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Donovan's Bookshelf

August 2022 Review Issue


Table Of Contents

Prime Picks
Fantasy & Sci Fi
Literature
Biography & Autobiography
Mystery & Thrillers
Novels
Reviewer's Choice
Young Adult/Childrens


Fantasy & Sci Fi

Afterworld
Bryan McBee
Atmosphere Press
978-1-63988-413-1         $22.99
www.atmospherepress.com 

Afterworld follows Simon Crandall as he moves through a devastated world of the future, bereft of the technology that marked mankind's pinnacle and then led to its downfall. 

A prologue sets the stage and history for Simon's current world, neatly reviewing recent the plague that has transformed humanity, sending it backwards into a new dark age. 

Simon was eight when the virus escaped to change everything. The world died and then was reborn while he witnessed its demise and formulated strategies for his own survival. 

He can exist in this destroyed world only because forgetting the past is the easiest way to navigate the present: "Simon tried not to think of the past. There was no use in it; living in the past was futile and accomplished nothing. If he could have, Simon would have gladly forgotten his past forever. There was too much pain, anguish, and misery, almost more than he could endure." 

So far, the trappings of this dystopian world are familiar; but Bryan McBee offers a twist that readers won't see coming as Simon searches for a final weapon that could complete the job of destroying humanity if it falls into the wrong hands. 

Simon's mission drives the story and reader interest alike. McBee creates an engrossing account of men and women committed to being warriors in different ways. As chaos and plots on and off the battlefield come to light, so do the motivations and forces of these future remnants of humanity and others which have evolved from this chaos. 

As a ragtag team grows to represent nearly every race left on the planet, readers move from a loner's mission to a group effort. McBee paints a compelling portrait of adversity, impossible odds, and the interactions of very different survivors forced to come together for a greater purpose. 

The well-drawn characters and their special interests add nicely to the overall tension described in this dystopian world, while the novel's twists and turns create unpredictable outcomes and circumstances of healing and growth alike. 

Will Simon ever feel whole and at peace in this world? These goals don't seem likely, but Afterworld takes some surprising turns. That is part of its attraction, and why it's highly recommended as a notable story of extraordinary efforts, fragile peace, and the differences that individuals make not just in their individual pursuits, but in influencing the fate of humanity itself. 

Afterworld

Return to Index


Blood Dragon Rising
G.S. Carline
Dancing Corgi Press
978-1-943654-17-8         $6.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Dragon-Rising-Shadows-Book-ebook/dp/B09XQV24DW 

Blood Dragon Rising, Book 1 in the Dragon Shadows series, weaves a love story, a fantasy, and an epic adventure into the story of Lisette de Lille, whose marriage to a staid nobleman proves anything but dull. 

Just because it's set in the Caribbean and involves pirates doesn't mean that Blood Dragon Rising's audience should be limited to swashbuckling audiences alone. Nor does it represent historical fiction as it follows noblewoman Lisette's much-changed life when she becomes a pirate. 

This elusive flavor is just what spices Blood Dragon Rising so nicely, keeping it from being a set genre read by expanding the potential of its attraction to a wide range of readers. 

G.S. Carline employs especially haunting imagery to capture Lisette's environment and the influences that lead her astray (or, more likely, into the person she really was meant to be): "Lisette stood on her balcony, trying to draw in breath. This evening’s gala required her to wear a corset and although it pushed her breasts into two fine mounds, the reward seemed hardly worth the pain. Such was the price for turning twenty. The sun had sunk below the horizon, but light still fought the darkness, giving the sky an ashen, brooding quality. The island breeze was still too warm, and she pushed at the damp curls along her neck. She gazed outward to sea, willing her body to breathe despite its entrapment." 

These descriptions of her world and the dragon that haunts it prove a compelling draw from the first page, luring readers to learn more about Lisette's life, powers, and destiny. 

There are many vivid scenes throughout, as in a dagger fight between women who are each more than capable of wielding weapons and anger with equal force. Locked in battle, the two must quit in order to face a greater foe as a Spanish ship threatens them. 

Lisette's forceful personality, perceptions, and interactions with a host of women lend an especially vivid, female-driven force to the story which is uncommon in tales of pirates and Caribbean experiences: “Rocco will soon set fire to our fine ship, and the further away we are, the less likely we shall be roasted alive.” The women wailed louder now and one of the younger girls fainted. “Stop your bawling. You behave like lambs going to slaughter.” Lisette glowered at them, spitting her words. “Do you want to die? Or would you rather survive this and return to your loved ones?” 

From immortal souls and ladies of the house to pirate ships and dragons, G.S. Carline creates a satisfyingly moving story that proves ever-changing, unpredictable, and hard to put down. 

It's rare to recommend a Caribbean pirate story to such a wide audience, but libraries will find that it captures the attention of fantasy readers, mystery fans, and pirate enthusiasts alike. Blood Dragon Rising deserves a prominent place in collections strong in novels that center on a diverse set of female characters whose lives, experiences, and strengths take center stage. 

Blood Dragon Rising

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Dawn of the Watchers 
Winn Taylor
Independently Published
979-8-9860537-1-4                $14.99 Paper/$4.99 ebook
winntaylor.com

Young adult and adult sci-fi readers who enjoy metaphysical elements of magical realism in their stories will find these and more in Dawn of the Watchers. It's a tale that began in Rise of the Protector, which introduced Jinx and her attempt to free Laris from a simulated world that attracted and entrapped those seeking enlightenment. 

The story continues in this second book, where Jinx and her team faces the challenge of traversing galaxies in order to fulfill a prophecy that, ironically, initially holds little attraction to her. 

Some heroes aren't trying to save the world. And some don't even aim to be heroes. The subtitle of this adventure reflects its mercurial nature as Jinx moves away from any definition of safety and into an endeavor marked by hard science and difficult decisions. 

Winn Taylor embeds Jinx's revelations and world with this hard science. This will delight readers looking for edgy stories that operate on the cutting edges of enlightenment and scientific process. 

The sense of discovery and opportunity are thus presented on two different levels that juxtapose variables unique to metaphysical and scientific realms alike. 

A sense of humor also adds an undercurrent of fun to the serious adventure, creating references that readers will find unexpected and attractive: "Jinx regarded the creature for a moment, deciding to keep it jovial. Pressing through the bodies, she squeezed up to the bar. Thumbing towards her new pest, she yelled, “Can I get two of these hallucination cocktails?” 

The story line is marked by fast-paced action that makes for an engrossing story readers will find fun and thought-provoking, as well has hard to put down: “Hey, hold up.” Jinx threw out her arm, bringing Jacob to a pause. “I think I saw something near the opening of the pyramid.”
“What? What do you mean, something?” Jacob stammered.
“Dunno. I’m gonna check it out. Wait here.”
“What?” Jacob jerked his attention to follow Jinx’s line of sight. “You expect me to just sit here like bait?”
 

The result is a top recommendation for readers who like their sci-fi unpredictable, fast-paced, and science-based. The metaphysical elements and changing interpersonal relationships create a compelling saga driven by a spunky, memorable young woman who captures the irony in making thinking nerds the centerpiece of a proactive adventure: "Standing around chewing on concepts was excruciating. But she knew that heading out, guns blazing, in an effort to track down Sartillias wasn’t going to get results." 

Young adult to adult sci-fi adventure enthusiasts will find plenty to relish in Dawn of the Watchers, a story that stands out from the crowd and ends with more than a hint of ongoing adventure from future books expanding Jinx's saga. 

Dawn of the Watchers 

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Intergalactic Exterminators, Inc.
Ash Bishop
CamCat Books
‎978-0744305869           
$26.99 Hardcover/$20.99 Paper/$5.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Intergalactic-Exterminators-Inc-Ash/dp/0744305861 

When a rare and unusual artifact is found in a grandfather's collection, it attracts the attention not just of grandson Russ Wesley, but a dangerous alien from another world in Intergalactic Exterminators, Inc. 

This, in turn, lures a crazy band of alien exterminators who arrive on Russ's doorstep with a mission that not only involves him, but compels him to lend his skill set to their endeavors. 

Ash Bishop's humor abounds in a saga that winds fun observation into action-packed scenarios: "The girl they called El Toreador had been on lookout. She was far enough into the darkness that Russ could barely see her, just a wisp of thick brown hair bobbing in the darkness—that is, until she pounded her chest with her fist. The vest lit up red, casting shadows across the trees. “My real name’s Atara,” she told Russ quickly. Then: “Don’t look so worried. We’re professionals.” 

Russ has a lot to learn about aliens, the universe, and his place in it. As he joins the team as a reluctantly conscripted member and faces many challenges, he and his readers become immersed in a zany adventure that holds many unexpected twists and turns and more than a few light-hearted moments of revelation and wonder: "Russ pounded his fists against the window. “Atara!” he shouted. “ATARA!”
“What? What do you need?” Atara asked. She had materialized beside Russ and Nina. She glanced through the window at her own dead body and shook her head. “I’m just going to say it. I look gorgeous, even dead. Kind of scary to stare straight into the eyes of the reaper, though. Not that I don’t deserve it, with the performance I put on. The others will be out in a minute.”
Russ stared at dead Atara and alive Atara. “Out of where?” he asked, trying to pretend like what was happening made sense.
“The virtual training room. Technically, it exists to refine our combat skills, but we use it every day because it’s fun as hell, like a huge, badass video game. Welcome aboard the Flashaway,” she said as an afterthought."

What kind of Intergalactic Exterminator will Russ make? Their special brand of pest control rocks through different worlds as laughter and unpredictable action permeate the story. 

Nina, whose father is in danger, is also drawn into the action. Perspectives that shift between Nina and Russ are clearly depicted by chapter headings that identify the divergent viewpoints, while the story expands with the addition of character Steven Applebam, who also becomes involved with the Exterminators in an ironic manner. 

The result is a compelling, whimsical romp through the universe of intergalactic pest control. It's an inviting read for those who enjoy their sci-fi stories of alien invasion and first contact spiced with the flavor of fun.

Few sci-fi stories hold such humor, making Intergalactic Exterminators, Inc. a special attraction for libraries who seek examples of irony, satire, and action-packed displays of amusement. 

Intergalactic Exterminators, Inc.

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Keeping the Stars Awake
Matthew J. McKee
Atmosphere Press
978-1-63988-346-2         $18.99
www.atmospherepress.com 

Keeping the Stars Awake is a sci-fi novel that blends surreal atmosphere with ironic observation, introducing readers to a dystopian world where sleep and the futile pursuit of respite leads to dangerous avenues of despair and disquiet. It's a world at once familiar and alien. 

The first thing to note about this story is that Matthew J. McKee takes the time to cultivate a special brand of metaphorical examination that results in especially vivid scenes: "The cicadas have all gone to sleep, their restless wings broken and shorn. The chestnuts have all freed themselves from their sheathes, fat rotting carapaces littering the ground like discarded candy-bar wrappers. The wind is serene, quiet, yet steady in its determination to find succor and haven in the hearts of brave evening saunterers—and no amount of huddling will turn it away. The rain is furtive, yet omni-present. The land is muted and the roads, slated. Above, on thinning branches, frost sleeps, withered birds of ice, shadows drowsing like fish in torpid ponds pooled at their roots." 

Readers seeking fast-paced introductions will find the story builds slowly from these roots, which are essential introductions to the heart of this tale's strength: its ability to pull readers into a parallel world in which demons and the divine co-exist side by side. 

One doesn't anticipate the sarcastic jokes "mocking the infectious nature of religion" and the chilling descriptions of place that permeate this thoroughly engrossing read, but McKee's language at times reads with the evocative description akin to poetry as the narrator describes a Sacrifice Tree: "I had been horribly mistaken: the autumn foliage was not made bloody by the moon; it was simply bloody to begin with. The tree we had been sitting under had blood-red bark, the leaves that hung from the vein like branches pitch black." 

Dialogue, too, is well done and unexpectedly vivid: "You’re not human.
Says you. Who died and made you king?
King? Ha! In here, I’m God. This is my world. This is my sandbox. I decide what is, and what isn’t. I decide the meaning and the truth.
Really? Then why are you even bothering with all this?
Because that’s the kind of story this is. Because that’s what it takes. A little blood and sweat from yours truly.
Thaaat, makes no sense.
It doesn’t need to; not to you. I already told you what you have to do: Listen, and obey. That’s all you have to understand. All I expect of you is to fall in line, read your lines like a good little narrator, follow every cue to a T, and finally, get the fuck out of my head."
 

Witty, ironic, sarcastic, and filled with horror and realization, Keeping the Stars Awake is a work of literary excellence that deserves a place not just in sci-fi, but in literature collections.

Matthew J. McKee has created a refreshingly original and unpredictable story of the mirror world of Oh and Sen, with flawed characters that represent questionable morals, rude awakenings, and startling perspectives. 

Libraries and literary discussion groups will find Keeping the Stars Awake a compelling exploration that pushes the boundaries of the definition of sci-fi and ironic inspection alike. 

"’Twas truly a story worthy of keeping the stars awake—one hell of a ridiculous ride—however!” 

Keeping the Stars Awake

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A Slow Parade in Penderyn
David Hopkins

‎Tales from Efre Ousel
ASIN:
B08L27J46G              $.99 Kindle
www.thatdavidhopkins.com 

Book 1 of the Dryad's Crown epic fantasy series, A Slow Parade in Penderyn, presents a typical fantasy setting on a vast world containing four great continents, but it comes with a difference. The content, setting, and foundation premise of this saga was created as "open content" to encourage the broader fantasy writing community to add their own stores to the '‎Tales from Efre Ousel' premise. Contributors maintain copyright of the stories they create but are allowed to build upon the characters and contents of Efre Ousel: "Our hope is to foster a collaborative community, where other storytellers can build upon each other’s work." 

That said, the story opens with woodswoman Jori's discovery of an abandoned new baby inside a tree. Jori gives up the child to her druid people when they come knocking, but tragedy again strikes in an ironic twist of fate: "That is the way of the gods. When they intervene, everyone loses something." 

Fast forward to prized (yet beaten) soldier Silbrey's return to Penderyn. She's an assassin and a mother, vastly changed from her street urchin roots, but still subject to buffeting by the winds of change, which have returned her to Penderyn against all odds. 

Silbrey is there to confront her past, which threatens her family and motherhood. What she ultimately faces is herself and her own roots in adversity and mystery as the adult Silbrey walks into a world marked by omens, rumors, legendary battles, and threats. These reach into her life to destroy everything she's built with the violence she thought she'd left behind in her desperate flight from her legacy. 

David Hopkins has chosen, as a descriptor, the concept of a "slow parade," but the plot is anything but slow. He cultivates a fast pace of revelation and growth as Silbrey faces not only her own heritage, but the moral and ethical quandaries of choosing violence over reconciliation: "Silbrey could kill her now. She could crack her skull open with her staff. She could break her neck. She could take Dahlia’s own sword and stab her through the heart. Silbrey had killed so many people. She could kill Dahlia too, the one responsible for it all. Penderyn would be a safer place, a better place without her. How many lives would be saved with this one act?" 

Hopkins cultivates a blend of strong characterization and powerful moral and ethical dilemmas that lend a special depth to the story. Readers who look for stories steeped in promises and the search for home and purpose will find Silbrey's adventures compelling and revealing. 

Libraries looking for epic fantasy steeped in emotional growth will welcome A Slow Parade in Penderyn's engrossing environment and character conflicts. 

A Slow Parade in Penderyn

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Literature

One for the Road
Randall McNair
Bits of Steak Press
979-8-9860895-0-8        
https://www.mcnairpoet.com 

Poetry enthusiasts who choose the fourth book of Randall McNair's Bar Poems series should anticipate one thing in advance: prepare to be amazed. These aren't your usual literary philosophical blends, but gritty observations of life that test the heart, mind, and literary soul of its readers. 

One for the Road offers poems about booze, babes, and the world of drinking problems and solutions. Sometimes it's a cocktail of love, and sometimes it's a beer of busted dreams. 

McNair reflects his own proclivity for the honesty of drinking versus teetotalers who eschew the bottle: "I’m so tired of/people who are sober every day./I can’t understand those who are just/going through the motions of living—/they never hallucinate/they never go mad/they never puke on their bosses/in the middle of the sales meeting./They just go around drinking milk/with their steak/potatoes/green bean casserole,/they never get up..." 

While AA members may reject some of the observations and reflections in this collection, One for the Road isn't written for them. It's written for the non-poetry reader who thinks the usual staid verse and its high-falutin pretension precludes the kinds of emotional honesty represented in this book. 

It's written for the drunks who normally don't see their lives reflected in art; for the streetwise who find the normal poetic effort alien and unconnected to their lives; for the rapper and poet used to musical interludes who will find equal power in written words that touch upon matters of the heart. 

Written to offend and inquire, such works as "Prayer for a Drunk Mediocreite" defies the logic and usual progress of the poetic form and content to reach those whose lives resonate with similar threads of anger, loathing, and disappointment: "Our Father who art/disappointed in me,/what’s your name again?/I’ve had a few/and seem to have forgotten." 

Even Death doesn't take a holiday in this collection, but is right there with the reader and author "...at Dot’s Coffee Shop pushing his eggs/from one side of the plate to the other/his coffee cold and black inside his cup/his scythe leaned up against the coat rack/his head bowed in sadness." 

While contemporary poetry collections will want to include One for the Road for its real-world subject and style, ideally the book won't just repose alongside its genre companions, but will be chosen to enlighten and amaze the younger generation with the possible routes poetry can employ to connect with real-life experiences. 

Poetry discussion groups, especially those including topics rappers and contemporary artists would enjoy, will find One for the Road a unique collection that doesn't just demand attention, but promises to revise opinions of what poetry is and the types of audiences it can reach who reside outside the usual literary circles. It's very highly recommended for its unique voice and ongoing connections between drinking, life, and death. 

One for the Road

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Something Dead in Everything
Lannie Stabile
ELJ Editions
978-1-942004-40-0         $20.00
www.elj-editions.com 

Flash fiction is exceptionally short fiction that packs a punch using as few words as possible. Lannie Stabile's works certainly fit that bill, as they offer diverse, digestible pieces that even the busiest reader can't claim to be too frenzied to absorb. 

The length of their presentation doesn't belay their impact. In fact, the collection opens with a trigger warning disclaimer: the contents include subject ranging from "domestic abuse, sexual assault, infanticide, SIDS, postpartum depression, death, murder, suicide, dismemberment, and profanity." Fragile readers should look elsewhere, but those who find such subjects fodder for consideration and not a nervous breakdown will find them treated with astute and powerful insights under Stabile's hand. 

"To Wash and Dry a Vessel" opens the collection with an observational piece that introduces a simple ceramic mug of memories, a mother's most prized possession. 

"Take care of the things that matter to you, Baby, Mama used to say. And the irony would scowl at us from across the kitchen." 

The love for and ritual of using the mug follows the narrator throughout her childhood and into her mother's illness and subsequent death, when the mug appears to introduce the relief of a death after a long illness: "Death meant I could open the windows, let the fresh air in to sweep through the mummified halls. Death meant I could pause and breathe, and maybe even relax. Death meant I could say good-bye..." 

As a haunted mug stirs memories, guilt, and brings new possibilities, readers are drawn into the life of a caregiver who finds herself marked and changed not just by death, but by life afterwards. 

