Review of Lone Star by Paullina Simons + a Real Quick Interview

The author that brought us Alexander and Tatiana has penned a new contemporary romance, Lone Star. The story expands The Bronze Horseman universe, taking us back to Eastern Europe with several new characters including one, Johnny Rainbow, that is sure to make all the fan girls squeal with delight. Let’s break down the book’s official description with my reaction GIF’s, because that’s what we do here.

The Backstory

“Chloe is just weeks away from heading off to college and starting a new life far from her home in Maine when she embarks on a great European adventure with her boyfriend and two best friends. Their destination is Barcelona, but first they must detour through the historic cities of Eastern Europe to keep an old family promise.”

What this blurb doesn’t tell you is that one of the “best friends” is another boy … a hunky, over-protective boy who loves to banter with our female protagonist. Oh yeah, and they’ve lived next door to each other their whole lives.

The Love Interest(s)

“Here, in this fledgling post-Communist world, Chloe meets a charming American vagabond named Johnny, who carries a guitar, an easy smile—and a lifetime of secrets.”

So, this girl has her boyfriend, her “best friend,” and a charming guitar player named Johnny Rainbow traveling with her?

Going the Distance

“From Treblinka to Trieste, from Karnikava to Krakow, from Vilnius to Venice, the unlikely band of friends and lovers traverse the old world on a train trip…”

All I can say is … small train cars, small hotel rooms, small beds and a whole lot of sexual tension.

The WTF Moment

“…that becomes a treacherous journey into Europe’s and Johnny’s darkest past—a journey that jeopardizes Chloe’s plans for the future and all she ever thought she wanted. But the lifelong bonds Chloe and her friends share are about to be put to the ultimate test—and whether or not they reach Barcelona, they can only be certain that their lives will never be the same again.”

Johnny’s “darkest past” is what will draw in the most fandemonium. Not only is his backstory complicated, but it’s connected with characters from The Bronze Horseman. I can’t give away any secrets, but readers should be on the lookout for clues throughout the book.

My Verdict

This story was not what I expected. I sat down for what I thought was going to be a predictable love story in an exotic locale, but ended up reading a coming of age story with innumerable twists, turns and pitfalls. Simons, as usual, writes beautifully. The descriptions of the Nazi concentration camp visited by the characters is particularly haunting, while the other cities described gave me intense wanderlust.

Interview with Paullina Simons

Paullina Simons graciously sat down to talk about how she writes and her favorite books.

Q. Share with our readers how you got into writing.

I always wanted to be a writer, ever since I was a little girl growing up in Russia. The dream seemed really far away for many years, but then I was laid off from my day job and had some time on my hands. So instead of going out and looking for actual work, lol, I sat down and wrote my first novel Tully. It took me two years, with taking some breaks to pay the rent. And then the third agent who read it agreed to represent it, and a month or so later, the first publisher we showed it to bought it. And the rest, as they say, is history. Here I am, twenty two years and twelve novels later.

Q. Who are your favorite authors? What are your favorite books and why?

I love the Russian masters, Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy, but I also love Bulgakov who wrote The Master and Margarita because he is so satirically brilliant. I love Henry James, because of how deep and slow he delves into the souls of his characters. A Portrait of a Lady is one of my favorite books.

I love John Steinbeck, Vladimir Nabokov, and E.M. Forster. East of Eden, Lolita, and A Room with a View are some of my favorite books.

I also like Steve Martin because he is so clever and such a good writer, and I like Ira Levin for his compulsively readable, sturdy beautiful prose.

Tess of the D’Urbevilles by Thomas Hardy is one of my favorites because it is poetry in prose form.

And recently I’ve been quite enamored with Junot Diaz’s books, This is How You Leave Her and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. He does amazing things with modern language. Everything just flies alive off the page.

Q. How do you write?

I begin at the beginning. I go on until the end. Then I stop. I’m not being facetious. I want to discover the story the same way my readers discover it. I write and I write and I say, well, what do I want to happen next, and then I write what happens next, and then the next thing, and so on. Only after I’m done the first draft, do I go back to the beginning, and that’s when the agonizing work truly begins. The work of shaping the unformed unruly thing into one coherent whole.

Q. Are you more concerned with plot or characterization?

Plot is what keeps you turning pages, characters is what you will love and remember about the book. Without plot, no one will linger long in your stories—without plot, there are no stories—but without character, no one will care after the last page is turned. So I would say Plot and Character go hand in hand. Like lovers.

Follow Paullina Simons on Twitter and her blog. Lone Star is available in bookstores now.

Buy Lone Star on Amazon