R. Williams – Amazon Reviewer.
What a wonderful book! Not just for children, this is a gripping read. Only downside is that it is not long enough - and that is never a bad thing to say of a book! I would recommend this book wholeheartedly.
Patricia (Paddy) Kennington – TSSFPh.D., LPC, NCC, Certified EMDR Therapist.
The life changes that we all face as we grow into our mature selves, often bring the pain of loss before the joy of understanding, and Alice’s journey in the story In the Snake-Dragon's Claws, with her many friends and helpers, and her meeting with the Green Man of All-Knowing, are growth experiences that are both fearful and welcome. As parents know, the stages of a child’s development can be fraught with tensions and testing behaviours, but they are necessary to enable the child to grow into an adult. Human effort and angst, leading to adult maturity, are accompanied by vulnerability and inner reflection: who will help me and why is this happening to me! Such developmental milestones are described in mythology, fiction, poetry, and endless, ‘if-only I had done so and so’, tales, and in Alice’s quest to find the seeds that will bring life back to the world. The author has captured human yearning in the real life struggles of Alice, as she comes to understand the confusion that has up-ended her world. The loss of her mother, and her gradual acceptance of her father’s marriage to a new ‘mother’, leads to a healing process that brings about her progress and reflection. These life changes, though sometimes unpleasant, are part of the family’s shared experience. As Alice and her friends grapple with the Snake-Dragon in the Cave of Mists, she also comes to embrace her new family who help her grow into the young adult she is becoming. Surrounded by a circle of both human and spiritual helpers, Alice reaches out to embrace divine intervention at ‘thin time’, and in doing so is able to take steps towards becoming what she is intended to be.
A message from a reader on Facebook
I cannot tell you how much I loved the poems – they really are absolutely wonderful, Carole. You draw the reader in from the first line, and one feels not only totally engaged, but often greatly moved. Your artistic sensitivity is in evidence throughout – the pictures you paint, the colour and texture, and general appeal to the senses – and I just love your imagery and wonderful use of metaphor. To me Kaleidoscope is a very fine collection of poems, and I do hope you continue down this road – and seek a wider audience. Joys and heartache of becoming a woman as seen through poetry.
Book review of First Wolf by writer and journalist Julie Phillips.
From the moment I read the first paragraph of Carole Anne Carr's First Wolf I was hooked. We follow the journey of twelve year old Toland and his family who are forced to flee from the horrible Eorl Uhtred who is attacking villages, and due to Toland's father's refusal to give Eorl Uhtred what he wants, their village is next. I really cared about what happened to Toland and I was amazed by the ferocity of his sense of honour and courage as he helps his grandmother, mother and younger brother to safety. I forgot several times in the book that he is a boy and not a man. Despite his disability and young age, his dogged determination to follow his father's instructions and the quest entrusted upon him by the monks of Lindisfarne endeared me to him and his plight. It's a coming of age book that shows older children that although unfair and bad things do sometimes happen, the power of the good in people does win through over the bad. Sometimes children are forced to take control and lead the way. Poor Toland has enough trials and danger to last him a life time in First Wolf, but with his beloved dog Bodo by his side, and his friendship with a young girl Kendra, and help from others they meet on the way, mixed in with a little mythology and the supernatural, First Wolf is an excellent read.
Sue Horder-Mason – Amazon Reviewer.
5 out of 5 stars Wonderful book! I don't often read 'childrens' fiction but this book grabbed me from the start. Carole Anne Carr takes you on an adventure, the book is fast moving and you can feel your heart beating as fast as the characters. Her description of life in by gone days in the Ironbridge Gorge is amazing, you can really see it as it was and how life was like for people in those days. I can't recommend this book enough for both young and not so young.
Merissa (Archaeolibrarian) Amazon reviewer.
Wonderful! If you want a book to get your child (or yourself!) interested in the Anglo-Saxon period, then this is the book to do it. The author has an amazing knowledge of Northumberland and Lindisfarne which is written into the story without taking it over. The period of the piece is also extremely well written, giving excellent descriptions of life, clothing and food etc. There is a young hero that you will be rooting, a strange helper that you will find intriguing, a villain you will be booing and a young girl that you will like. Gripping!
Patricia Kennington, TSSF, Ph.D., Spiritual Director – Amazon Reviewer
5 out of 5 stars Poetry and Reconciliation. Kaleidoscope’ by Carole Anne Carr, is a story of child-woman growing into woman-child. Her shared lyrics become a vehicle to convey dreams, memories, hopes, and desires for “the more.” Through her poems, Carole invites us to relive and feel both the clarity and confusion of moving from child to adult. Her poetry encourages us to re-experience the poignant and the painful, self-realisation, and the recognition of human failure. We return to past decisions, joys, failures, and the anguish of being alive and moving on. We remember with more than mental thoughts, pictures and sounds. We remember with our feelings and our body sensations. This is the human energy that is tapped by Carole Carr in her collections of poems which well up within us. In Kaleidoscope, We read her words and simultaneously experience moments in our own lives that bring forth poignant, sad, and joyful “puffs” of unity with the images in her poems. In Carole’s reflections as a poet, we are brought to awareness of the recent and far past in our lives to savour, to mourn, to celebrate.
Sharif – Amazon Reviewer
5 out of 5 stars vivid, lyrical. Carole Anne Carr’s poetry is truly amazing. She strings words together in a vivid, lyrical manner. The words jump off the pages, as they are spellbinding and compelling. I hope another poetry collection is in the works from this author.
Shelly-G, reviewer on Amazon.
Totally Absorbing! I love Carole Anne Carr's books. This was the first one to be published and I still think the best (although Candle Dark and Thin Time are both great reads!). As soon as I had read the first couple of pages I was hooked and truly could not put it down. I know it is aimed at a younger audience (I am in my thirties I will say no more!), but it reminded me of books I had read over and over in my youth such as 'I am David' by Anne Holm and 'The Silver Sword' by Ian Serrailier. As with all of Carole's books the story is engaging and all the way through you are rooting for the hero. There is enough tension which makes you want to turn to the next page and the next! The characters and backdrops are very real, with enough narrative for you to picture it without wading through lots of descriptive text. It is obvious that Carole has fully researched the period and thoroughly immerses herself in it to enable you to do the same. An amazing author - I cannot wait for the second book in the series!