"Dreamers with Empty Hands" is both in stark contrast and a familiar sigh of experience as the narrator shares close quarters with a couple and cultivates her own form of appreciation, angst, and longing from the experience: "I wish I could reach out and rest my hand on her shoulder, give it an empathetic squeeze. Show her someone’s listening, someone cares, even if it’s some lost soul with a permanent beehive congealed with blood." 

Replete with themes of loss, love, discovery, and recovery, Something Dead in Everything represents vignettes of life experience and observation, blending powerful metaphorical images of the ghosts that hang around the living with the embedded sorrows and hopes of the living. 

These thought-provoking works of flash fiction deserve not only a place on literary shelves, but in the discussion groups of readers who would analyze and examine the presence of longing, love, and hope in life and death alike. 

Something Dead in Everything

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Suburban Death Project
Aimee Parkison
Unbound Edition Press
9780991378043             $27.95
Publisher: https://www.unboundedition.com/product/suburban-death-project-aimee-parkison-short-fiction/
Ordering: Amazon.com: Suburban Death Project: 9780991378043: Parkison, Aimee: Books 

Suburban Death Project is a literary venture into psychological realms powered by the short story format. It makes unexpected leaps, connections, and forays into worlds that are diverse and thought-provoking. 

Take the introductory "Theatrum Insectorum," for example. Garner considers himself not just an insect collector, but a spectator of their sport: "At night, Garner gazed through a magnifier at insects he considered actors. Adjusting tiny spotlights, he cherished the actors’ talents. He trembled, laughed, and sighed. The insects twitched, danced, and flourished before stilling. Under the scratched lens, the living met the dead, and Garner applauded them all. Slowly, he became sentimental about preservation. He wanted to keep the best actors near him for the rest of his life." 

As the story evolves, the elderly Garner's passion becomes a warped pursuit of insects whose plays prove them "...to be better actors than people." In stark contrast to his delight over his insect performers, his wife Joyce "flinches at every performance." She's terrified of all insects, and even thirty-seven years of marriage can't assuage her fear. 

As Joyce gets her revenge and the eerie relationship plays out, readers discover that more runs beneath the surface than the attraction to or fear of passion. A changed scenario emerges which, in turn, transforms Garner's biggest fear into a strange form of rejuvenation. 

"Locked In" also offers up a special synthesis of inspections of life and death. Why would a patient specifically prefer being "locked in" (conscious and trapped) during surgery, and why would a doctor agree to this unethical, purposeful request? 

More ethical dilemmas emerge as the scenario expands to explain these uncommon patient/doctor decisions: "I never wanted to be in this miserable position, where no choice is without suffering. If the press got word of what I’m taking from his tattoos, the public wouldn’t understand how many animals have to suffer and die. Most people think every living thing is replaceable due to cloning, but they don’t understand the underclass of female animals used to create clones. More importantly, they don’t know about the bioterrorists who have destroyed bio-banks of animal DNA to prevent new additions to the underclass of female animals." 

Each story captures a disturbing pivot point between life, death, and moral and ethical choices to lead readers into a realm where logic and thought collides with an emotional draw. 

Some of (perhaps even many) of these stories provide trigger points that should be approached with caution (or avoided entirely) by readers who might grapple with the diverse scenarios of death painted in Aimee Parkison's collection. Its astute, disturbing portraits are haunting, lingering in the mind long after their reading. 

The twelve short stories are innovative, revealing depictions that embrace black humor, ironic observation, and unsettling horrors that simmer under the surface of ordinary American lives and households. 

Suburban Death Project is especially recommended for college-level students of contemporary literature, who will find its short, powerful works creative examples of horror and pleasure that virtually demand analytical inspection and classroom discussion. 

Suburban Death Project

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Three Days Under the Sun
Charlie Steel
Condor Publishing
978-1-931079-02-0                $12.95
www.condorpublishinginc.com 

Three Days Under the Sun (And Other Tales of the Old West) joins other Western classics of storytelling lore by Charlie Steel with an intriguing blend of black and white illustrations and short fiction. These present diverse characters that experience trials and tribulations as they struggle for survival in the West. 

Besides employing the powerful "you are here" atmosphere that Steel successfully utilizes to best advantage, each story contains a moral and ethical message. Readers of Westerns will find them thought-provokingly embedded into description, experience, and mindset. 

The title opening story "Three Days Under the Sun" demonstrates this flavor from the start as it captures the experience of an ambush that portends death with an astute observation from the first-person narrator, that "This was Sioux land, we were the invaders, and they were fighting for their survival." 

As the struggle to survive continues for a ragtag wagon train band led by the first-person narrator, readers interested in the thrill of action combined with the observation of greenhorns who are well out of their league in the wild West makes for an engrossing story. 

Romance is the last thing that should arise. But, it does. 

Steel excels in injecting the unexpected into traditional Western confrontations, scenarios, and experiences. This ability gives his short pieces an engrossing, memorable flavor of unpredictability that will especially delight seasoned Western genre readers looking for something different. 

Take "A Running Gunman Makes a Decision," for example. A thirsty outlaw running through the prairie comes upon a house that offers refuge and then danger, as illness has fallen upon its inhabitants. 

The gunman is on the lam. But is he running from life, as well? His decision leads to perils he'd never anticipated from his prior actions...and a moral dilemma: "I am a fool to think of staying. Best to get on the mustang and ride hard and fast away from this sickness. Surely, these folks are beyond hope and are all going to die." 

Each story is steeped in the atmosphere and trappings of the West, but each offers a twist in perspective and judgment to keep readers thinking and surprised about decisions, outcomes, and this wild Western world. 

These elements make for stories that are hard-hitting, both in their action and in their outcomes. 

Readers of Western literature may be used to formula genre reads, but Charlie Steel steps out of the way of traditional approaches just a bit, giving each tale the added value of surprise with thought-provoking dilemmas. 

The result is a powerful collection highly recommended not just for the usual reader of the Western fiction genre, but for those who normally eschew these types of stories, who will find much to attract in this powerfully compelling gathering. 

Three Days Under the Sun is also recommended for book clubs looking for literature that pushes the boundaries of their genres, especially groups that would contrast the traditional approaches of L'Amour and others with Steel's original, astute form of inspection. 

Three Days Under the Sun

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Biography & Autobiography


Echoes from Wuhan
Gretchen Dykstra
Atmosphere Press
978-1639882151            $18.95 paperback/$9.95 ebook
www.atmospherepress.com 

Echoes from Wuhan: The Past As Prologue is a memoir of Gretchen Dykstra's encounters and experiences in China decades ago, chronicling cross-cultural revelations and clashes that shaped the rest of her life. 

Its ability to combine a memoir with a travelogue and history creates an accessible, engaging story that will reach out not just to readers of Chinese culture, but fellow adventurers who want to absorb those bygone years and their lasting impact. 

As Dykstra makes blunders and receives eye-opening lessons about teaching in China, readers learn from her interactions with various people and political entities assigned to both watch and assist her: "I showed Xiao Wang the flyer, and, shrewdly, she suggested that she tell the leaders I had received it.
“Why?” I asked, considering the flyer rather benign, even pathetic, somewhat intriguing, and hardly seditious.
“It will demonstrate to the leaders that you are trustworthy.”
Or you are, I thought cynically, aware that I was beginning to question her motives, feeling as if sometimes she was using me, playing me. It was not the first time I had sensed this. She was masterful at helping me as she got exactly what she wanted, too. Like remaining my translator. I, of course, was doing the exact same thing. My daily current event assignments and my only-English-in-front-of-me game were ways of learning things I otherwise might not have known. I, too, was helping others while I helped myself."
 

Historical and cultural lessons are revealed in the course of her explorations of urban and rural China, and readers will appreciate her two-year sojourn to another world, which opens up China to outsiders who may never visit. 

The focus on teaching, students, and Chinese traditions as they encounter Western viewpoints and standards creates a satisfying interplay between cultures that is both enlightening and entertaining. Dykstra moves outside her comfort zone to receive valuable lessons about not just the Chinese, but the nature of social and political connections between East and West. 

These revelations follow her back home to New York, where she both integrates her experiences into modern New York life and serves as an ongoing link between the people she met in China and her revised world in the U.S. 

While libraries strong in Chinese culture and history will find her memoir appealing, armchair and destination travelers to China and those who look for a blend of entertainment and enlightenment will also find Echoes from Wuhan a compelling read. 

The China of yesteryear comes to life under her hand, offering readers of today a strong cultural appreciation that will lead them to better understand the Chinese culture and people. 

Echoes from Wuhan will ideally be chosen by book clubs interested in discussions of East/West culture. Its astute analysis deserves to be an active part of any reader group interested in memoirs that capture time and place and the lessons learned from past experience that hold importance for and resonate in modern times. 

Echoes from Wuhan

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Nothing Is Us
E. David Brown
Scarlet Leaf
9798798046119             $23.99 Paper/$6.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Nothing-Us-Memoir-David-Brown/dp/B09PMFV9WN 

Nothing Is Us opens with a prologue introducing a father's death after a myriad of health challenges. But the real meat in this memoir lies not in a father's demise, but in the abusive relationship he cultivated with his son (the author of this book). 

It's a tragically familiar story in many ways, but E. David Brown chooses the feel of fiction interspersed with facts, so the drama embraces not just family relationships, but the changing social and political times. 

His purpose in recreating this world is especially thought-provoking as the story opens: "Every day since Lt. Colonel E. H. Brown’s funeral I have struggled to invent a memory that would redeem my father in my eyes and in turn allow the process of self-redemption to begin. A lot of people think they know the history of Noah but most fail to grasp that the real story begins after the floodwaters recede. Ham discovers his old man butt-naked and drunk. For his indiscretion he is cast out, banished to Canaan (or in my case Canada). Having resolved to uncover the nakedness of my father, the task is now to reconstruct the past as best I can." 

From rebellion and abuse at school to becoming an over-achiever with a passion for effecting change, Brown reveals a life buffeted by many different kinds of forces which, ironically, often seem to hold the same kinds of impact and results as abuse. 

His descriptions of these circumstances and threats offer intriguing insights into forms of abuse that come not just from home, but the greater world outside it: "Mr. Lesman once waved a sheaf of letters my mother had sent him at me. “Your Mama is worried, crazy worried about you. I have met her. She is a good woman. She’s worried, as she has every right to be, about the people with whom you have been associating. She’s right to think that they are unwholesome and hold dangerous and perverse views.” My silent response infuriated Lesman. “One day you’ll cross the line and I’ll bend you over and give you something your daddy should have given you a long time ago.” 

As various abuses plague him and follow him through school and into life, readers receive vivid descriptions that (warning) may serve as triggers to readers tapping their own experiences and feelings about violent interpersonal engagements (especially with those in positions of superiority, whether they be instructors or trainers). 

This subject is too often buried in other memoirs about abuse and coming of age, yet takes center stage here, offering readers important insights about bullies, victims, injury and healing processes. 

Nothing Is Us is a highly recommended study in contrasts and survival. Its powerful words deserve consideration by memoir readers, but are especially recommended for discussion groups where abuse and recovery processes are closely examined. 

Nothing Is Us

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The Second Long March
Patti Isaacs
Atmosphere Press
978-1-6398-8316-5         $18.99
www.atmospherepress.com 

The Second Long March: Memoir from a Witness to China’s Transformation documents, on a personal level, the wane of communism and China’s pursuit of economic reform beginning in the early 1980s. It comes from a writer whose observations draw important connections between political change and personal lives. 

Author Patti Isaacs worked in China in 1981 and returned some twenty-five years later, remembering the country as it had been under the communist economic system. Her entry into the vastly changed social and political milieu of the nation thus provides a satisfying contrast in experiences that pinpoints not only the progression of the changes, but their incarnation and impact at all levels of Chinese society. 

The important points of this process are solidified by her experiences and contrasts between past and present China: "If I were in Mexico or Europe, her waffling would have set off alarms in my head, but I was still expecting the wide-eyed honesty I’d experienced many years ago when China was communist and foreigners were treated like rock stars. The bells didn’t ring...Fifteen minutes after landing, I’d been scammed out of $20 and learned my first important lesson: my mind still held the map of China as I had left it many years ago, and I could no longer use it to navigate this profoundly changed landscape." 

As she learns how to navigate a country newly powered by economic gain and principles of profit, Isaacs creates a narrative that mimics Alice-in-Wonderland experiences past and present, juxtaposing these two so that readers gain a real feel for the nature and strength of the transformations the country has undergone. 

As she and her husband participate in tours and explorations of China and its people, their observations create astute insights of different levels of society: "...many on these tours were long-time students of Chinese language and culture, knowledgeable but starved for real-world experience by China’s political isolation; forward-thinking businessmen anxious to build ties with China’s emerging industry; and Chinese-Americans longing to visit their home country. This group also included power shoppers eager to find bargains on handicrafts."
 "China had changed in the quarter century that I’d been gone, and so had I." 

The maturity process of land and people receives a "you are here" feel that more analytical studies don't offer. It gives armchair travelers with a special interest in China's past and contemporary milieu a leg up in understanding how the Chinese have undergone transformative processes that changed not just their economic status, but how they perceived and reacted to foreigners—and themselves. 

Isaacs provides a unique insider's eye as she focuses on the years 1981 and 2005, when communism was fading and economic development was taking off in China.

The contrast is marked with many interpersonal encounters and revelations to attract readers interested in the nature and cost of progress: “Our handlers followed us around and tried to keep us from having unauthorized contact with our students,” I said. “I know that at the time, the government was worried that we and our Western ideas might ‘pollute’ Chinese society. If you look at things objectively, that is exactly what happened. Now the Chinese are like us. They are materialistic and they worry about health care and the cost of education, and spoiled kids who play video games all day. China is more open, but all the changes haven’t been positive.” 

While travel library collections will want to consider this a lively story suitable for armchair readers who enjoy cultural and historical flavors, The Second Long March is especially recommended reading for those who would better understand not just China's evolutionary process, but how political systems shift their populaces into new mindsets and lives. 

Especially suitable for group discussion, The Second Long March portrays a China like few others, and deserves a place in any collection strong in social and political examination or travelogues in general and Chinese culture in particular. 

The Second Long March

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Mystery & Thrillers

Bear Trap
Bob Asher
Red Shirt Publishing, LLC
ASIN: B0B1BTMYD6            $6.99
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Bear-Trap-Smith-Novel-Book-ebook/dp/B0B1BTMYD6/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8
Website: https://bobasherbooks.com/ 

Bear Trap takes the thriller genre to a new level as it pairs international struggles and intrigue (with action that moves from Alaska to Russia, Washington, and Virginia) with the story of Jon Smith, a CIA Paramilitary Operations Officer and retired Navy SEAL officer who only went to Alaska for a vacation. 

What he receives instead is a mind-boggling series of events that move him from dangerous Alaskan storms to the equally disastrous storm of Russians who have invaded Alaska in search of a defector. 

With all U.S. local military response grounded by the weather, what can Jon do? Plenty. He's tapped to lead a suicide mission to confront the highly trained team of Spetsnaz operators and regain control of now-model U.S. citizen and spy Dr. Karpinsky, a CIA scientist conducting research in the paranormal sciences so he can employ that intelligence against the Russians. 

There's only one problem. Jon isn't ready to die. His conviction that he can achieve his goal without huge losses drives a story so packed with political references that readers might initially think it requires prior familiarity with Russian and U.S. intelligence communities. 

This is not the case. While the story is steeped in covert and overt action, readers need have no prior expertise in either national espionage or intelligence communities in order to easily absorb the scenarios, politics, and military confrontations between them. 

It should be noted that the back-and-forth nonstop staccato events take the form of 78 chapters. Lest readers think this translates to 'tome', however, it also should be advised that there are only 340 pages to the saga. Bob Asher's ability to pack a lot of action and intrigue into short scenarios that capture mind and heart powers a novel replete in many cat-and-mouse plays.  These excel in depicting unexpected maneuvers on all sides. 

Asher thoroughly embeds his characters in a sense of place, taking the time to create a "you are here" atmosphere that permeates the action from the novel's opening lines: "Jon was the fourth man in a tight stack of seven standing in the dark along a pockmarked, cinder block wall outside the back door of a battle-damaged two-story house. Tonight, he and his teammates were wearing black Iraqi Army Special Forces uniforms. He yawned quietly as his stomach growled. He had been awake and on the move for over thirty-six hours. The only thing he had eaten was an unheated MRE spaghetti entrée ten hours earlier. All he could think about was food and sleep. Despite the early hour, the temperature hovered just over 100°F. Sweat flowed steadily from under his helmet and into his eyes before dripping off his nose into his beard. Under his body armor, his pale pink skin was steaming." 

The seamless injection of themes of vigilante confrontations, assassination attempts, and paranormal elements driving characters to confront one another and evolve in unexpected ways keeps the action unpredictable and nonstop. 

The result is a thriller that comes steeped in Alaskan wilderness challenges and the confrontations that evolve between disparate special interests. 

Bear Trap's title perhaps holds a portent of its strengths, because it certainly traps its readers with a thoroughly engrossing read that is impossible to put down—or predict. 

Bear Trap

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The Cat's Paw Murders
Frank L. Gertcher
Wind Grass Hill Books
978-1-7351459-8-3         $29.95 Hardcover/$11.49 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Cats-Paw-Murders-Frank-Gertcher/dp/1735145971 

The Cat's Paw Murders is the fourth book in the Caroline Case Jones mystery series, but while it builds upon the characters created in prior books, it requires no familiarity from newcomers in order to prove independently accessible and compelling. 

An introductory author's note defines the broader concept of a cat's paw situation: "A cat’s paw is a person or organization used by another as a tool to achieve some end, especially in a duplicitous or cynical manner. For example, an espionage agent may become the cat’s paw for a government in secret conflict with a foreign power." 

This is essential to keep in mind as political situations and subterfuge evolve in the course of the story where Caroline is kept on her toes. A prologue indicates that this presentation is the fourth volume in a diary chronicling her adventures, reviewing past events in a succinct roundup that sets the stage for prior fans with reminders, and for newcomers with important backdrop information. 

With these notes in mind, The Cat's Paw Murders proceeds to the latest mission, beginning in 1929 with espionage training that will take Caroline from being a sleuth to becoming a spy. 

From the start, Caroline harbors doubts about the demands that her new profession will introduce to her and Hannibal's lives. She has "...qualms about learning new techniques for killing. The veneer of civilization is not very deep over my primitive inner self, and on several occasions, I have demonstrated unrelenting, hardened talents with regard to subduing villains. However, I know that a killing experience, even if it’s gratifying at the time, would trouble my dreams forever." 

These are challenged by the events that affect their wealthy facade of life in Paris, and by a mission that demands their compliance with sometimes-uncomfortable choices and politics. 

Readers receive diary entries that follow Caroline and Hannibal from 1929 through the 1930s as they operate in privileged circles of the wealthy while maintaining focus on their secret mission and directives. 

Some might anticipate that a diary format couldn't capture the sense of intrigue or cat-and-mouse adventures that a different form would cultivate, but Frank L. Gertcher captures first-person "you are there" moments to fully capture the drama, tension, conundrums, and discoveries of Caroline's life. 

Whether she's moving through privileged circles or spying on those around her, her involvement in a murder mystery spurs her to make changes in her own life focus and perspectives. 

As four and a half years of adventure play out, readers will find themselves engrossed in Caroline's descriptions of confrontations and her discovery of a European milieu vastly different from her familiar American roots. 

