Testimonials:
For Rosebloom:
"Dear Christine, I began reading Rosebloom right away and have been engrossed in the story since. You captured my interest early in the book at the time of the near rape of the innocent Rose…The history within your novel is amazing…You clearly did a lot of research and spent many weeks getting things just right. Very interesting!...Thanks again for sending me the book." - J.L., Stoughton, WI
"Dear Christine, On behalf of the P.D.C Women’s Civic Club I would like to thank you for your delightful program at our recent meeting. Telling us how your recent novel, "Rosebloom" came into being was fascinating. I have started to read "Rosebloom" and am enjoying Rose and her adventures immensely." - C.K., Prairie du Chien Women’s Club
"Dear Christine - I so enjoyed your book, Rosebloom, and was happy Mr. Mallat had suggested it for "a good read."…just read for the pure enjoyment of the beautiful story of Rose’s journey. Wouldn’t it make a lovely film?" - J.H., Madison, WI
"Hi Christine, I so enjoyed your visit to our book club, and I wish you good fortune in your writing career. You are quite a gifted writer. I look forward to reading your future books." - B.J., Janesville, WI
"Dear Christine, At long last I am writing with my thanks for your wonderful "Rosebloom"…You are a talented writer, and I hope you publish more!" - M.M. Indianapolis, IN
"Hey Chris, I read your book while I was in the hospital and loved it! What a marvelous story. I am so impressed with your ability to paint vivid pictures all along Rose’s travels." - L.M., Ellsworth, WI
"...I wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed it. You brought to life the various characters and made me eager to learn more about them and the care about the life's ups and down they went through." Sue P. Racine, WI
"A Burnished Rose surprised me as to the involvement of the war history and all the research you had to do in order to incorporate that into a fictional setting...I loved both of your books and will review them on "Goodreads." ' Eileen N. Belleville, WI
"I finished your second book and enjoyed it. Now I am ready for book no. 3. I found it interesting just like the first one." Mary Jane J, Caledonia, WI.
Reviews:
Rosebloom:
In 1936, 16-year-old Rose runs away from her hometown of Crawford County , WI , to see some of the world before entering high school. Her journey via riverboat from Wisconsin to Missouri to Louisiana , from all-black sections of segregated towns to a house of ill repute, takes Rose through her first love and her eventual arrival at womanhood. Considering the setting, Rose is much more naive about race relations than she perhaps should be, but debut novelist Keleny details her journey and the myriad characters she encounters in an entertaining an enjoyable way. Narrator Adam Seeger uses his abundant vocal techniques to highlight the style of the times between the Great Depression and World War II. Recommended. [The self-published pb won a 2008 Independent Publisher Book Award and is only now available on audio; more at rosebloombook.com.—Ed.]—Terry Ann Lawler, Phoenix P.L.
Library Journal Review, 2/1/11 edition. (libraryjournal.com) Review of the audio book.A Burnished Rose:
The call of war can affect any American, regardless of gender. "A Burnished Rose" is a novel following Rose Krantz, an American woman who wanted a life more than a housewife, becoming a nurse out of the few options available to a woman in the 1940s. When Pearl Harbor is bombed, she rushes to join the war effort, and author Christine Keleny tells the story of this generation who rose to the call quickly and proudly. "A Burnished Rose" is an excellent work of World War II historical fiction, with a feminist message attached
Midwest Book Review, June 2011, Vol 10, #6Independent Book Publishers Awards
"A soulful and lively writer. Rose is a female Huckleberry Finn."
"A well-told and entertaining mutli-racial tale and coming-of-age story."
A wonderful portrait of life on the river. The author develops her characters well and makes the reader care about them and their fates."
Midwest Book Review -2008
"Marriage and Motherhood - a fate most women are perfectly content with, with the key word being most - Rose is part of those women who aren’t in the "most’. "Rosebloom" is her story as she travels from a piddly little farm in southwest Wisconsin across America and not in the most pure of ways either, and that the world is just like that - not that pure. In coming of age and travel fashion, "Rosebloom" is an excellent blend and deftly written look at 1930s America in between the Great Depression and the second Great war - highly recommended for fans of coming of age fiction and for community library fiction collections."