabar Moth Publishing LLC https://cinnabarmoth.com/cw-allen/
Amazon buy link: https://www.amazon.com/Relatively-Normal-Secrets-C-W-Allen-ebook/dp/B098DMNM1N/
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