Mystery libraries looking for stories of international intrigue, inner demons unleashed, and the world of a woman whose notes describe the evolution of a couple destined to murder in the course of being paid espionage agents, will find The Cat's Paw Murders a satisfying blend of moral conundrums and intrigue. 

Readers seeking a fine interplay of class, culture, and self-discovery will find the intersection of all these forces captivating and revealing in a story more than worthy of pursuit. 

The Cat's Paw Murders

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A Day in Fall
Charles Harned
White Bird Publications, LLC
978-1-63363-588-3         $22.99 Paper/$7.99 Kindle
www.charlesharned.com 

A Day in Fall is a thriller that arrives with a familiar contemporary milieu as it presents the specter of a new president's determination to overthrow the system that elected him. 

Lest one believe this story will completely mimic modern events, it should be noted there is a twist to the tale: "In a way, the political world had its business condensed to a laboratory experiment." 

In a world where "everything has become controversial," the environment of Washington, D.C. is changing, its ripples of contention and transformation spreading throughout the country. 

Charles Harned excels in a thriller that traverses nations, hearts, and minds. It rests firmly upon a foundation of modern-day reality, yet carries its action a step further as Agent Orange, Director of National Intelligence Collins, and other characters interact on a playing field of irony and risk-taking. 

All the trappings of high-octane intrigue are here. But wound into the political observations and changed lives of Michael Larson, Slavic beauty Elena Stregor, and other characters is an overlay of special interests that grow in ironic ways under Harned's hand. 

As events move from the U.S. to Algeria and Rome, readers embark on a world-hopping tour that is well written and both familiar in some of its scenarios and surprising in its political associations and revelations. 

Readers seeking a contemporary thriller that embraces military technology, social change, and political intrigue will welcome A Day in Fall's involving, satisfyingly complex events. 

Libraries that choose A Day in Fall for its political thriller components will find that it holds not just action-packed adventure, but an attention to detail and surprises that make for a thoroughly engrossing adventure. 

A Day in Fall

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Delivery
Tom David
Atmosphere Press
978-1-63988-244-1         $18.99
www.atmospherepress.com 

How does a college student who drives a delivery truck for side money become involved in a scheme that introduces him to a powerful underworld of crime? Delivery outlines Rob's progression into this dangerous milieu as he purposely makes the decision to infiltrate a crime syndicate, upon discovering his unwitting involvement making deliveries to them. 

Gang activity introduces the story with a bang before moving to the first chapter, where delivery men Mike and Rob are beginning their day, bringing furniture to customers. This day has brought them deep into the 'hood, which is well out of middle-class college-bound Rob's milieu but is all too familiar to Mike, who comes from different roots. 

As Rob becomes involved over his head and discovers the corruption involves the local D.A. and others in the gang's activities, he becomes involved with Cord, whose world is steeped in violence, opportunistic moves, and the calculated risks of a rival gang's leader. 

His meeting with the beautiful but deadly Val introduces yet another facet of life that continues to challenge his role and his objectives for the future as a series of cat-and-mouse encounters evolve to test both his new identity and his resolve. 

Readers interested in a crime thriller whereby a relative outsider becomes the lynchpin in a scheme will find plenty of surprises and satisfying developments in Delivery. The plot delivers more than a few revelations as a world seemingly inhabited by local gangs and petty drug dealers expands to embrace a diverse group of politicians and international interests. 

Tom David introduces so many changes and conflicts in the course of Rob's evolutionary process that crime readers might suspect the story will be overly complex or potentially confusing. 

Not so. David roots his crime world developments firmly in the viewpoint and revelations of Rob, whose character development is finely tuned. This adds interest and logic to all his moves and interpretations of life, smoothing a story that moves through many possibilities before Rob comes to settle in an unexpected place. 

Libraries strong in crime thrillers and looking for works cemented by ordinary, believable characters that navigate strange scenarios with savvy and intelligence will welcome Delivery's ability to deliver a series of hard-hitting punches to keep interest high and involvements unexpected right up to the end. 

Delivery

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Hunting Rabbits
Mark Gilleo
2020 Press, LLC
978-0-9990472-6-2         $4.99 ebook
Website: www.markgilleo.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Hunting-Rabbits-Mark-Gilleo-ebook/dp/B0B3SLLXX3 

Small-town chief of police Charlie Gates isn't an effective investigator. He's spent decades haunted by his sister's murder and unresolved case, and seems no closer to arriving at the truth as Hunting Rabbits opens. That is, until a fingerprint in a recent robbery gives him hope that its link to his sister will reopen her case and solve it at last. 

He can't do this alone. He needs fellow investigator Luis Millares to lend his assistance and expertise. What he doesn't expect is a string of murder connections to evolve that tests his resolve to identify ghosts of the past and their links to his personal and professional future. 

Mark Gilleo crafts a story built on surprises. There's the bolt from the blue of Charlie's involvement in his sister's case after so many uncertain years; the strange involvement of an intelligence officer (who may be beyond the law) in the messy mix; and the charge on Charlie to step back from a case that holds a special pull on his heart to avoid future accusations of bias and prejudice. 

Gilleo is especially adept at crafting the tension of a professional torn between his personal involvement and his professional mission. These create delightful interplays beyond the mystery itself that elevates Hunting Rabbits above most genre reads. 

Charlie's sister wasn't the only woman murdered over thirty years ago. As the Matoaka murders reach out to touch and change his life and those who command the investigation of present-day events, the suspense and thriller components of the story are very nicely done, keeping readers guessing about who is the hunter and who is the hunted. 

The irony is that Charlie has a job as a chief of police in a jurisdiction where homicides don’t occur. His focus introduces revised relationships, including with his father, against a backdrop of hunting that places events in unpredictable perspective that even seasoned mystery readers won't see coming. 

The result is a murder mystery especially strong in its psychological interplays and inspections, from community to family and friends. It is said that 'the truth shall set them free'; but in this case, it will also challenge the hearts and perspectives of all involved. This creates a compelling read that operates on psychological levels that are thought-provoking, going above and beyond more predictable, less deep genre reads. 

Libraries featuring murder mysteries will find Hunting Rabbits a fine examination of motives for murder and a decades-old case that comes alive with new influences. 

Hunting Rabbits

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Muir's Gambit
Michael Frost Beckner
Montrose Station Press LLC
9798985597417             $28.00
Website: michaelfrostbeckner.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B2TKN3BS 

Muir's Gambit is influenced by real-life events, but crafts a fictional thriller revolving around two main characters: CIA spy Nathan Muir and CIA lawyer Russell Aiken, who is determined to exact a confession of murder from Muir for the assassination of CIA hero Charlie March. 

The problem is that both are trained spies who sport equally strong backgrounds and savvy in investigating and playing dangerous games. 

The story which evolves excels in a chess-like back-and-forth atmosphere, where equally powerful operatives exhibit strong powers of investigation and resistance. 

Standing between them is Tom Bishop. And this is where the fun really begins. 

Chess fans will especially appreciate the references to the game, the strategy that evolves, and the movements of the players as they navigate world affairs and internal conflicts with the knowledge that "habits kill." 

Powerful insights evolve during the course of these confrontations that belay any expectation that this spy story will be the usual singular world domination focus. Indeed, these hard-hitting insights are just as powerfully depicted as the action that swirls around them: "Maybe I’m too wasted at this second as the stewardess—oh yeah, flight attendant—reluctantly gives me another Johnnie-boy I unscrew and shoot. Maybe I am and I’m wrong, but he wanted me hammered to join him at his level, and at his level I’ve distilled this: every time he’s worded phrases to hit me below the belt, I think it’s always been a decoy to protect his most vulnerable side. The side that tells the truth." 

Michael Frost Beckner plays out these interpersonal games on the wider arena of world conflict, neatly dovetailing first-person observations for maximum impact: "The Israelis taking tanks into Lebanon. Palestinian settlements overrun. Bulldozed from God’s planet, and Muir, having flapped butterfly wings in New York, had I become party to this killing? How could that be? How could Muir have anything to do with this Middle Eastern war? Muir was Berlin. Europe. Bishop: new posting to Moscow." 

The world-hopping politics which dictate the CIA's movements and responses are every bit as realistically portrayed as the relationships between players who find themselves in a quagmire of conflict, both internally and externally. 

It's rare, in the thriller genre, to find such an ongoing and neat juxtaposition of interests and vying forces. Too often, the plot rests firmly on outside influences and less on the psychological profiles and games of those who seemingly are on the same side, but in actuality are contenders with different goals, in different ways. 

Gritty observations also include social and cultural references readers might also find surprising in the genre, lending to the story's reality-based times and place: "Muir leads me down a sole-sucking mud path to introduce me to some girlfriend, Björk. I’ve never heard of this Björk. Muir said she’s been on Saturday Night Live. Excuse me, but I’m an SNL expert. If she’s not Victoria Jackson, “It’s Pat,” or Ellen Cleghorne, Muir is mistaken. Obviously, one of Muir’s stupid jokes. Maybe Björk’s one of these obnoxious birds—some kind of marsh heron or something gawk-legged he wants to show me—what the fuck?" 

As Muir's Gambit evolves, it proves a far deeper inspection of a spy's world than most, creating a powerful story that also includes cultural references to icons that some will catch in delightful manners, such as a wife named Jewel. 

Even a staid investigator find himself questioning his own objectives: "I was legally assuring, illegally, that the one man who could save him would have no power to do it...what have I done?" 

The result is filled with surprises. Isn't that the mark of an exceptional genre read—its ability to surprise and delight even the most seasoned follower? 

Libraries seeking standouts in spy literature and cat-and-mouse suspense will relish Muir's Gambit, which succeeds on so many levels that its course is not only unpredictable, but thoroughly delightful. 

Muir's Gambit

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The Shadow of the Mole
Bob Van Laerhoven
Next Chapter

979-8412767628           
$36.49 Hardcover/$12.61 Paper/$5.99 Kindle

https://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Mole-Bob-Van-Laerhoven/dp/B09RVDXRBG 

It's rare to see mystery and history wound into what is basically a military thriller, but The Shadow of the Mole accomplishes all three goals by stretching its story to appeal to diverse audiences with different interests. 

A prologue neatly sets this stage, focusing on Jean Dumoulin's work in "Satan's Lair," the tunnels dug by the French Infantry under those created by the Germans in 1916. 

Another body has just been uncovered ...not a rarity during times of war. But what is unusual is Jean's reaction when he touches it. 

Readers move from this underground discovery to above-ground conundrums in the first chapter as the infamous mystery 'Mole' receives further attention. 

The Mole is convinced that he's died, and that the world he awakens to is the afterlife. The military believes that he is a deserter, worthy of the firing squad. And physician and would-be psychiatrist Michel Denis believes that the mystery man is the victim of shellshock. 

The truth is even stranger than all three could guess as The Mole begins to write his story, creating a cathartic experience which awakens memories that prove stranger than anyone could have anticipated. 

Bob Van Laerhoven's story of intrigue, amnesia, and discovery is compelling on many levels. History buffs interested in World War I will find the novel steeped in military references that chart the progress and politics of the war. Those interested in mystery will find the intrigue woven into the tale from the point of discovery to its increasing puzzles about The Mole's real identity and purposes. And readers who choose The Shadow of the Mole for its thriller components will find that action and tension abound in a riveting story packed with satisfying twists and turns. 

Readers won't expect footnoted references in a fictional presentation, but these are peppered throughout to define non-English phrases or succinctly explore setting and historical reference, even including poems and literary insights that enhance the progression of the story without detracting from it with too much information. 

The real heart of this story lies in injured physician Michel Denis as he explores not just his patient's identity, but his own disability and reactions to it: "Remember you said you couldn’t live with yourself anymore after your arm had been hacked off ? That’s how you said it: hacked off. And here’s what I thought, if you can’t live with yourself, who is being ‘you’ then?" 

War changes identity and life trajectories, often forever. Its participants never emerge unscathed. The psychic and physical traumas experienced in battle resonate throughout time and place, stretching beyond the battlefield to affect the hearts and minds of anyone with any connection to the war. 

In this case, it's the world. In this case, it's Van Laerhoven's attention to capturing the details of desperation and revelation that powers The Shadow of the Mole, compelling it to become something more than any of its characters foresaw. 

The exquisite balance between reality, insanity, and the emotional twists and turns of love and war create an especially gripping story that's thoroughly unpredictable in its evolution and unique in its focus. 

Libraries strong in thrillers, military fiction, psychological inspections of reality and fallacy, and historical mystery will find that all these elements (and more) will attract a wide audience. 

The Shadow of the Mole

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Shepherd's Warning
Cailyn Lloyd
Land of Oz LLC
‎978-0578664972            $12.29 Paper/$2.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Shepherds-Warning-Elders-Cailyn-Lloyd/dp/0578664976 

Shepherd's Warning is the first book in The Elders series, and will delight readers interested in books about supernatural forces flavored with occult thriller elements. 

An abandoned mansion in rural Wisconsin attracts a a family that holds high hopes for its resurrection and revitalization. Unfortunately, the brothers who inherit this home and bring their families to it in search of new beginnings find more than they anticipated when their renovations reveal a deadly threat rooted in its past and in family history. 

From lost love opportunities of the past and a heartbeat from hell to the origins of ghosts that affect present-day lives, Cailyn Lloyd crafts the type of supernatural dilemma that at first seems predictable, but quickly turns out to be surprising and gripping, presenting satisfying twists and turns readers won't see coming. 

The fact that this haunted house story embraces a difference sets it apart from the usual progression of events. This will especially please readers used to familiar outcomes that, here, take uncommon routes. As the paranormal events examine history and family relationships, readers will find delightful the presence of a ghost and a gift that intersect in unpredictable ways. 

How does an unexplained disappearance become a ghostly legend? Can logic explain everything that's happening? 

Readers receive a quest for answers that revises the typical progression of a ghostly encounter. The story is replete with fine tension, satisfying character development, and an examination of events that test beliefs in technology and magic alike: "He’d embraced technology at every turn and had become a wizard of a different persuasion, a sorcerer of technology—the only logical path in the modern world. But now, improbably, a dangerous manifestation of that primitive era had found him." 

As the first book in a series, Shepherd's Warning provides a satisfying backdrop for an adventure that concludes neatly with a transformation, a new day, and the promise of more to come. 

Libraries seeing patron interest in ghost stories will find that the twists and turns of Shepherd's Warning make it a satisfying occult thriller designed to attract attention beyond typical readers of the paranormal, luring readers who look for high-octane action and thought-provoking developments. 

Shepherd's Warning

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Unforeseen
Deven Greene
Black Rose Writing
978-1-68513-012-1         $21.95
www.blackrosewriting.com 

Unforeseen is the third book in the Erica Rosen MD trilogy, and will especially be appreciated by prior thriller readers who enjoyed Dr. Rosen's prior medical conundrums. 

Erica is a pediatrician who faces a medical mystery when two of her young patients don't respond to their medication. When others begin to succumb to a mysterious illness, Dr. Rosen finds her expertise (and heart) shaken by a series of circumstances which challenge both her medical training and abilities. 

At the same time, she's faced with a competitor for her job as the clinic's director. Not only is Dr. Nilsen possibly after her position, but his nefarious moral behavior comes to light as she discovers that he is cultivating a romantic relationship with a co-worker at the clinic. 

Is Dr. Nilsen also involved in a dangerous scheme that compromises their patients, the clinic, and the mandate of the medical profession to "do no harm"? 

Deven Greene creates another engaging, engrossing thriller that tests Dr. Rosen's experience, perceptions, and investigative abilities. 

"Petter already knew I was capable of trying to pass myself off as someone I wasn’t. I couldn’t give him another reason to distrust me." 

As Erica embarks on a search that leads her down unexpected paths of medical and personal conundrums, readers follow her into a rabbit hole of complex moral and ethical dilemmas which are paired with a solid attention to investigative problem-solving. 

Dr. Rosen's ability to tackle many kinds of issues again comes to the forefront in a medical thriller filled with unexpected twists and turns that continues to expand Dr. Rosen's life and abilities. 

The result is a powerful escapade about saving not just one clinic, but herself and the world. Libraries strong in medical thriller novels, and discussion groups that look for powerful female protagonists, will find plenty to like in Unforeseen, which ends with the promise of love and, perhaps, the threat of something further to evolve in Erica's life and her readers' eyes. 

Unforeseen

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Where Waters Run North
Frank Martorana
VinChaRo Ventures
978-0-9989326-6-8         $14.99
frankmartorana.com

Where Waters Run North, book four in the Kent Stephenson Thriller Series, opens with a discussion of geologic and Native American history in New York, creating an atmospheric description of place and heritage before moving to 1999 in the first chapter. Here, forty-something Owahgena fishermen Lute and Jimmy are enjoying another sterling day, fishing on the Chittenango River. 

Disaster strikes before Chapter 2 takes a different turn, moving into Kent Stephenson's daughter, Emily, and her horse riding training. It's a perfect morning for them, too...until a new obstacle to Olympic fame rises at the same time as the scream of sirens. 

Frank Martorana's attention to detail is replete in chapters which introduce a myriad of different experiences that dovetail on one tragic event, overlaying that scenario on everything it touches. 

Kent Stephenson himself, the main character, doesn't enter the picture until the fourth chapter; but when he does, it's with a bang of authority that swivels reader attention from these three seemingly disparate scenes to an investigator and vet who holds the ability to absorb his own perfect morning and its possibilities for change. 

Chapter 6 ends the scenarios of perfect mornings and moves to Kent's vet practice, Compassion Veterinary Center, and its interactions with animals and people in the community. Rocked by tragedy, Kent has slacked off on his passion, but still dutifully fulfills his obligations, backed by a savvy staff that picks up the slack created by his emotional turmoil. 

As he enters the unfamiliar world of a murder which may have been orchestrated by business special interests, Kent finds himself once again thrust into an uncomfortable position that tests his abilities, life purpose, and survival on many different levels. 

Martorana creates a host of characters who each hold their own diverse perspectives and interests, bringing them together in the course of a thriller that takes many unexpected journeys. 

From the involvement of the future Northern Lights Resort in the community's decisions to its satisfying blend of animal and human dilemmas, Where Waters Run North is steeped in both vet insights and an investigator's understanding of the motivations and processes of all life around him: "Kent thought back to how Jodi had talked Azucar down from near panic. She hadn’t been just babbling the mindless chatter that most horsemen use to settle a nervous animal. She was talking to him, actually telling the horse something, he was sure of it." 

This hypersensitive perspective lends a special ability to Kent's toolkit of problem-solving that eventually reaches not just into the community, but into his own life, as events prove a macrocosm of the psychological struggles he experiences. 

As Kent and Lute find themselves both connected and treading dangerous waters of kidnapping, murder, and intrigue, readers who enjoy the juxtaposition of social and political inspection alongside the unraveling of the motivations of smugglers and murderers will find this story filled with poignant and unexpected moments of realization and discovery. 

Mystery libraries that look for multifaceted reads flavored with New York atmosphere and Native American interests will find Where Waters Run North an excellent choice. 

Where Waters Run North

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You Will Know Vengeance
W. A. Pepper
Hustle Valley Press, LLC
978-1-958011-00-3
$24.99 Hardcover/$14.99 Paper/$4.99 ebook
Publisher: www.hustlevalleypress.com
Ordering: http://www.wapepperwrites.com/ywkv/ 

You Will Know Vengeance is a debut thriller that's first in the projected Tanto thriller series, setting the stage with action based upon many of the mental and physical violent challenges facing modern society today. 

