When creating a book, because it’s such a long and arduous process, you have to celebrate every milestone, no matter how small. And winning 5 stars for my first professional editorial review is something to celebrate.

I hope you think so too! Here it is, shiny badge and all.

“Deborah J. Brasket’s This Sea Within is the story of Lena Landon, who is an aspiring photojournalist and a young American surfer. In 1971, she travels to San Balanque to explore her mother’s roots, and is drawn into a revolutionary movement that seems to reflect everything she has ever dreamed about and wanted to do.

She is still haunted by her mother’s abandonment, but the activism of her father inspires her. She becomes entangled with the Aguileros, a guerrilla faction led by Raoul Aguilero. From the start, it is curiosity for her, but her fight for freedom becomes a passionate commitment when she falls for Raoul. She trains as a soldier and undergoes dangerous undercover work by infiltrating the government, the same regime whose Vice President is married to her mother, Dolores Machado.

This is a story of political reckoning and is most suitable for those looking for well-written and epic protest literature.

The author writes brilliantly about romantic obsession, dividing the story into three parts that skillfully move from the stage of dreaming to commitment and conflict, and finally to an hour of blood that delivers a mesmerizing climax.

Deborah J. Brasket captivated me with the seductive allure of an idealism of a powerful revolution and how it connects with nuanced morality. The sea is a well-thought-out metaphor, rich in its destructive and creative forces, and it is cleverly used to mirror the tension in the heroine. This Sea Within features complex and revolutionary characters, exciting prose, and streams of consciousness that lay bare the psyche of the key characters.

Fans of The Red Sparrow trilogy by Jason Matthews and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini will enjoy how this book explores the way personal passion becomes inseparable from the cataclysm of history.” Divine Zape, Readers’ Favorite 5 star review

Three things I loved that surprised me about this review:

1. She referred to This Sea Within as “epic protest literature.” For some reason that surprised me. Deciding what genre this novel is was really difficult, and I still don’t know what to call it: 20th century historical fiction, coming of age novel, war story, love story, women’s adventure fiction, romantic suspense, political thriller . . . I suppose it’s one of those genre-bending novels. And there are so many of them. Here’s the key words and categories I chose for KDP publisher:

• 1970s historical fiction
• wartime romance
• novels about revolution
• Central American fiction
• romantic love stories
• new adult romance fiction
• hot steamy romance
• • Books › Literature & Fiction › Action & Adventure › Women’s Adventure ↗
• • Books › Literature & Fiction › Action & Adventure › Romance ↗
• • Books › Literature & Fiction › Women’s Fiction › Single Women ↗

I think I was stuck on thinking of this in a romance category, although this reviewer hardly mentions that aspect. The next category that came to mind for me was adventure story. The categories you can chose from are really restrictive. I used a software program designed to be used with Amazon that lets you know which category has the best chance to rise to the top of the page: some are more competitive than others.

I may be rethinking these keywords and categories before this goes to print. If you have any suggestions on which makes a good fit, I’d appreciate your thoughts.

2. I liked how how she referred to the titled three-part structure of This Sea Within that “moves from the stage of dreaming to commitment and conflict, and finally to an hour of blood.” That was deliberate: Hour of the Garden, Hour Up in Arms, Hour of Blood. Those part titles came from a poem by poet Pablo Neruda. I spent a lot of time on this, so it’s really validating when a reviewer takes notice.

Similarly, her mention of the sea metaphor: rich in its destructive and creative forces, and it is cleverly used to mirror the tension in the heroine. I loved how she got that too.

3. Her comparison of my novel to The Red Sparrow trilogy by Jason Matthews and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini really blew me away too. I love those novels! But I never thought of my novel in the same category.

And then that last line: this book explores the way personal passion becomes inseparable from the cataclysm of history. Yes, I definitely was trying to do that with this novel but never thought of it in quite those eloquent terms.

All this is just to show that a writer can learn a lot about her own work when viewing in through the lens of the reader. We are co-creators really, each of us taking away different things from our writing and reading.

How cool is that? Something, indeed, worth celebrating.

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This Sea Within is ready for pre-order in ebook on Amazon, and in print on Barnes and Noble and Bookshop. Book release is June 15.