If this feels too realistic for comfort, move on. W.A. Pepper pulls no punches in sounding out the adversity and conspiracies affecting the world, and so readers will find this scenario as familiar as it is frightening. 

From drug abuse and suicide to discrimination and prejudice, there are many triggers in this story's consideration of deep-routed social problems and individual angst. 

Those who pursue realistic thriller stories without being torn over man's inhumanity to man will find You Will Know Vengeance a powerful saga which promises (and delivers) a fast-paced, action-packed series of suspenseful scenarios. 

The first-person story literally opens with a bang: "The Feds give you zero notice when they kick in your door. There is no warning siren. There is no knocking on your door, which is soon to be shattered by a battering ram. There is only silence before the calculated chaos." 

Part of what gives this story an especially vivid "you are here" feel in comparison to the majority of thrillers is Pepper's descriptive prowess, which reaches out to grab readers with sights, smells, and sounds: "The vibration of a stampede of footsteps shakes my body as leathery gloves assault my temporarily handicapable Helen Keller ass and shove me onto my bed, nose-first. The smells of rancid sheets and garlic fill my nostrils. A faceless assailant pins my arms behind my head and zip-ties my hands together. Then I am yanked to my feet." 

From dark web routines and Hackers' Haven to a gritty, streetwise analysis of social, political, and legal dilemmas, the story evolves on different levels to reflect the narrator's power and force: "My thoughts on this are that anyone can make a mistake. For example, I once tracked a guy who was downloading a good amount of amateur porn, then he wandered into a baited snuff porn folder. That’s the videos with actual blood and gore. He downloaded one file, then went back to minor league porn. For me, that’s like drug dealing. The first one is free. For the rest, you pay full price. In other words, you’re on my shit list." 

While Tanto believes he is working on the side of wider-ranging good, in actuality, his own personality works against him, making him a flawed hero who is too often thwarted by high technology and low-lifes as well as his own pride. His own self-assessment is rich and astute: "If I were a soft drink, I’d be Diet Violence or Pacifist-Lite because, despite what the movies tell you, Bushi warriors were not driven by violence. Honor guided them, and they only took a life when there was no other option." 

Readers seeking a thriller steeped in too-possible worlds, undercurrents of society that exist today, technological conundrums, and the added overlay of interpersonal relationship challenges affected by conspiracy will find all these elements and more in You Will Know Vengeance. 

This book belongs on the shelves of any library devoted to building a solid, exceptional collection of thriller novels, and is highly recommended for readers who can absorb trigger subjects in the interest of a complex, thoroughly absorbing story packed with surprises. 

You Will Know Vengeance

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Novels

Bitter for Sweet
Daryl Potter
Paper Stone Press
978‑1‑990388‑02‑6                $14.99 Paper/$3.99 Kindle
www.paperstonepress.com  

If one of historical fiction's attractions is its ability to bring bygone times and old concerns to life for modern audiences, then it's well evident that Bitter for Sweet more than fits this charge. It examines the lives of two very different young women of 76 BCE, which are powered by the influences of Middle East politics and society. 

The story opens with a girl fleeing into the desert, pursued by the Moabite raiders who are slaughtering her people. The experience moves from the child's desperate flight to the observations of great carrion birds with wingspans of nine feet who watch as events unfold, creating an intriguing contrast in perspectives that enhances the story as thirteen-year-old Cypros struggles to survive. 

Daryl Potter creates an intriguing disparity not just in perspectives, but in lives as he weaves unusual approaches to both into his descriptions: "She intended to marry a Jewish governor’s son next year. Eight raiders pur­sued her. 

He takes the time to thoroughly capture the environment and its dissimilar peoples, setting the stage for political and  social conflicts that evolve in the course of the story to create a satisfying "you are here" feel to its narrative. 

This is part of what separates an engrossing historical fiction piece from one which is so fact-centered that it teeters on the dryness of nonfiction. Potter's ability to place readers on firm ground in this era, even without any prior familiarity with its events, history, or peoples, makes for a story that is compelling both for those familiar with the ancient times and readers who may hold little prior interest or expertise in the era. 

As lessons in old Hebrew and Jewish traditions are surveyed and passed down, readers receive an education in Jewish history and Middle East peoples alike, as seen through the eyes of two very different women. 

Matters of family, home, and political alliances emerge, powered by the logic of history and the emotional connections of women who face many changes and conflicts over their roles in life. 

As the two young women move towards a confrontation with these forces (and, eventually, one another), readers who look for powerful female-centered perceptions and experiences will especially appreciate the strong presence of both in a story steeped in these times. 

Bitter for Sweet is an example of historical fiction at its best, firmly resting on facts, but powered by the dilemmas and strengths of characters faced with transformative encounters that change their life trajectories and their relationships. 

Libraries looking for historical fiction able to attract beyond its genre readership will find Bitter for Sweet a strong pick recommended not just for historical novel readers, but followers of women's fiction, history, and experience. 

Bitter for Sweet

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Crippled Jack
Boston Teran

High-Top Publishing LLC
978-1567031010            $22.00

https://www.amazon.com/Crippled-Jack-Boston-Teran/dp/1567031013 

Readers of Western fiction well know the tendency towards formula writing that this genre holds. Perhaps more so than most genres, that tendency has created a set of expectations about not only what its fiction will hold, but the presentation and progression of its characters and Western settings. 

That's why Crippled Jack by Boston Teran is such a standout. It's revisionist writing at its best, turning the Western genre on end with a story that is delightfully unexpected and evocative. The satisfying blend of historical fact and revolutionary concepts come alive under Teran's hand. 

The story opens with a young boy who has been tied up and abandoned on a trail, left behind with a cryptic note attached to him to await death or God's intervention: whichever comes first. 

Salvation arrives in the form of twenty-eight-year-old Ledru Drum, who is making his way south, following the Chihuahua Trail, when he stumbles upon the terrified, beat-up child who will change his life. 

The child grows up to be the marksman known as Crippled Jack, forging a name and reputation that belays his disabilities and places him in a powerful position. 

His coming-of-age and connections with equally forceful personalities who belay their sex and heritage to make names for themselves during changing times creates a Western of a very different ilk. The story follows its characters through social, political, and psychological lawlessness and into worlds where their inherent weaknesses prove to be uncommon strengths. 

Boston Teran is skilled at presenting and contrasting the experiences of men and women alike, injecting the psychological self-inspections with social reflections that lend realistic drama and dilemmas to each character's world: "Nola stared out into the night to where the smelter furnaces looked like huge open mouths of fire, ready and willing to feed on you. She began to cry because she could not escape feelings that had power and authority over her. Her humanity was in a struggle with hard moments, and how this would play out she could barely imagine." 

As struggles, intrigue, and confrontations immerse Nola Dyle and Matthew Drum in situations which both set them apart and make them notoriously different figures in the West, readers will especially appreciate the attention Teran gives to evocative scenes built on mercurial relationships. 

The result is a Western story that is actually a literary piece that employs all the trappings of the Western, but elevates the plot to a higher level entirely. This will appreciate appeal to literary readers looking for something different. 

Libraries looking for standout Western-centric novels, as well as book clubs reading Westerns who seek reads both satisfyingly complex and outstandingly unique, will both find Crippled Jack absorbing and refreshingly original writing. 

Crippled Jack

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Dangerfield's Promise
Terrance C. Newby

Outskirts Press
‎978-1977252029            $32.95 Paper/$9.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Dangerfields-Promise-Terrance-C-Newby/dp/1977252028 

Dangerfield's Promise is a satisfying blend of literary history and contemporary concerns, laced with the atmosphere of magical realism. With so many elements at work, one might anticipate a weighty read, but the saga of Dangerfield Newby, a newly-freed black man who determines to buy his wife and children out of slavery, is a compelling creation that needs no historical familiarity or literary acuity in order to prove attractive to a wide audience. 

Dangerfield can't free his family by himself, and so he joins abolitionist John Brown in an effort to change the law of the land, only to be killed before he reaches his goal. 

Fast forward to modern times, where black surgeon Michael Turner is estranged from his family because his ambition and goals set him apart and make him seem not just aloof, but distant from their lives, experiences, and concerns. 

A grandmother's deathbed confession introduces the possibility that Michael is related to Dangerfield Newby, intriguing him to the point that he makes it his mission to learn more about his family history. 

Perhaps predictably, skeletons rattle in the closet. Less predictable and satisfyingly surprising are the journeys Michael undertakes as he uncovers truths about the past and connects them to conundrums he faces in his present-day life and choices. 

Terrance C. Newby creates a powerful story that rests firmly upon these newfound revelations: "His grandmother looked at him and mustered a weak smile. "So that’s all they taught you in school,' she said softly. "All that education, and you don’t know nothing about your history, your own people, about what’s important,” she said. “I never got past eighth grade, but I know about the things that matter to folks.” 

As Michael's dreams become intrinsically connected to Dangerfield's life, both personalities and their perspectives come to life in a powerful novel that doesn't just present black history, but embraces it. It becomes a living testimony to courage, endurance, perseverance, and the missing pieces of a man's past that reach out to change the present. 

Michael's investigation causes other families to examine and raise issues from the past, and they involve new questions about belief, legacy, and destiny. Ultimately, these revelations lead to a new life. 

Ideally, Dangerfield's Promise should reach a wide audience that looks for extraordinary black literature that juxtaposes historical precedent with life-changing present-day events. 

Its literary and historical roots are powerfully wrought and highly recommended not just for individual reading, but for discussion groups that consider the nature of black history. 

Dangerfield's Promise

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Expulsion
Sherry Ostroff
KDP
9798830483568      $14.99 Paper/$9.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Expulsion-Inquisition-Sherry-V-Ostroff/dp/B0B5WY8168 

Expulsion is a historical novel of the Spanish Inquisition that cultivates a different point of view than most fictional writings of these times. It delivers the viewpoint of a woman charged with surviving not only the Inquisition, but the Edict of Expulsion, imparting a "you are here" feel by employing the first person and adding the observations and experiences of women who surround Basseva, the youngest daughter in a Segovian family. 

From the very beginning (which opens with a woman's scream), Sherry Ostroff cultivates the kinds of observations that bring history to rich life. 

A young bride-to-be is set to enter into an arranged marriage with one she's known about for most of her life, convinced that "My wedding day would be the happiest day of my life. Nothing in the world would alter that." Eventually she realizes that even greater changes are in the wind. Ostroff's ability to create characters that are realistic and memorable, from cooks and washerwomen to those who, like Basseva, operate in higher strata of society, provides keys to understanding the events, politics, and impact of the Spanish Inquisition from a more intimate vantage point than most historical novels on the subject. 

Her depiction of Basseva's growing knowledge that the interrogations which have become part of daily life are changing and threatening it, drawing ever closer to her world to transform her experiences and mindset, are particularly revealing: "At first, I rationalized Beatriz’s absence. Something must have gone wrong at her interrogation. Were Father Alonso’s demands unreasonable? Requiring witnesses who couldn’t be found or evidence that didn’t exist? Perhaps, it was the physician. Did he have a sudden revelation? A remembrance of the oath he took, to treat the sick to the best of his ability. I scoffed at the vision of the physician’s change of heart. My cellmate’s long overdue return was more likely a result of a detour to the chamber of terrors, regardless of her ailment. After the second day, I gave up on my excuses and watched for other clues." 

This captures the events of the Inquisition to bring history to life as Basseva finds herself navigating more than marriage and a husband, which were the trajectory of her life before politics and strife changed everything. 

“No one asks and no one knows." 

From a Jewish father who becomes Catholic, but preserves his Jewish roots in his heart, to a queen who aspires to sainthood and Bassiva's arrest and trials, Ostroff's story embraces the extent of the Inquisition era. It deftly depicts the social and political forces that drive not only inquisitors, but those who bow under them or struggle to survive without betraying their heritages. 

The origins of her characters, the facts of their lives and times, and the history all receive added discussion at book's end. This lends to its assignment in classrooms studying this era and these events. Students will appreciate the opportunity to absorb and debate events on a more accessible, personal level than most nonfiction or even fictional accounts offer. 

If only one book were to be chosen about the Inquisition's experience, it should be Expulsion. Its attention to melding historical facts with women's experiences and viewpoints, and its outstanding portrait of revised lives and struggles for survival, have their roots in many facts about the times, which Ostroff researched in depth. 

Expulsion

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Feathers in the Sand
Anne Marie Bennett
KaleidoSoul Media
979-8-9860503-1-7      $10.99 PB/$4.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Feathers-Sand-Seahaven-Sunrise-Book-ebook/dp/B09ZJBD9G1 

Readers of women's fiction and literature who look for stories that represent a sense of place (Maine) and change, with flavors of mystery and romance tossed into the mix to spice the results, will relish Feathers in the Sand. 

Tess Gilmore is a single mother in her forties. She is so driven to reinvent her life that she's lost touch with her son and daughter, who stand on the cusp of their own life changes as new adults and pre-teens. 

When the opportunity arises for her to make a move to the small Maine town of Seahaven, the sea change moves her from big-career opportunities and promises to a home life that embraces the things that are truly important—family. 

The mystery revolves around feathers that begin to appear in strange places. Eleven-year-old daughter Eva thinks they come from angels. They hold intrigue (and also promise) as Tess begins to move in the direction of reframing her family roots and connections. 

Anne Marie Bennett creates a moving story filled with candid introspections, revelations, and several unexpected twists and turns. 

Throughout the story, Tess is a likeable character whose changing goals and life feels realistic and compelling. Bennett takes the time to explore family relationships from different perspectives. This approach rounds out the characters and their perceptions of events and the culture around them: "Eva was swinging her mother’s hand again. She thought they looked a little bit like a younger version of the famous Gilmore Girls—a mother and a daughter walking side by side down the bustling street of a small town. Both brunettes with straight hair and fair skin. Exactly like Lorelai and Rory. Well, not exactly. More like their own version of the Gilmore Girls. She felt happy, but she wasn’t quite certain it would last." 

Accidents happen, and life holds unexpected surprises. 

Tess and her readers find out more about these as she and son Micah face their own special challenges. 

Readers seeking a women's fiction story that is delightfully evocative and gently compelling will relish the moves Tess makes (and the discoveries that stem from her choices) in Feathers in the Sand, a novel which should be in library collections of contemporary women's fiction. 

Feathers in the Sand

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Hardland
Ashley E. Sweeney
‎She Writes Pres

978-1647422332            $17.95 Paper/$9.49 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Hardland-Novel-Ashley-Sweeney/dp/1647422337 

Hardland is a historical Western novel set in Arizona Territory in 1899, where Ruby Fortune faces the choice of either ongoing abuse or murdering her husband. Her decision to kill him gives her an uncertain freedom in a story which is delivered with the gritty tone of a narrator used to surviving a rough world: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, or so I’ve been told. Well, He must’ve had His knickers in a knot when He conjured up Arizona Territory because there’s nothing but dust and cactus and rattlesnakes in these parts—and some of the rattiest men you’ll meet this side of Kingdom Come. This much is true. No one comes to Arizona Territory on holiday. For land or freedom or gold, yes. Or to escape something you’d rather soon forget. Or to be someone you couldn’t be in Tennessee or West Virginia or Arkansas, or wherever you come from, your pants or your wit or your dick too short." 

Ruby's confiding dialogue of introduction captures her personality, surroundings, and choices. Her discourse might at first feel confessional and rambling, but quickly assumes the intriguing delivery of a character whose world is filled with questions, challenges, and consequences: "One minute, God’s perched on my shoulder and I whistle through my teeth, and then, quick as I pulled that trigger in the traveling show, the devil himself’s got his claws into me, hissing in my ear, and he’s got his reasons for doing so." 

"Hear me out," she implores, before her story switches to the third person to describe the journey that led her to this point of a living hell and fading possibilities of ever seeing heaven. 

More so than many Westerns, Ashley E. Sweeney's narrative takes time to capture the environment and influences of the West as she creates the backdrop to Ruby's life: "Ruby has borrowed Doc Swendsen’s best mare today before she changes her mind. The horse path up Oldfather Peak is slower than the ore road, but less dangerous—don’t want to be crushed by a twenty-mule hitch careening down the mountain, hell bent for leather, drivers cussing like cowboys that a woman is riding up into their domain. “C’mon, Maisie. ’Atta girl.” Ruby clicks her tongue. She needs to rein in her shaky nerves today. She’s had two shots of whiskey and it isn’t noon yet." 

Sweeney's equal attention to emotional confrontations and individual growth bring Jericho and its surroundings to life, spicing the story with a realistic overtone that compels readers to absorb Ruby's dilemmas. She faces a broken country, Indian troubles and abandoned forts, and new challenges to her own survival. The action is ongoing and well-described, presented with a "you are here" feel that readers will appreciate: "From an indeterminate distance, a gunshot cracks. Sam stiffens. Ruby’s hand instinctively goes to her Colt pistol. She spins around. Boulders line the pools in every direction. If someone were after them there, Sam and Ruby would be cornered. Ruby can’t see who fired the round or from where." 

Ruby's gritty determination to not just survive, but thrive, makes her an admirable character at once flawed and powerful. Women, particularly, will appreciate a female-centered Western atmosphere uncommon in the genre, replete with Ruby's conviction that "women rule the world" despite their seeming vulnerabilities. 

The result is a Western that goes beyond most in depicting a strong female character whose changing perspectives and experiences make her a formidable survivor in an alien land. 

Libraries looking for Westerns that are high-octane in their action and female presence will welcome the opportunity to add both facets to their collections via the highly recommended, thoroughly absorbing Hardland. 

Hardland

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Higher Education
Dr. Ashley Oliphant
Warren Publishing             
978-1-957723-47-1
www.warrenpublishing.net

Higher Education: Chronicles of a Dumpster Fire reflects the author's decades of teaching college, but assumes a fictional form to attract a wider audience that includes leisure readers interested in higher education adventures. 

The story returns to the fictional Clary-Smith University introduced in In Search of Jimmy Buffett: A Key West Revival, serving as a prequel to events which require no prior reader knowledge to prove absorbing. 

Dr. Livie Green faces the academic years of 2010-2011 in this story, which continues to embrace the sense of ironic humor and inspections of Dr. Oliphant's prior works: "All of our student athletes have returned to the practice field, and
I am certain the Clary-Smith Flying Squirrels are going to soar high again this year."
 

One strength of Higher Education lies in its special form of delivery. From memos to academics to emails between them, the novel's changing format and interactions adds excitement and fun as events play out: "ROGER: And now we can’t even choose our own britches. That was their big “aha” moment of the weekend. We should take away the faculty’s power to pick their pants.
LIVIE:
The hell we can’t choose. I’m the program coordinator, and they pay me a stipend of $1,000 a year before taxes to have big ideas. Give me a few hours." 

This elevates dialogue, adds drama and interest to the story line, and creates a lively interplay between characters, political and social situations, and the college environment and its students and instructors. All these facets keep the story exciting and dramatic. 

Readers (especially those familiar with the college environment) can anticipate many laugh-out-loud moments as the confrontations and ironic dilemmas play out to prompt a spate of clashes between writers from all walks of university life: "Dear Dr. Pendleton, please stop posting “Unspoken prayer request. God knows the need” on Facebook. If the Almighty is on top of it, you don’t need us for anything other than attention." 

The result is a romp through academia that provides not just much food for thought, but a refreshingly original approach to the academic world which considers the follies and fancies of colleagues, leaders, and professors who would either buck the system or confront its failures. 

The exposé in the Clary-Smith Clarion (a "covert faculty newspaper" portrayed in the novel) perhaps says it all: "Higher education is a dumpster fire, and we don’t have the budget to buy extinguishers." 

Fiction readers and libraries catering to them will find the ironic humor and university inspections simply delightful, making Higher Education a top recommendation. 

Higher Education

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Must Read Well
Ellen Pall
Bancroft Press
978-1-61088-553-9                $27.95 Hardcover/$9.49 Kindle
www.bancroftpress.com 

Must Read Well is a novel steeped in interpersonal relationships, suspense, and revelation. Twenty-something scholar Elizabeth Miller and almost-ninety writer Anne Weil initially seem to have much in common, with their literary interests. But Anne, a recluse, has repeatedly rejected Liz's desire for connection in the past, and only accepts a relationship now because, half-blind, she is in need of someone to read to her. 

It turns out that Liz is charged with reading not others' books, but Anne's own journals, written in almost indecipherable hand. They offer surprising clues to her secret life and a love affair that ideally should never see the light of day and public inspection. 

Bound by a legal agreement not to disclose what she comes to know, Liz finds herself in an unexpected dilemma as she pursues these journal contents and comes to know Anne's life in a way that her dissertation studies about the woman never prepared her for. 

Must Read Well is a study in secrets, literature, love, and connections between a muse and a woman who is still a student in many ways. 

It crafts a story filled with literary and biographical inspection as Liz comes to realize that Anne's masterpiece work holds its roots in real life events: "As I read this paragraph, I thought of the early scene in Vengeance when Howard Clark explodes with fury at Catherine for refusing to quit her job. “You do this and people think my wife has to work!” he shouts, stalking around and around her as she sits on their living-room couch. “Is that why you do it? On purpose to humiliate me? Just stay at home, for Chrissake! Just stay home, Cathy. How hard is that to do?” 

These, in turn, raise important questions not just about the writer, but Liz's role as a reader who is gaining increasing knowledge about secrets of the past: "But could pure imagination have sustained the torrent of rage in her book?" 

Ellen Pall creates an intriguing dance between discovery, literary wellsprings of influence and reflection, and the connections between two powerful, literate women who find their worlds intersecting at a critical junction in their lives. 

As Liz becomes more involved in changing hearts and minds based on past revelations, she finds herself in a delicate position with a recluse who fiercely guards the jewels of her journals and their deepest secrets. 

The result is a story that excels in suspense, revelation, and unexpected, changing relationships. 

Its special psychological tension and evocative explorations of lies, truth, and intention will especially attract libraries and readers interested in women's literary works that goe the extra mile to reveal the ironies and driving force behind a famous author's writing life and real world. 

Will Liz accept Anne's legacy and walk further into her life? 

The story is gripping on many levels, and is highly recommended reading for women who enjoy exposés steeped in interpersonal relationships, growth, and surprising revelations. 

Must Read Well

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Price of Passage
Larry F. Sommers

DX Varos Publishing
978-1-955065-58-0                $19.95 Paper/$4.99 ebook
Publisher: https://www.dxvaros.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Price-Passage-Tale-Immigration-Liberation-ebook/dp/B0B1DZN2S9 

Fans of historical fiction who enjoy stories about immigration and pioneer experience will find Price of Passage: A Tale of Immigration and Liberation just the ticket for an absorbing tale of evolution and enlightenment. 

The story opens in Norway in 1853, where Anders Gunstensen is facing an abusive uncle while dreaming of his imminent departure to new opportunities in North America. When he actually leaves, fleeing the law, it's with the intention of finding the honor missing from his life in Norway. He didn't anticipate finding love on the journey, but boat-builder's daughter Maria is irresistible and is on her own course for a life change, and the two come together and marry. 

The other thing they didn't anticipate finding in their new country of opportunity was elements of some of the things they each fled from in their home countries. 

Slave Daniel, found hiding in their barnyard, draws Anders and Maria into a conflict in their newfound home and land, introducing issues of racism and slavery that test their ability to build a family and make a difference in their new home. 

Larry F. Sommers provides a different immigrant focus than most. He juxtaposes elements of a new life purpose with social challenges that force Maria and Anders to reconsider their revised roles and attitudes towards past and present obstacles and opportunities alike. 

As a blossoming civil war brings with it demands to respond in different ways, each character assumes a role that takes them deeper into the concept of the land of the free and the responsibilities this promise brings. 

Sommers moves between the viewpoints of Maria, Anders, and Daniel. These are clearly outlined in chapter headings which make the transitions smooth as each character builds an independent image of their influences, interests, and ethical conundrums. 

The result is an immigrant story that melds the rise of social change into an arrival experience that holds unforeseen opportunities and dangers. 

Libraries looking for a vivid story of immigrant experience in a historical presentation that adds the backdrop of Civil War encounters will find Price of Passage a vivid inspection and reflection that takes three seemingly disparate lives and unifies their purpose and drive to not just survive, but make a difference. 

Ideally, Price of Passage will also attract historical novel book clubs contrasting the similarities and differences between immigrant and slave perspectives in mid-1800s America. 

Price of Passage

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The Real Paul Makinen?
David R. Yale
A Healthy Relationship Press, LLC
Ebook: 979-8-9863006-0-3                           $ 4.99
Paperback, Part 1:  978-0-9791766-0-9       $14.95
Paperback, Part 2:  978-0-9791766-1-6       $14.95
Paperback, Part 3:  978-0-9791766-3-0        $14.95
www.DavidRYale.Com 

The Real Paul Makinen? is a novel not for those seeking quick reads, but is highly recommended for readers not daunted by complex, in-depth probes of emotional relationships, from family and work to potential loved ones. 

Set in three parts, it introduces the milieu of Minneapolis in the early 1970s, where the 19-year-old Paul receives his draft notice, refuses to go, and is summarily thrown out of his parents' house. 

It's not as though he's leaving a loving but strict home. From the start, his abusive and controlling father Edward has created situations that have continually challenged Paul's life. His mother joins him in being harsh. And it seems they'd rather have a dead son, like his more dutiful brother, than one who avoids the call to war and duty. 

Paul questions his parents' ultimatum, partially based on his dead brother's plea to him not to follow in his footsteps should he be called. His protests fall on deaf ears as his parents insist that Paul fulfill their vision of his life and its purposes: “Duty? What does that even mean?” I said.
“To serve your country,” Edward said, banging his fist on my dresser. “No son of mine’s going to wimp out.”

His unforgiving and violent home life seem the least likely roots from which to get a job helping teens, but Paul has evolved beyond his influences in some surprising ways. These paths are probed and depicted during the course of a story that is vividly represented. 

David R. Yale introduces many subplots and thought-provoking moments, from the role of a mentor in Paul's life that helps belay his family's negative teachings to a girlfriend who holds the potential to become something more than a transient romantic interest. 

Yale peppers his story with reflective passages to give readers pause in their food for thought: "Joe, a grown man, a college graduate, had changed all that. It was Joe who started the Teen Council that turned things around here. And me? Still a teenager, homeless, with a draft notice in my pocket, who still had no idea what he was doing. Everyone knew I was a fraud. I was not the real Paul Mäkinen, even if I was on the Teen Council for a year." 

While an identity crisis lies at the heart of this story, also intrinsic to its success and unique approach is a growth process whereby the simultaneously savvy and life-ignorant Paul receives lessons not just on how community works, but his own possible places in it. 

Paul's growing awareness of the world works on broader terms than just his own psyche and life. That's one of the strengths of The Real Paul Makinen? as it grows to embrace issues of climate change, business savvy, and evolving friendships: "Harry pointed up. 'Looks like the wind is finally blowing that red murk away.'
'Can you imagine, we breathe that stuff in!' I said. 'Probably worse than smoking, huh?'”
 

The dialogue and local lingo is also a strong key to the story's developments, juxtaposing action with a personal dramatic inspection that brings not just the first-person Paul but all the characters around him to life. 

Part of the reason why this story is so lengthy is that Yale also takes the time to capture the moments of life experience which are steeped in taste, smell, and new experiences: "I took a bite of sandwich. I loved the feeling of salty caviar globules bursting when I chewed them, the contrast between oily caviar and moist, crispy green pepper. As Rennie ate, she perked up. 'You want another, Paavali? I’ll make them.'  She came back with ham, cheese, and tomato sandwiches. The salty ham and nutty, sweet Graddöst cheese worked together with the tomato to make a flavor harmony." 

The level of detail may be unexpected in a coming-of-age story, but here's the thing: The Real Paul Makinen? is not a light examination. It pulls no corners or punches as it gathers a wide range of life perspectives, influences, and logic and emotion that direct the course of Paul's budding new adult years. 

Where other stories might skimp in favor of a quicker plot with easy resolution, The Real Paul Makinen? takes the longer, more detailed path whether it's describing changing environments, changing hearts and minds, or teens on the cusp of grasping adult decisions and life-changing choices which come with unexpected consequences. 

The Teen Council and Paul's involvement in it is one of the strong threads of a story that shows how different kinds of commitment lead to better lives all around. Its involvement in neighborhood dreams and politics, smear campaigns and union-busting manipulations, and an already-on-edge community that explodes in reaction to its local issues and the overlay of death in Vietnam makes for a powerful, in-depth read. 

The Real Paul Makinen? is presented not just in several parts, but many layers. It is not a read for those who expect quick, pat resolutions and the usual coming-of-age growth story, but takes the time to explore the social, political, and psychological complexities buffeting a young man's life and changing the course of his future and interests.  

As Paul also tackles the roots of problems caused by his abusive family roots and his tendency to react to life circumstances from dysfunctional teachings, readers will have plenty of opportunity to consider the lasting impact of family psychology and influence. 

All these facets and more create a story that is unusually rooted in a sense of time, place, and community interactions and reactions. 

While mature teens would be a fine audience for it, it's a shame that a prerequisite for The Real Paul Makinen? is an ability to hold a degree of attention and literacy that Twitter generation users might not have. 

Ideally, its powerful messages and winding course of growth and confrontation will be assigned as classroom reading for young adults and the subject of book club discussion for adults seeking a far wider-ranging, bigger-picture story of growth than the usual coming-of-age saga. 

Its bittersweet depiction of love, loss, growth, and social and political involvement as seen through the eyes of a teen who influences not just his life, but those around him, is an outstanding representation of life that deserves top billing in any collection strong in literary works that move from personal struggle to deeper political and community inspections. 

The Real Paul Makinen?

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Return to Canyon Creek
John Layne
Labrador Publishing
979-8-9860110-0-4         $18.95 Paper/11.99 ebook
www.johnlaynefiction.com 

Return to Canyon Creek is the third installment of a Western series, but newcomers to the efforts of gunslingers Luxton Danner and Wes Payne will find their world of the late 1800s an effortless place to absorb. 

Trained military man Gilford Knox will do anything to acquire land surrounding the town of Canyon Creek so he can turn it into a thriving boomtown. His efforts to bully, cajole, or otherwise buy out the townspeople results in an increasing seat of power which he employs to change the face of the town for his own purposes. 

That's when Luxton Danner and Wes Payne are tapped to step up and stop him. 

As Albert Loman, Shelley Robertson, and other Canyon Creek residents find themselves caught up in a battle for their town and place in it, readers receive a lively Western struggle for power that paints a vivid picture of place and purpose as various townspeople join together to regain their homes and see justice served. 

Frontier events, from murders to mayhem, come to life under John Layne's hand. His vivid descriptions of standoffs, showdowns, legal and social clashes, and the various special interests of a truly wild—and steadily evolving—Western town make for an engrossing story replete in not just confrontation, but new realizations about the price of growth and change at all costs. 

Layne paints vivid scenes throughout the course of these events: “You take to gunning down women?” Danner barked; his fatigued body now energized with the bolt of an adrenaline surge. People flocked out of every nearby building door, including both saloons. Boot and shoe heels clamored on the boardwalks sending echoes up and down both sides of the street. Windows flew open, filled with anxious faces wanting to see the showdown." 

The novel's non-stop action, realistic sense of the times and its people, and strong characterization captures the rugged times and the forces which clash over different visions of opportunities and lifestyles in the West. 

Fans of Louis L'Amour and other classic Western writers well know the compelling feel of an authentically portrayed world, and Return to Canyon Creek mirrors this powerful approach as it adds to a trilogy about the making and breaking of Texas. 

Libraries should consider it a fine addition to any traditional Western fiction collection looking for contemporary writers that capture the passion and fire of yesterday's West. 

Return to Canyon Creek

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Sophia's Schooling
Maggie Sims
The Wild Rose Press
9781509243020      $18.99 paperback/$5.99 ebook
Ordering: https://books2read.com/u/b5lrxR
Website: maggiesims.com 

Sophia's Schooling is the first book in the School of Enlightenment Regency romance series, introducing the character of eighteen-year-old Sophia Wilkinson, an orphan charged with entering London society. 

She's a country girl seeking neither romance nor a husband, but both fall into her lap as she navigates the attention of Edward Morduan, a new Earl whose charge is to both manage his family's estate and produce heirs for the future. 

If readers anticipate a circumspect romance from this description, they'd be wrong. A fiery passion runs through the story which embraces sexual fantasy and experimentation, erotically described to titillate readers looking for racy reading. 

This atmosphere, however, is offset by a story replete in social and political observation, where the sassy Sophia and the uncertain yet powerful Earl are strange attractors in the new worlds they inhabit. 

Maggie Sims outlines a satisfyingly complex story that is filled with ironic social observations, and heady emotional and physical passion. She deftly outlines the entwined plights of characters that each must move above their station in life in order to find love while managing everything from estates to special interests. 

Edward's penchant for spanking introduces Sophia to blazing new worlds and possibilities both inside and outside the bedroom. Their erotic dance comes to life as they break traditionals rules and make new ones, both individually and with one another. 

Sims creates a story that embraces diverse perspectives and the possibilities of a love that wants to teach, possess, and bind its participants in different ways. 

Readers who look for a blend of sexual exploration, romance, and social inspection set against the backdrop of high society and characters that introduce prior emotional baggage into their relationship will find plenty to like in this fiery, passionate story. 

Edward and Sophia's sexual journey is simply captivating, carrying romance readers into a world of passion and revised purposes.  

Sophia's Schooling

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Squeeze Plays
Jeffrey Marshall
Atmosphere Press
978-1-63988-369-1         $17.99
www.atmospherepress.com 

Squeeze Plays is a novel about money, power, and two powerful businessmen who become involved with a Russian oligarch. Their business dilemmas are further complicated by a reporter with a nose for trouble, creating a fine interplay between characters who each hold special interests and demonstrate flawed reasoning about wealth, power, and how to use them. 

Jeffrey Marshall presents a fine consideration of high society, the seats and roots of power, and the motivations and special interests that drive them. 

As his story swirls through the upper echelons of New York, London, and the lives of men and women who would grasp and hold financial and political power, he leads readers on a romp through different worlds that become connected by power plays and personal gain. 

Business and political satire are introduced to give the story a wry sense of comic relief, with allusions presenting uncommon and unexpected correlations that literary readers will find especially interesting: "Restive investors, competitors battling for market share, consumer watchdogs, his own board and executive team, there was no telling where the next crisis would come from. Sometimes it felt like being holed up in a wagon train in an old Western with a band of circling Indians pumping arrows at you." 

From blackmail motives and scenarios to poor decisions that compound problems and vulnerabilities, readers receive an intriguing study that moves from business banking and political interests to family traditions and the specter of retirement. 

As the Ripovsky investment evolves a cast of characters immersed in secrets, intrigue, and company politics, business readers (and those who enjoy business and political thrillers) will find plenty to like. The absorbing cat-and-mouse game presents new dilemmas and environments to seasoned characters who supposedly are at the top of their financial game. 

Libraries seeing interest in business and thriller novels that intersect the two topics will welcome the addition of Squeeze Plays. It's an involving story that takes many unpredictable twists and turns as it winds through business and political influences on poor and good decisions alike. 

Squeeze Plays

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Zoe Hearty and the Space Invaders
Thomas Norris
NorrisPublications
3982475511           $9.99 Paperback/.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/-/de/dp/B0B4F5YVM1

Zoe Hearty is "a killer but not a monster." At least, that's what she would have others think. In fact, she'd prefer to be remembered as a savior, despite actions that would indicate otherwise. The reasons for her disparate identity are revealed during the course of a story that rocks its readers with a satisfying blend of intrigue, psychological inspection, and finely-tuned tension. 

The first-person tale opens with Zoe in an insane asylum, locked up for what she has done (which, ironically, to her mind, is to save humanity from invading forces). The fact that there was collateral damage during that process is what has landed her in this place. The story then unfolds into a world of romance and change as Zoe enters the unfamiliar. 

Thomas Norris describes her journey with evocative phrasing that blends wry inspection with ironic, atmospheric description: "Mister Long-face Scowling Man sounds like a song, huh. Well, if it was a song, it would be a dirge, the background music to my life for the next two years." 

These create a haunting sense of place cemented by metaphors that are unexpected in a novel of self-inspection and struggle: "But streets that were soot dark but for the gentle glow of our rolling headlights are now not. It is like being in a city bathed in streetlights fashioned by ash, not sodium." 

Zoe questions her experiences early on, wondering if they are hallucinations or illusions. But as she enters the fray to become a serial killer, the question arises as to whether she is saving humanity from aliens, as she believes, or is single-handled destroying lives because of a misguided perception. 

Norris crafts an intriguing journey through the mind of a woman who becomes a killer out of necessity. 

As Zoe explores her experiences and the rationales for her actions and questions her psyche and perceptions, readers are led to wonder, themselves, if she is insane, or a hero. 

She assumes many personas during the course of her journey: investigator, saviour, abuse victim, and adventurer "blowing open the gateway to the Devil's dungeon." 

From top-secret plans leading to the end of days to Zoe's evolution as the last chance to prevent a slaughter, readers are led on a march through reality and the impossible through Zoe's eyes and vastly changed life. 

The action and tension are well done and keep readers guessing and on their toes, but it's Zoe's spunky personality and changing convictions about what is going on (and her role in it) that provides the foundation food for thought that keep readers engaged in her choices (and also questioning their outcomes). 

Norris also injects a philosophical edge to help readers answer why Zoe feels compelled to step up to the plate and defend not just herself and loved ones, but all of humanity: "Humans are imperfect, God knows. We murder and we destroy. We ravage and rape. People and the planet, both. And yet we are all we have. And we can be better. Better versions of ourselves are within reach, just around the corner, so close. I truly believe that. So close we can reach out and almost touch it." 

The result is a venture into aliens, insanity, murder, and redemption which goes the extra mile in creating a hero who questions her flaws, yet perseveres for the sake of a greater good. 

Whether readers choose Zoe Hearty and the Space Invaders for its thriller, intrigue, psychological, or social examination components, one thing is certain: it's a story that excels in weaving an inspection of all these elements and more, resulting in a powerful exploration that keeps evolving new influences, possibilities, and realities along the way. 

Zoe Hearty and the Space Invaders

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Reviewer's Choice

The ABC Tour
Author: Jon Udry
Layout/Design: Ben McCabe
Modern Vaudeville Press
978-0-578-41085-2                $25.00
www.modernvaudevillepress.com 

Juggler and comedian Jon Udry completed his 'ABC Tour' which involved 26 shows in 26 different venues, one for each letter of the alphabet. 

The ABC Tour: A Juggler’s Journey from A to Z captures this remarkable achievement as Udry travels to very different venues, represented by A-Z chapter headings that organize this journey ("A is for Aquarium; B is for Bakery; C is for Castle; D if for Doorshop; E is for Eden Project; F is for Forest; G is for Gallery; H is for Hairdresser; I is for Internet; J is for Jail..."). 

Jon's rules for the tour, in addition to the consecutive nature of following the alphabet, added additional challenges, including: "One of the most important was that each location had to be a non-venue where you would not expect to see a show." 

By crafting and controlling the concept of a tour to make its incarnation even more unusual, reaching places and audiences unused to entertainment, Udry expands the nature of his craft to bring it to the attention of diverse audiences who might not otherwise have been exposed to juggling. 

The tour took over two years to complete. This book represented yet another self-challenge, because Udry admits in his prologue that "I am a writer in the same way that someone assembling flat-pack furniture is a carpenter or that someone making beans on toast is a chef. That being said, here I am writing a book." Even in print, the comedy shines. 

If readers wonder how a performance artist can properly represent the art in written word, Udry's title serves as the prime example of how different mediums can still capture an artistic endeavor. 

From funding an unconventional effort that received only skepticism from business managers to the repeated challenges Udry came up with to accompany each venue visit, readers receive a lively set of insights that highlight the effort. 

Udry doesn't just provide verbal and photographic images of this tour. He covers the thinking process that went into selecting representative environments for each letter of the alphabetic, such as 'K is for Knitting Club': "I loved the thought of performing to an audience of people that were knitting. It just seemed really lovely to me. Before I could start my search for a knitting club, I needed to define what one was. Is it just a group of people knitting? Does this mean the location doesn’t matter? If people are knitting in a church, is that a knitting club? I think yes. If they are knitting outside in a field, is that a knitting club? This feels like a no. If they are knitting in an office, is this a knitting club? I think yes. If they are knitting at a bus shelter, is this a knitting club? I think not." 

More than a collection of fun illustrations and juggling descriptions, Udry's book excels in pinpointing the whimsy and logical thinking that went into his tour: "Perhaps you are reading this because you love alphabets and feel ambivalent towards juggling at best. If so, I apologise for the lack of alphabet-related content. That being said, if I am running a club of any type, and a stranger contacts me to offer a free show involving something I have no interest in – but could help raise money for my club or my chosen charity – then I would absolutely say yes. But I am also the type of person that would willingly choose to do twenty-six awkward shows in difficult venues for free." 

While performing arts libraries would of course be the logical group interested in The ABC Tour, it would be a shame to limit its audience to fellow performers alone. 

Jon Udry's ability to reach a non-juggling, non-performer audience with his wit and explorations of organizing tours and establishing their parameters will ideally reach book clubs and discussion groups interested in the intersection of comedy, sport, and performance worlds. 

In and of itself, The ABC Tour is a representation of creative thinking that goes beyond its theme to reach audiences interested in exploring self-challenging efforts and ways of thinking outside the box, and is very highly recommended to a wide audience not just of performers, but all kinds of readers looking for creative, whimsical, and thought-provoking fun. 

The ABC Tour

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Cavalier
Connie L. Nelson
George Gregory Nelson Publishing
979-8-9856105-1-2                        $15.99 Paper/$4.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Cavalier-Story-Unsolved-Murder-Small/dp/B0B5KV7GX1 

Cavalier: The Story of an Unsolved Murder in a Small Town is a true crime memoir that centers on the true story of Connie L. Nelson's friend, Dr. Jack Wahl, who was murdered in his home one night in 1986. 

Nelson conducted her own research into the crime, which remained unsolved, using interpersonal communications, the investigation notes provided by the current Pembina County sheriff and his deputy, and news­paper reports from that time. As she pursued a truth that remained elusive, her life changed. 

Fast forward to 2018. The crime remains unsolved.  No one was ever been charged or convicted with her friend’s murder. But the sorrow and pain of being a murderer's collateral damage remained, and so Nelson has written this book about the events that transformed her life. 

Law enforcement readers as well as those involved in the psychology of relationships changed by murder and unresolved crimes will find much to appreciate in the way Nelson has pursued her subject. 

Her ability to inject thought-provoking angles on murder which affects close friends as much as family, yet constantly locks out friends from discussions and insights, makes for a story that needed to be written as much for other victims of unresolved crimes as for true crime readers: "If you have had a loved one die suddenly, you prob­ably know the heartache of not getting to say goodbye. When the sudden death isn’t due to a long-term illness or a car accident, but instead an unsolved murder, it’s like a wound that doesn’t heal. And when the murder takes place in a small town, everyone you know could be the potential murderer—just one of the ways the crime changed my life.Another way it changed was that I was forced to see myself from the police viewpoint: I was just a friend. If Jack had been a relative, I would have been included in the discussions with law enforcement, but I was not interviewed as part of the official investigation—and I felt I had a valuable perspective on Jack’s life." 

The memoir blends nicely into true crime experiences, processes, and revelations to create a realistic and emotion-driven "you are here" feel to the story. 

In many ways, Nelson has crafted the perfect true crime saga because of its wider-ranging considerations of the effects of a small town murder on those who reside alongside a perp who remains mercurial and unidentified. 

This impact is thoroughly explored in thought-provoking passages that broaden the concerns and impact a murder has on the entire community; especially in a small town: "The citizens and communities of Cavalier and Pembina County need closure too. After there has been a murder in a small community, where everyone knows each other, it is difficult to go back to feeling safe and secure. Do they still worry when strangers come to town? Do they lock their doors at night? Does the murderer still live among them?" 

Nelson's inspection of psychological, social, and criminal impacts of unresolved crimes is astute, drawing together a number of resources to make points that most true crime memoirs omit. 

Her ability to include, yet move beyond, her personal connections and perspective to embrace the wider issues affecting the legal, social, and political processes of a community sets Cavalier apart from the usual true crime story. It's thus a highly recommended pick not just for libraries interested in criminology and sociology, but for discussion groups analyzing the impact of unresolved grief that affects individuals and society as a whole. 

Cavalier

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Cemetery Reflections
Jane Hopkins
Headstone Press
978-8985029406            $44.95
https://www.amazon.com/Cemetery-Reflections-Jane-Hopkins/dp/8985029401 

Cemetery Reflections belongs in any arts or history collection strong in photography or monument records. It provides a powerful visual history of three centuries of American graveyards, pairing black and white and color images with literary reflections (both poetry and prose) which come from philosophical and psychological writing. 

Readers interested in the psychology of grief, the literary expression of loss, and the reflections of graveyards as places that both inspire and give pause for thought will find these images and written words capture the longstanding traditions of death, burial, and mourning in America. 

The delicate art of mourning and presentation of epitaphs and tributes to the deceased and living alike make for a powerful presentation that should ideally transcend arts audiences to also reach circles of survivors struggling with grief. 

These readers receive an evocative mix of insights on all kinds of attitudes towards death, and will relish the dual impact of photos and language surrounding it. 

American history to arts and psychology libraries will all appreciate this diverse gathering of headstones and the stories they tell, and will find the collection lends to literary and philosophical insights and discussions. 

Ideally, book club discussion groups on grief and surviving will use it to bring to light the emotions that surround death, exploring the artistic and emotional draw Cemetery Reflections explores and represents. 

Cemetery Reflections

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Denali
Neil Perry Gordon
Independently Published
978-1-7326677-4-7                $16.99 Paper/$4.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Denali-Alaskan-Adventures-Percy-Goldfield/dp/1732667748 

As the third and final book of a trilogy, Denali: The Alaskan Adventures of Percy Hope holds the promise of resolution to the story, which is set in the early 1900s. Percy Hope is on his way to New York in search of his missing son Walter and his fugitive mother, Peggy Greenburg. 

This mission is diverted when he stumbles upon the journal of former friend Magnus Vega, who drowned a year earlier in the Bering Sea. It chronicles a voyage of discovery and riches that promises the same to Hope and his best friend Liam. They decide to travel into this uncharted wilderness, map in hand, for certain riches and adventure. 

The story's action and adventure ramps up from the moment the toy boys deliver Magnus's legacy (six pieces of gold) to George Magnus, a grieving father who appears to be a drunken mess. 

The duo uncovers a journal of mystery and promises, quickly attracts the attention of the nefarious Diamond Jim, faces George's disappearance with the gold, and embarks on a journey that soon becomes one of not just gold-seeking fever, but metaphysical revelation. 

Readers seeking either a historical action piece or a tale of riches won't expect this injection of spirituality, but Neil Perry Gordon realistically portrays its rise, possibilities, and impact on Hope and Magnus's lives as a cave exploration turns into a quest for proof of an unimaginable spiritual realm. 

Gordon moves between Hope and Magnus with first-person descriptions that juxtapose the journal entries of the past with Hope's present-day obsession. 

The atmosphere of the times comes to life as these events evolve, from San Francisco and New York to Knik, Alaska and beyond. One reason why Gordon's story is so vibrant and realistic is the observations and experiences of the social milieu of the late 1800s. Gordon weaves this atmosphere so deftly into dialogues and reflections that readers absorb the feeling of the times without even thinking: “We used to live in a nice neighborhood, on Taylor Street,” he began.
“Yes, I know it,” I said with a nod. “It’s on the waterfront where fishermen sell their catch.”
“That’s right. Father worked the docks and Mother sold fish from the stalls.”
“What happened to them?” I asked.
“They were killed,” Emile said softly. “I watch them both die.”
 

As Hope comes full circle in many ways, readers will find the story completely engrossing as he returns to his original quest with newfound wisdom. 

Yes, Denali: The Alaskan Adventures of Percy Hope represents the concluding volume to a trilogy that will primarily attract prior readers of Hope's adventures. But it will also appeal to newcomers with its ability to build upon past events while moving forward into the next phase of Hope's life. 

Libraries strong in fiction that holds a strong historical backdrop but comes to life with action and adventure, especially those interested in turn-of-the-century Alaskan backdrops, will find Denali: The Alaskan Adventures of Percy Hope a solid acquisition that is highly recommended for its unique brand of action, adventure, and character evolution. 

Denali

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The Evolution of Life: Big Bang to Space Colonies
Richard M. Anderson
Perocity Press
979-8-9851494-7-0
Hardcover: $54.95/Paperback: $22.95/ebook: $9.99
https://www.amazon.com/Evolution-Life-Bang-Space-Colonies/dp/B09XSS9D62/ 

The Evolution of Life: Big Bang to Space Colonies is a scientific review highly recommended for readers seeking an introductory examination of life's origins and future. It provides a step-by-step journey connecting the universe's growth to humanity's evolutionary process, considering how the two have expanded and grown together. 

While some might consider the subject either esoteric or too technical for easy access, The Evolution of Life cultivates an approach that lends to its access by lay audiences interested in a sweeping review of the history of life. 

Richard M. Anderson uses graphs, references to physics, biochemistry, and psychology, and social inspection to examine the course of human growth and interests. 

He considers the enigmas and research of a cross-section of scientific disciplines, using language that will especially appeal to readers who have some scientific curiosity and background, yet reside largely outside the usual scientific community: "Mitochondria form a monophyletic group in humans. That means for us they could have descended from a single ancestor. A member of the Alpha proteobacteria was engulfed by another prokaryote, probably of the archaea." 

Anderson's survey does make for heady reading that requires a degree of scientific curiosity, but it cultivates a lively descriptive tone and connections that make any reader's effort more than worthwhile: "This ATP-generating cascade, on a molecular level, is almost perfect in extracting all of the energy from the catabolism of glucose. Diagrams of this process would be difficult, but in my mind, it comes close to the genetic transcription and production of proteins both in significance and beauty. The synergy of this commensal relationship was so powerful that, without it, there would not be complex life on Earth today." 

Libraries looking for science-grounded examinations of humanity's evolutionary process and future potential will find much to like about the wide-ranging approach of The Evolution of Life: Big Bang to Space Colonies. 

Its clear connections between science and human nature and its conclusion of the uniqueness and accompanying responsibility that humanity has towards its habitat and its other residents makes for an important message that needs to be heard and discussed: "I believe there is an increasing understanding that humanism, a movement working to optimize our life experience and value to each other, coupled with scientific understanding, can lead to international action to address global problems. Let us hope that action is sufficient to ensure our longevity as a species. Like a fine jewel, our planet, studded with ecosystems and intertwining living beings, is our place in the universe. Like us, it is priceless." 

The Evolution of Life: Big Bang to Space Colonies

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Into the Forest
Lindy Ryan, Editor
Black Spot Books
978-1-64548-123-2         $15.95 Paper/$5.99 ebook
www.blackspotbooks.com 

Into the Forest: Tales of the Baba Yaga gathers new short writings inspired by the Slavic witch Baba Yaga fable, gathering works by award-winning authors and new voices. 

Readers might expect these stories to be steeped in horror (which they do receive), but one of the unexpected delights of this collection lies in not just its diverse takeoffs on the subject, but the disparate tones which each short story takes, from dark fantasy to folklore and reflections on women's powers and the ironies of their lives. 

Take the opening "Dinner Plans with Baba Yaga" by Stephanie M. Wytovich. The poem is a dark study in ritual horror that captures subtle nuances in the Baba Yaga legend and figure, bringing them to life in unexpected ways: "You tell me to make a stew, to chop up the/onions, pull the radishes from the ground. I bite/my tongue, let my tears fall into the bowl, the salt/a sealant, a locked door boiling beneath the peas./I stir clockwise to summon you, imagine the rancid/perfume of your ghost." 

"Last Tour Into the Hungering Moonlight" by Gwendolyn Kiste, in contrast, is an atmospheric study in ironic observations as the narrator, a 'tour guide', introduces readers to a strange community: "One home after another, we want to show them all to you. Our vaulted ceilings, our vaulted lives. This is our little pocket of paradise, you might say. After all, we have everything we could ever want. Our gleaming white walls as plain and straightforward as each new day in our lives. There’s nothing out of the ordinary here, nothing calling to us from just beyond the property line." 

The focus on the impact of living shielded lives next to a legend offers intriguing perspectives on the Baba Yaga folktale that are delightfully literary and analytical: "(They say her house in the deep, lonely woods is propped up on chicken legs and filled with a thousand bones. Late at night, we sometimes lie awake and wonder if those bones make her home stronger than ours. We also wonder if maybe we should find some bones of our own.)" 

Each piece offers a stunning new perspective on Baba Yaga's influence and legend. Each represents a powerful literary reflection that should not be missed by any with an interest in not just horror or this legend, but women's writings in particular. 

Outstanding in its diversity and interpretations, Into the Forest: Tales of the Baba Yaga is very highly recommended not just for horror collections, but for libraries strong in women's literature, as well as for reader's book groups who would study the legend and realities of the Baba Yaga folktale as it journeys into the heart and soul of women's experiences and psychology. 

Into the Forest

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The Kabbalah of Light
Catherine Shainberg
Inner Traditions
9781644114742             $19.99
www.innertraditions.com 

The Kabbalah of Light: Ancient Practices to Ignite the Imagination and Illuminate the Soul links ancient Jewish mystical traditions with modern-day lives in a step-by-step guide that helps readers understand the practice of Kabbalah. 

It's the perfect item of choice for those that would base their modern choices and approaches on time-tested techniques. It provides well over a hundred short exercises and practices designed to help readers tap their subconscious in new ways that lead to transformational experiences. 

Catherine Shainberg's focus on fast techniques allows even the busiest modern reader access to the Kabbalah of Light, originating over 800 years ago, to use the modernized practices that will help them address being stuck in any life situation, helping direct choices using ancient traditions. 

These are meditative, inspirational directives that not only encourage visionary experiences, but add the insight and intentions that help guide readers: "The guide's questions are a way of helping you hone in on your images. What are you seeing? What are you feeling? Describe what is happening. The guide's voice keeps you present in your experience." 

The solidity of daily life "doesn't have concreteness." In contrast, the dream state offers freedom. The trick lies in learning better techniques for accessing, experiencing, and interpreting its wisdom, and that's where the Kabbalah of Light and this guidebook come into play. 

Meditators and metaphysical readers, as well as those interested in self-help psychology, will find these practices accessible and encouraging. Indeed, anyone who feels "stuck" in life and who searches for routines that bring wisdom and enlightenment will find The Kabbalah of Light the perfect starting point for transformation, whether they are Jewish or not. 

Spirituality and inspirational libraries will find the book holds only one prerequisite: the ability to not just accept a different path for accessing subconscious patterns, but the willingness to self-examine and change. 

The Kabbalah of Light

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LIBERATION: Seeking the Meaning of Life
Shogo Onoe
Independently Published
979-8814897299
Kindle - $4.99/Hardcover - $19.95/Paperback - $13.50
https://shogoonoe.com/

LIBERATION: Seeking the Meaning of Life is both a memoir of Japanese pilgrim Shogo Onoe (who found himself in Mexico cultivating a new life even as he sought the meaning of his old one) and a Carlos Castaneda-style spiritual journey that offers a dual inspection of personal and spiritual growth. 

From its opening lines, it's evident that LIBERATION is a powerful story of a different ilk than the usual travelogue or autobiography: "I have been a stranger to my own country and my own country’s people since I was a child. I should confess that I hate Japan from my guts. On top of it all, I have never fitted into Japanese society and have not yet even started to function as a useful person there. To tell the truth, I have never agreed with the Japanese society system and the Japanese way of life. I always wanted to escape from Japan to see the world so that I could be free as a bird. From my childhood on, one thing was crystal clear to me as if it were God’s revelation: I definitely do not belong in Japan, and I just happened to be born in the wrong country. I am absolutely a lone wolf and constantly suffocated by loneliness, because I have no one to talk with about my true feelings and even a fraction of my feelings." 

When Shogo Onoe, a stranger in his own country, encounters the peoples and culture of Mexico, he finds the contrasts stark and also finds a new place for himself in the world. 

This is where the magic of LIBERATION begins to work its spell on the reader. 

Onoe's contrast of the emotional, cultural, and spiritual milieus of these disparate countries offers a rare glimpse into the meaning of life as perceived and cultivated under different conditions. 

His encounters with others on the road to defining happiness and life's meaning injects his journey with social, philosophical, and spiritual observations that are astutely analytical in their contrasts of personalities and perspectives. 

This is a strength of the autobiographical format in general, but under Onoe's hand, it also represents the strength of not just accepting, but searching out new possibilities and opportunities: "Sometimes we cannot explain how a certain thing occurs in our lives. Usually, it is a most crucial thing, which you have fervently craved your entire life. You cry, scream, gibber, pray, and curse, but it never budges. Out of desperation, you swear that you will abandon your faith in Almighty God and will forever turn your back on Him while making the silliest defiant expression on your face. But it is not enough. In order to show your everlasting agony and disappointment with Him, you start pulling your hair out hysterically, dance sacrilegiously, and spit up to the heavens insolently, but it still does not budge a wee bit. It has become beyond your comprehension; you become dispirited to the point of giving it up – that moment, the thing somehow befalls upon you out of the blue." 

Underlying these experiences is a consideration of the nature of individualism and exploration that encourages readers to think about their own paths of discovery and alienation in life. 

The result is a highly recommended survey that blends literature, biography, and social and spiritual contrasts and reflections. These facets are topped with a dose of philosophical and psychological insight that offer much food for thought for thinkers and book clubs that look for seasoned insights spiced with the experience of a pilgrim actively seeking the meaning of life. 

LIBERATION: Seeking the Meaning of Life

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New Testament Readings & Devotionals, Volume 2
C.M.H. Koenig (compiler)
C.M.H. Koenig Books (through IngramSpark)
978-1-956475-27-2                $14.99 Paperback
Website: www.cmhkoenigbooks.net
Ordering: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/new-testament-readings-devotionals-c-m-h-koenig/1140675150?ean=9781956475272 

Having completed his devotional guidebooks for the Old Testament of the Bible, C.M.H. Koenig continues his structure and its accessible, meaningful outreach to Bible students with the second volume of New Testament Readings & Devotionals. 

As with his other study guides, selected Biblical passages are interpreted and considered by Robert Hawker, Charles H. Spurgeon, and Octavius Winslow. These three scholarly thinkers add the critical inspections and considerations that connect Biblical passages to daily life. 

In this volume, readings come from most of Acts, James, Galatians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Corinthians, and Romans. This covers Christ's ascension into heaven, Pentecost, and events through Paul's third missionary trip. The books of each are the chapter headings, making it easy to link the devotionals with Biblical readings for scholars seeking further cross-referencing and enlightenment. 

Each reading is generally a chapter, with the excerpted devotional accompanying those providing deeper inspections that encourage Biblical students to analyze and savor Scripture in a different, more studious manner. 

Footnotes provide further Biblical references for students who would continue their studies prompted by the passages and devotionals designed to test reader knowledge and spiritual reflection. 

The opportunities for enlightenment and better understanding of not just the Word of God but its presence in daily life are many. Throughout this connection between Scripture and devotional, readers receive admonitions and rich encouragement to link Christian concepts to daily living. 

From the heart and soul of a believer to what it means to walk in Christ's footsteps, led by the Biblical guides represented in the Book and interpreted with joyful reflection here, readers receive a rare opportunity to conduct in-depth studies even if they are not of the scholarly ilk. 

Meanwhile, Bible reading groups and study circles receive a guided devotional that helps them better absorb the full meaning of Christ and God's word. 

The second book of the New Testament comes to life under Koenig's organizational prowess and the analyses of these three contributors. 

Bible students who would conduct guided independent study or work in discussion groups will find New Testament Readings & Devotionals Volume 2 and its predecessors an ongoing opportunity for better spiritual understanding and enlightenment. 

New Testament Readings & Devotionals, Volume 2

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Oh Great, Another Vampire Book
Diane Hunter

Independently Published
‎978-0578395074            $14.95 Paper/$4.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Oh-Great-Another-Vampire-Book/dp/057839507X 

Oh Great, Another Vampire Book, by its very title, portends a freshly original story. This will especially attract those who enjoy unique vampire accounts that come without the usual trappings of overdone plots and too-predictable progression. 

A vampire of long standing, Roman McClary finds people boring, even though he is privy to their secrets through mind-reading. After all, one can delve through minds only so many centuries before they become all too banal and unexciting. 

That is, until war threatens to break out in modern-day 2018 between vampires and humans, leading Roman to consider going against his long-held conviction not to create another vampire to add to the mix. 

Diane Hunter washes this world with an unusual touch of irony and satire as modern-day devices and approaches clash with an ages-old soul who has developed his own intricate moral and ethical standards for one-night stands and relationships: "The process of online dating presented a myriad of challenges for the New England vampire. There was ease in obtaining dates due to his looks and vast wealth, but it was a chore to endure banal conversation. His criteria were simple: if the woman was moral and hardworking, she would maybe get a second date. If she was immoral, unethical, and entitled, she’d never see him again. In a worst case scenario, women of this ilk could visit his private estate in Chestnut Hill, but return home later confused, forgetful, with strange bite marks on her body. He often thought unsavory women were becoming all too common in the twenty-first century. They easily fell under his thrall, doing whatever he wished." 

Contrast this introduction with the later first-person observations of a world undergoing vast changes, for a sense of the transformative atmosphere Hunter encourages as it moves from these beginnings to embrace a world where vamp communities blossom: "The vamp population was very small, which we expected being in a sunny climate. They too had developed a means for sustenance without feeding off humans. (Kudos to Charlaine Harris for writing True Blood!) These Hawaiian vamps mixed the blood of feral pigs with fermented poi and other spices. It turned my stomach to see them eat the gelatinous concoction from bowls. The maroon-colored substance resembled a movie prop from a George Romero film." 

As Roman pursues his connection with Sara in the always-changing world, readers receive a romp through cultural clashes that contrasts wry observation and fun with the serious questions and dilemmas he faces: “What are you watching?”
“Friends. Sometimes it feels good to turn my brain off and watch something stupid and mindless.”
“I agree. I’m a 200-year-old vampire who still watches Gossip Girl sometimes. Don’t tell anyone.”
“Actually, I like Gossip Girl. It’s interesting to see how rich kids grow up in Manhattan. I treat it like anthropology research.”
No, I mean my real age. It ’s embarrassing how young I am compared to all those old geezers.” He gestured to the other side of the door. As if on cue, they exploded in laughter, taunting Larry for eating Fruit Brute cereal.
“Fruit Brute! Werewolf cereal?” Zackary cried in mock horror. “It’s food of the enemy! Good god, man. Have some pride."
 

The social and political satire that permeates the action will prove especially satisfying to literature readers who may be well familiar with the vampire genre, but look for out-of-the-box interpretations and presentations. 

In particular, Hunter addresses issues of "woke politics" and responsible media. Unexpected developments? Yes. They introduce an added layer of value that elevates Oh Great, Another Vampire Book beyond entertainment alone, making for a thought-provoking read on different levels. 

While Oh Great, Another Vampire Book is highly recommended for leisure readers who will find the progression of events and mercurial interpersonal relationships intriguing, it should not miss attention from students of satirical literature. This audience will find the book a study in contemporary satire. It's suitable for classroom discussion and library acquisition alike and is both a unique, refreshingly different take on the vampire theme and a demonstration of the different possibilities that satirical inspection can embrace. 

Oh Great, Another Vampire Book

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Prep School for Serial Killers
Tara Platt
Bug Bot Press
978-0-9840-7407-5                $14.95 Paper/$4.99 ebook
Website: www.bugbotpress.com
Ordering: www.amazon.com 

Fans of The Hunger Games and similar YA dystopian novels will find Prep School for Serial Killers is not an adult story about murderers, but a dark tale set in 2123 about school students being groomed for extraordinary roles in life. 

The preface sets the stage for instant attraction with a tone and drama that will make mature young adult readers want to learn more: "Whoever finds this, I hope you have escaped. That you have found a way to overthrow the governing forces and build a life for yourself. It may be too late for me. I will never know freedom – what it feels like to travel the world without fear, to make choices that are not imposed by the state, to choose who I love…and what I fight for. To grow into a woman who knows the truth…If you’re reading this, you’re probably a student here, and I am long dead. If you haven’t worked it out already, I must tell you something: Everything you are learning here is a lie." 

The Last Great War destroyed the narrator's family and life, leaving her a survivor at only a few weeks old. Her life in an orphanage and then in a special school designed to tap student abilities for more than higher education is narrated in a gripping style that introduces the promise and dangers of Poluzone, a drug designed to temper humanity's self-destructive rage, that comes with a terrible price. 

The recap of how the narrator's world came to be does an exceptional job of both painting the events that shaped this environment and setting the stage for a spellbinding exploration of Anathema's place in it. 

From training battles with Vex and others under the school headmaster's guidance to increasing uncertainties that the system students have taken for granted is designed to help, young adults receive an intriguing story of a girl's growing ability to step out of her preordained role to question not just authority, but the basic tenants of her world. 

From assassins and poisoned pens to drives to alter history, Prep School for Serial Killers takes many unusual twists and turns, yet keeps readers thoroughly engaged as characters come to reconsider Killslip killing traditions against a hunter-and-prey series of confrontations. 

Are they being groomed to survive, or to kill? Are they warriors, leaders, or pawns in a bigger plot? 

Tara Platt creates a fast-paced story of teens who find themselves at odds with the forces that raised them. 

Her story holds special appeal for fans of dark dystopian teen reads. Its strong characters, compelling social observation, and satisfying intrigue makes Prep School for Serial Killers highly recommended for libraries seeking dystopian fiction that raises questions suitable for classroom or book group discussion. 

Prep School for Serial Killers

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Resurgence of Global Populism
Karyne E. Messina, EdD
Routledge
978-1-032-06451-2         $39.95 (softcover)
https://www.amazon.com/Resurgence-Global-Populism-Psychoanalytic-Identification/dp/103206451X 

Resurgence of Global Populism: A Psychoanalytic Study of Projective Identification, Blame-Shifting and the Corruption of Democracy will engage college students and adults interested in the connections between political and psychological processes, and is recommended both for individual study and classroom assignment for standout discussion. 

Karyne E. Messina considers the driving forces for the emergence and propagation of populism, closely examining the logic from which corrupt systems evolve and are promoted and fostered. 

Her examination moves from country to country as it considers the circumstances, appearance, and propagation of populism in Asia, Europe, and the U.S., drawing important connections and comparisons between the politics and people of different nations of the world. 

This approach allows for an analysis that juxtaposes cultural and social influences on political processes, following how the psyches of nations and individuals are influenced by populist thinking. 

Important connections are drawn between the emergence of repressive laws and the underlying intentions and perceptions of the politicians and lawmakers involved. One such case cited is Austria's banning of headscarves in the name of protection and altruistic perceptions. These types of laws, whether well-meaning or stemming from ignorance, hold wide-ranging ramifications: "At the very least, banning headscarves is an example of “othering” which is a way of splitting people into categories; those who fit in with the accepted group and those who do not. This way of labeling people also affects how individuals within each group are perceived and treated by members of the community." 

Messina's attention to defining and identifying circumstances of populist behavior in various world communities and populations moves between legal and political choices and their impacts, drawing connections that help readers understand how the hearts and minds of the public are affected. While Trump's actions and representations are a primary focus, she places his politics and brand of beliefs within larger perspective, exploring his psychological manipulations and approaches and their impact on the world. 

From national histories of democratic efforts and struggles to individual responses and choices, Messina goes beyond identifying problems—by providing possible solutions concerned readers can undertake to address the effects populist trends have on their own mental health. One such opportunity lies in fine-tuning the pervasive influence of social media: "We cannot condemn social media completely—it could be a vehicle for positive change. This is complicated, and I am not suggesting it could be done overnight. But, if the powers that be were not so greedy and cared more about our planet, for example, positive change could happen. In the meantime, until governments decide to regulate social media, there are ways to take control of what we consume online." 

Messina's ability to move from bigger-picture and global thinking to individual choice in reactions and actions offers hope. It ultimately empowers readers to not just better understand the methodology and circumstances of populist influences and efforts, but to identify and mitigate these effects. In essence, Messina advocates for readers to cultivate a sense of resilience, whether when dealing with an authoritarian ruler or negotiating social media minefields.  

The result is a powerful blend of history, social and political inspection, and psychological investigation that operate on both a global and individual level to provide readers with food for thought and tools for response. Much more than a Trump-centric analysis, it places this man's influence and the wellsprings of his approaches into a larger picture of threat readers would do well to better understand. 

While college-level library collections strong in social, psychological and political issues will be the target audience of this book, ideally it will not reside idly on a library's shelf, but will be chosen for classroom assignment and by discussion groups interested in considering and debating the forces of global populism's rise and effects on society and individuals alike. 

Resurgence of Global Populism

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Siege: An American Tragedy
Anita Bartholomew
Independently Published
978-0-9839922-2-6        
$17.99 Paper/$5.99 Kindle/Audiobook = Price TBA
https://www.amazon.com/Siege-American-Tragedy-Anita-Bartholomew/dp/0983992223
 

Siege: An American Tragedy focuses on the January 6th, 2021 storming of the US Capitol, covering events before, during, and after the siege. 

In a chronological, analytical manner, Bartholomew documents the rising worries about democratic processes pre-election and the players who inserted such doubts about them into the public mind. 

This methodical examination promotes a better understanding of not just of the January 6th insurrection itself, but what prompted the American public to regard its sacred election process with increasing distrust. 

Bartholomew pairs these historical events with insights that take specific pivot points of public opinion and contrast facts with misinformation exposés: "If true, this intel was beyond damning. It was explosive. It could offer the proof that Trump had been right all along: the election had been rigged. And foreign nationals—socialists and communists—had been involved in the rigging. The only problem? Almost none of what Bartiromo and Giuliani stated with such authority was accurate." 

As the countdown proceeds, from setting the stage to the acts themselves, Bartholomew reviews events with a "you are here" eye that re-considers the choices, actions, and interpretations of the events that took place on January 6th. 

This ability to move from point to point to reconsider overt and covert influences allows a wide audience to move through popular knowledge to analyze psychological, social, and political influences leading up to, during, and, and past the insurrection. 

Included in these discussions are reflections on democratic processes, ideals, power plays, and inner circle motivations and logic that lend to further insights. 

Bartholomew's analysis of changing roles and minds makes for a deeper inspection of the processes of democratic elections and struggles for freedom that begin to make sense under her logic. 

The result will prove essential reading for future generations interested in knowing not just the progression of events, but why they happened. 

Libraries looking for a thorough coverage of January 6th will find Siege: An American Tragedy a wide-ranging survey that fully considers how American perceptions and ideals were (and are) influenced, inflamed, and often thwarted. 

Siege: An American Tragedy

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Stories, Dice, and Rocks That Think
Byron Reese
BenBella Books
978-1637741344            $27.95 Hardcover/$14.99 Kindle
www.benbellabooks.com 

"How did we get ...to a point where we could think about the future; influence it; and, finally, perhaps master it? This book tells the story, in three acts, of how our species learned to escape the perpetual present." 

Stories, Dice, and Rocks That Think: How Humans Learned to See the Future—and Shape It discusses history, destiny, and how humans evolved a form of cognition that differs from animals, thus shaping the world in radically different ways from any creature around them. 

Its special blend of natural and human history and philosophy will appeal to science and social issues readers alike, offering a synthesis of historical inspection and psychological insights that consider just how different a creature the human animal has become. 

From storytelling and heritage passed down between generations to examples of synchronicity in action and its development and influence on belief systems and human predictions and interpretations of the world, Byron Reese gets to the heart of what makes humans different from all others. 

Key historical thinkers, inventors, and discoverers, and examples of evolutionary leaps, are presented during the course of this human history, inviting readers with a lively tone of analysis and revelation. 

Our brains are wired for storytelling, not logic. And yet, logic has developed, however flawed the reasoning ability might be, against all odds and inherent bias. 

"Something about [our minds] makes us so different from animals that we are almost aliens by comparison." 

These differences, their development, their impact, and their ultimate meaning are the focus of a lively historical discourse that romps through human and natural worlds with a vivid attention to detail. 

Libraries seeing strong patron interest in philosophy, history, and considerations of human and natural world similarities and differences will find Stories, Dice, and Rocks That Think a fine choice. Its ability to blend these topics into a lively discourse that invites thought, debate, and interactive discussions among its readers also makes it highly recommended for book clubs interested in connections between how stories give life meaning, and how human evolution, in particular, makes humanity unique. 

Stories, Dice, and Rocks That Think

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Who Holds the Devil
Michael Dittman
Manta Press
978-1-958370-00-1                $14.00 Paper/$2.99 ebook
https://www.mantapress.com/product-page/who-holds-the-devil 

Who Holds the Devil begins in Pennsylvania in 1875, an area which holds the roots of a curse that reaches through the centuries to affect modern times. The prologue's violent description of mob justice and a bloody confrontation concludes with a lynching that halts the work and members of Sam Mohawk's Institute, but evil doesn't die forever. It merely lies in wait. 

Fast forward to the present, when this Southwestern Pennsylvania setting has been completely transformed. Matt Garvey is charged with taking down a tree with his crew, doing his friend a favor. It's Sam Mohawk's tree. And what lies under it is the entrance to hell, unleashing a force back into the world that was vanquished during Civil War times, but has abided all these years. 

Aaron Moody just wanted the city to repair the damage caused by the tree's toppling into his house. The last thing he expected was to release an ancient evil. But as he faces the fact that his hallucinations and blackouts don't hold medical roots but have their foundations in reality, Aaron is drawn into a supernatural world. 

Mohawk's history and beliefs receive exposure in alternating chapters which move between past and present, providing snapshots of different perspectives, motivations, and mindsets as the story evolves. 

Michael Dittman's ability to inject exquisite tension into the mix while keeping the unexpected alive and readers on their toes makes for a fine horror story that extends its tendrils of tension into disparate lives and special interests. 

As an occult checklist, connections to everything familiar, and revised purposes evolve, Aaron's dilemma and his confrontations with the devil create an absorbingly unpredictable story horror that fans will find compellingly and refreshingly different. 

Libraries strong in horror literature will find much to like in Who Holds the Devil's examination of the roots of good and evil, and will want to include it on the reading lists of any patron interested in contemporary horror stories. 

Who Holds the Devil

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Young Adult/Childrens

The Complicated Calculus (and Cows) of Carl Paulsen
Gary Eldon Peter
Fitzroy Books (imprint of Regal House Publishing)
9781646032532      $16.95 (paperback); $8.99 (Kindle)
https://www.regalhousepublishing.com/product/the-complicated-calculus-and-cows-of-carl-paulsen/ 

The Complicated Calculus (and Cows) of Carl Paulsen is a debut novel of young adult fiction that is set in southern Minnesota. It follows teen Carl as he faces not only a secret crush on a city boy and stranger, but the demands of a family business that would place him at its helm in the future, like it or not. 

Also part of Carl's complicated equation of growth is the loss of his mother and his distant relationship with his demanding father, who also mourns (but tries to honor) his late mother's legacy of a family farm. 

If this were a story of love alone, it would be interesting; but life rarely is a singular experience. Adding the turmoil of changed family relationships and the demands of a family business that was a deceased parent's dream passed on to reluctant inheritors makes for a particularly involving interplay of events. 

Gary Eldon Peter employs the first person to capture Carl's perspective, offering interesting contrasts between his youth and the edicts of his father: "As a former high school English teacher he is very concerned about such things, and I should be too because some day, he says, the world would belong to me. I don’t want the world, at least not all of it, but it doesn’t matter." 

Carl's explanations and explorations of his life are presented from the viewpoint of a young man on the cusp of change, caught between adult and children's worlds: "There is a lot to worry about—milk prices (more often down than up); the takeover by the “big guys” (farmers who sat behind desks as if they were the president of IBM and who let the Vet Science grads from Iowa State or the U of Minnesota in color-coordinated overalls milk the 350 head herd); money, and a lot of it, borrowed to keep us going (my father explaining for the umpteenth time, when I asked why we couldn’t get cable like everyone else on the planet, how a mortgage worked and me rolling my eyes to let him know that, yes, I did know what a mortgage was, and that, yes, I was well aware that we were way behind on ours). He could have also added that there aren’t many friends either, at least not the human kind. With a small operation like ours (around twenty cows, more when the calves come) it’s the “girls,” as my mother liked to call them, who are your friends." 

Carl's introspection, questioning, and experience power a young adult coming-of-age story in a manner that will prove compelling to readers—even those relatively unfamiliar with the Midwest, family businesses, or forbidden first crushes. 

As Carl also faces the growth and explorations of his peers, he comes to realize that life and love are not always what they appear to be—or as straightforward as his father would have him believe: "...the truth is I don’t feel anything anywhere when I look at her. Except maybe sadness. And mostly for Andy. It’s all part of the act: the “crush” on Ellen (the real one), the stuff with the kicking and the boobs when we were having supper, and now this stupid picture. Andy’s act. If he can convince me that he likes girls, maybe then he can convince himself." 

As Carl explores his world, its expectations, and his place in it, young adults receive adult insights into the psychology of family relationships, social influences, and motivations for actions and choices. These both impart lessons and represent opportunities for deep thinking. 

Libraries looking for coming-of-age young adult fiction that explores blossoming sexuality and the possibilities of same-sex love will find The Complicated Calculus (and Cows) of Carl Paulsen a fine study in interpersonal relationships and growth. 

The Complicated Calculus (and Cows) of Carl Paulsen

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Dusty and Friends Activity Book
Tammy Fortune
Tammy's Toolbox, LLC
978-1-7346949-7-0               $6.99 Paper
Website:  www.dustythedog.com
Ordering:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/1734694971 

Dusty and Friends Coloring and Activity Book About Friendship cultivates an interactive environment, encouraging young readers to "grab a friend" and work together on the projects in this book. 

It advises young readers that there are no 'mistakes' in these endeavors, and prompts them to use the projects as a starting point for learning more about each other as they share and explore the activities. 

The focus is on identifying friendship's qualities and learning what makes friends laugh and have fun together. Various animals can be colored together, and each panel holds opportunities for learning because Dusty the dog cultivates different kinds of friends, from rabbits and cats to hamsters and goldfish. 

Kids (and adults who guide them) can use this activity book to get in touch with positive feelings about themselves and each other, because there are more than coloring projects involved. Each panel offers the opportunity for important insights about building the interpersonal connections that strengthen friendships, and each celebrates differences and shared experiences alike. 

The result is an engrossing book that encourages positivity and discussions about accepting and celebrating self and differences in others. Adults will find it the perfect starting place for reinforcing the give-and-take of friendship. 

Dusty and Friends Activity Book

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Flying Fillies
Christy Hui
Kokomo Entertainment Inc.
9798986299815     
$9.99 Kindle/$12.95 Paper/$19.99 Hardcover
Website: https://flyingfillies.com/about-the-book/
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Flying-Fillies-Limit-Christy-Hui-ebook/dp/B0B35DJ2LH 

"Glass ceilings are made to be flown through." 

"Flying fillies" is the affectionate term twelve-year-old Dawn Springfield applies to the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) who flew military planes during World War II. 

Flying Fillies: The Sky's the Limit opens with Dawn's move from Chicago to Sweetwater, Texas, where she looks forward to escaping the bullies that have plagued her school life. 

She wants to be a fighter pilot when she is older, but her classmates have used her dream as fodder for teasing. Dawn is already the victim of much abuse, with her sassy countenance and cowgirl ways gained from visits to her beloved grandfather's farm. 

Her Aunt Georgia is her inspiration: she's overseas, volunteering with the British Royal Air Force. This sets the stage for Dawn's own involvement in the war and her ability to step up and volunteer in hopes of going where no women have gone before. 

Christy Hui deftly captures Dawn's involvement with a group of 'fly girls.' Each represent ordinary females who have stepped up in extraordinary ways. Her descriptions cement these experiences and encounters, following Dawn's admiration for the young women who make difficult choices to achieve their dreams: "The more she learned about the fly girls, the more she loved them. Anyone who walked past Jane Applebaum in the street would see a typical young teenager without a care in the world. Dawn knew better after Jane explained how she had worn herself to the ground holding down three jobs to raise money for flying lessons." 

Hui's survey of the history of the WASP program focuses on proactive females who realize their dreams, then connect these dreams to bigger-picture thinking brought about by the war. 

Advanced elementary to middle grade readers receive an enlightening tale of World War II that focuses on the idea, training, and challenges of the WASP and their activities during the war. 

As Dawn absorbs their stories and readers learn about them through her fascination and education, the changing role of women of the times comes to life in a vivid inspection. The story nicely captures courage, survival, and these womens' determination to lend to the wartime cause (and perhaps even give their lives for it). 

The engrossing history and psychological pull of Flying Fillies brings the era and its women to life. More so than most other accounts of World War II for young readers, it connects the dots between personal passion and higher-level thinking and life experiences. It describes WASP training, volunteer efforts, and the contrast between a world of adventure and one spent at home cultivating an ordinary life. The story's conclusion is supported by pages of history that outline America during early World War II and the rise of women's involvement in the war effort.

Flying Fillies is a top recommendation for libraries seeing young patron interest in horses, who want to promote both World War II history and growth-inducing experiences derived from women's choices.

Flying Fillies

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Ghost Boy
Jan Burns
Atmosphere Press
978-1-63988-371-4         $12.99
www.atmospherepress.com 

Middle grade readers looking for ghostly encounters in their reading will find Ghost Boy a story of intrigue and revelation. Tyler Scott's discovery of a boy's skull places him in the position of being the one charged with helping him. 

The young ghost is concerned with finding his missing father ... and who better to tap than the son of the town sheriff, who probably has methods and abilities suitable for the task? 

As Tyler becomes involved in a cold case that once shook the town, he hones his own sense of purpose and investigative skills in a manner that rivals his father's experience and savvy. 

Young readers receive a satisfying investigative story that moves from supernatural appearances and forces to real-world threats. 

Tyler's early sense that everything is on the cusp of radical changes in his life ("Suddenly I got the strangest feeling that something big was going to happen, and I’d be right smack in the middle of it.") comes true in unexpected ways as he becomes involved in stolen silver shipments, altered friendships, and high-action onslaughts from physical and psychic storms. 

Evolving evil and mystery hand in hand, Jan Burns creates a fine backdrop of tension that blends history with family and friends relationships and alterations to captivate readers on different levels. 

Kids who choose Ghost Boy for its paranormal promises won't be disappointed, but they will also find so much more operating behind the scenes. 

It's a moving tale of change, from friendships and family relationships to the history which has left this town damaged. 

The combination of thought-provoking encounters and action-packed moments of insight will satisfy middle graders who like ghosts and will receive so much more, making Ghost Boy a top recommendation for libraries looking for high-value, multifaceted fiction. 

Ghost Boy

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Happenstance Farms: Catch That Pony
S. McMichael
EK-9 Solutions & Services
979-8-9850328-3-3 
$18.99 HB, $11.99 PB, $4.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Happenstance-Farms-Catch-That-Pony/dp/B0B2TTJP4T 

S. McMichael's Happenstance Farms: Catch That Pony receives large-size, colorful illustrations by Justo Borrero as it follows determined young horse-crazy girls and a new pony, Piper, who doesn't have a lot of experience with riders and is afraid of new things. 

As picture book readers absorb this story of girl/horse relationships and overcoming fears, they receive side lessons about horse management and about "working smarter, not harder." 

Catch That Pony is action-packed and takes the time to paint the back-and-forth of success and failure, offering no pat answers or easy solutions as the girls attempt to tame a nervous, frightened horse. 

Issues of trust between rider and horse are explored, along with good intentions and the power of perseverance. 

With these lessons serving as the background for an intriguing story about a horse that refuses to be tamed, read-aloud parents will welcome the opportunity to not only follows the uncertain relationship that grows between girls and horse, but the discussion that can come from opening the door to a variety of subjects about handling life challenges. 

Happenstance Farms: Catch That Pony is ultimately much more than a story about catching or training a horse. Adults will find it a visually attractive and psychologically astute examination that draws on a child's attraction to horses to teach further lessons about success. 

Happenstance Farms: Catch That Pony

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The Haunting Of Bridge Manor: The Trilogy
Marc Layton
Blank Publishing
ASIN: B09NTQKT7T      $3.99 Kindle/$12.95 Paperback
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09NTQKT7T 

The Haunting Of Bridge Manor: The Trilogy is a young adult ghost story that will reach into adult circles with its compelling portrait of a teen who is just returning to life after being in an induced coma for over two years. She's an accident survivor charged with new beginnings, but is not sure that her parents' choice of buying an old manor in Virginia should be part of this new life. 

She treasures her time alone and finds it challenging to face re-entry into a world vastly changed during the two years she was away from it. Even her five-year-old brother, now seven, seems like a stranger to her. 

The spooky, dilapidated Bridge Manor gives Rachel chills from the start, but as ghostly encounters begin to shade her experiences and impact her recovery, Rachel becomes part of not just a strange new world, but events from the past that reach out to shake her revised life. 

It should be noted that graphic descriptions of violence, although appropriate for the story's evolutionary process, make The Haunting Of Bridge Manor recommended for mature teens. 

The murder and violence that rock Rachel's world only serve to cement the fact that Bridge Manor harbors more than ghosts, serving up a legacy of violence that requires flight in order to survive: "Bridge Manor had stood alone, holding darkness within, for two hundred years. Within its walls, dirty secrets were buried, bricks carried unspeakable horrors, and doors shut on the tragedy of the past. Whatever spirits had been roaming there could walk there no more. But, Rachel could see now, there was no remedy, just pain, and havoc." 

As Rachel and her younger brother Ben return to Chicago under a pall of pain and murder, their lives change once again. The difference, this time, is that Rachel will have to solve the mystery of Bridge Manor if she's to ever be free of its legacy. 

Marc Layton crafts an involving story of recovery, discovery, and a teen's connections to evil spirits of the past that affect the progression of her future. 

It's a story marked not just by violent encounters, but by the mental leaps Rachel is forced to take to come to terms with her turbulent life's extraordinary changes. 

Mature teens into adult audiences who look for ghost stories of transformation, danger, and the search for truth and redemption will find this story a powerful account of love and challenge that tugs at the heartstrings from different angles. 

Layton's attention to building suspense, unexpected twists and turns, and strong characters charged with surviving their decisions and legacy produces a story that's hard to put down and thought-provoking to the end. 

Libraries seeking books for mature teens and audiences that look for supernatural stories will find The Haunting Of Bridge Manor: The Trilogy a fine selection. 

The Haunting Of Bridge Manor: The Trilogy

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KyRose Takes A Leap
Cicek Bricault
KyRose Press LLC
978-0-578-38232-6         Paperback/ebook prices TBA
cicekbricault.com 

Readers in grades 5-8 who look for STEAM novels encouraging literacy and presenting problem-solving viewpoints will welcome the blend of magical realism and struggles with acceptance and unusual talents explored by KyRose, whose special ability to talk to animals alienates her from her peers. 

KyRose's life in 2030 is filled with high-tech wonders and accompanying challenges that spice the typical dilemma of a different child who just wants to fit in. 

Her special knowledge allows her to communicate with all creatures, from insects to mammals, but also charges her with helping them survive the human world: A tickle runs over my ankle. Time slows. I bend down, staring into the grasshopper’s eyes. “What are you doing on this field? There’s no food.” I brush my hand over the prickly blades of plastic grass.
“Huh? I must have taken a wrong turn,” the grasshopper says. She lifts her wings. That’s how grasshoppers hear—through a tiny organ near the base of their hind legs.
Coach Hartley shouts orders for us, seventh-grade girls, to line up for jumping jacks.
I lean against the goal post. “You can’t stay here. We’re in the middle of P.E. You’ll get crushed!” I look over, past the school building, onto the street where self-driving cars swerve around each other like synchronized swimmers. My eyes keep combing. “There!” I point to the cluster of oak trees opposite the bleachers. “Come on.” I cup the grasshopper. She darts back and forth against my palms. “Don’t worry,” I whisper, “I’ll keep you safe.”
 

As she tackles friendships, social events, and the task of inventing new devices, KyRose finds that her drive to be a champion earns her recognition, but comes with newfound responsibilities and revelations that change her life perspective. 

Cicek Bricault's engaging blend of magical realism and a girl's realistic, technology-influenced life will engage those who enjoy stories that operate on the edgy boundary of fantasy and fiction. 

KyRose's new discoveries lead her to grow in unexpected ways that both embrace her talents and revise her relationships. 

With its intrigue, discovery, problem-solving, and extraordinary encounters, Cicek Bricault has created an engaging story to attract STEAM learners. 

KyRose Takes A Leap is highly recommended for advanced elementary to middle school readers. They will relish this captivating story of a girl who decides when to take risks and how to accept more responsibility as a leader. 

KyRose Takes A Leap

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Misfit's Magic: The Last Halloween
Fred Gracely
Bisket Press, LLC
979-8-9861364-0-0         $1.99 Kindle
www.FredGracely.com 

Misfit's Magic: The Last Halloween is a whimsical young adult horror fantasy that tells of 13-year-old loner Goff, who has endured a series of failed foster homes. His latest placement, in the town of Spraksville (which holds a history of witchcraft), seems like just another way station of bullying and isolation—until a gargoyle begins to speak to him. 

A series of revelations evolves about his unexpected family history, his hidden abilities, and his possible future.  With knowledge comes power. Responsibility also comes with his newfound connections, because Goff may be the only one able to calm the storm of supernatural adversity which is coming. 

Being a pragmatic teen, Goff may have been overly concerned with facts and not concerned enough about threatening signs: "Goff shook it off, not the type to believe in whispering trees or any other sort of hocus pocus. He was here to do research, and that was just a statue, and the trees were just plants, big plants, very big plants, but nothing more." 

From his identity to his abilities and his logical view of his world and place in it, Goff finds all his foundations shaken—including his status as a loner, which requires him to work with some odd fellows indeed to stave off disaster. 

Misfit's Magic: The Last Halloween is a tense supernatural thriller that teens will find compelling and hard to put down. 

Fred Gracely builds a story based as much on the nature of personal transformation as it does on the possibilities of forces that lock down the adults in his town and place Goff in the role of being Spraksville and humanity's only salvation. 

"Something was wrong about this place...very wrong." 

Goff's ability to "feel like a warrior for the first time in his life" will resonate with those who have played victim to bullying and have yet to come into their strengths. 

Young adults will find much to like in Goff's character: like Harry Potter, he moves from being an underdog and victim to a role in which he identifies and makes the most of his strengths, developing new friends (and enemies) in the process. 

Young adults who choose Misfit's Magic: The Last Halloween for its excellent magical intrigue will find more simmering in its cauldron of possibilities, and will enjoy reading about a character who rises above his teachings and circumstances to not just accept new possibilities, but step into new abilities. 

Libraries looking for magic-based horror and fantasy stories that hold underlying lessons for teens will find Misfit's Magic: The Last Halloween an excellent acquisition. 

Misfit's Magic: The Last Halloween

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Nothing You Can't Do
Lindsay J.L. Angus
The Angus Library Publishing House
978-0-9958608-1-0               
Soft Cover $12.95 CAD, Hard Cover $16.95 CAD
Website: http://www.lindsayjlangus.com/
Ordering Link: http://www.lindsayjlangus.com/nothing-you-cant-do 

Nothing You Can't Do is written by the mother of a toddler who was injured and scarred for life, and crafts a story of empowerment that admonishes kids that they can do anything. 

A rollicking rhyme accompanies this picture book's representations of kids achieving goals and doing extraordinary things: "There’s nothing you can’t do,/no dream that’s too far./You can travel the world,/swing on the highest star." 

From playing hockey or guitar to becoming a musical superstar or "just being you," a mother's appreciation for her child provides an encouraging story that lends to read-aloud and parental discussions with the very young. 

The simple yet important message reinforces all kinds of possibilities with a survey that reflects a mother's pride and perception of her child's possible futures. 

The colorful illustrations created by Lindsay J.L. Angus are powerful accompaniments to the potent message. 

Kids are encouraged to dream big and not let anything get in their way in this early, powerful message that ideally will be reinforced by read-aloud parents looking for books about empowerment and positive goals. 

Nothing You Can't Do

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Osprey Man
Christopher Tuthill
DX Varos Publishing
978-1-955065-52-8         $18.95 Paper/$4.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Osprey-Man-Christopher-Tuthill-ebook/dp/B09Z9YFR6B 

Young adults who choose Osprey Man for its coming-of-age story about growth and grief will find much to relish in Jacob's story. 

Jacob is on his way to becoming an adult, but is not yet fully operating in the world of adults when tragedy strikes (his best friend Jon's death) to challenge his perceptions of self and the world. 

His excitement about the last day of school before summer disappears in a flash with this news, forcing Jacob to come to terms with the unimaginable loss of his friend from an accident. 

There's more to the story than a test of friendship's end, however, which is evident from the start as Osprey Man reveals its surprises, unwrapping them through the course of the story like birthday gifts. 

As Jacob's world changes daily from that point onward, middle grade readers receive a powerful story of a boy struggling to come to terms with life, death, friendships, and his role in all of them. 

Christopher Tuthill takes the time necessary to bring every facet of Jacob's experience to life, from the delivery of the initial news to the ceremonies surrounding letting go: "Jacob wondered why, if everything Catholics said about heaven were true, and if they truly believed they would be reconciled—why did everyone cry at funerals? He had a feeling he knew the answer to that, and he didn’t like it much." 

Tuthill also injects the story with evocative images which give pause for thought, adding strength to the overall progression of the tale: "As Jacob was watching people crowd around Nick Mancuso as if he were dividing up the loaves and fishes like Jesus, Chaz came out with a white apron around his waist." 

His attention to building a strong, believable character whose life goes on after loss despite it all makes for a revealing account of grief and living which carries pre-teens into an examination of the ongoing power of loss: "Jacob had expected to feel happy. Like he had completed something wonderful. He thought maybe it would help him come to terms with losing Jonathan. Instead, he missed his friend more than ever." 

The result is a story replete in growth which carries Jacob and his audience into realms of recovery and contemplation that embrace new possibilities without setting aside old connections. 

Libraries looking for strong stories of death and life beyond loss will find Osprey Man an especially poignant, thought-provoking read. It is highly recommended for its in-depth revelations of the emotional twists and turns experienced during the passage of time after a loss. 

Osprey Man

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Pull
Jaime Winn
Bleau Press
978-1-951796-11-2       $15.08 Paper/$2.99 Kindle 
https://www.amazon.com/Pull-Jaime-Winn-ebook/dp/B09TFMX15R

 Pull is a young adult novel about lupus and growth and tells of seventeen-year-old Mischa Kenning-Elliott, who is college-bound and on track for success until a plot envelopes and changes her world. 

Classmate Casey Everfled is also on the road to success, but in a different way. Asking Mischa to the prom seems perfectly appropriate until a shared experience places them both in the crosshairs of a killer's attention. 

The story opens from Mischa's perspective and tells of an escape that threatens both of their worlds. It's narrated in a manner that invites young adults with mystery and descriptions that create a "you are there" feel from the start: "I can hear the buzzing of the cicadas, can feel the moisture in the air squeezing my lungs and sticking my dress to me. 'The woods,' I tell him, and this is when it hits me that I won’t be able to come back to these woods again, to the downed tree where I used to sit on warm afternoons to study with the sun shaking down through the leaves. That’s gone for me now. Everything I know will be gone soon." 

As Pull contrasts Mischa's dreams and realities and Casey's evolving, revised vision of their connection to each other and the threats suddenly facing their different trajectories, it also develops a powerful pull on reader attention. This highlights the engagement between the characters through contrasting first-person perspectives clearly identified by chapter headings. 

As surprises emerge about love, death, and stranger things in between, Pull crafts an evocative tale that contains many revelations and thought-provoking moments apart from the tension and discoveries it builds: "...they look like they’re going to kiss. But there’s something wrong with this thought, I tell myself right away. It’s from too many vampire books in our school library or something, the kind that can make you think violence and possession look like love. This is seriously toxic, I want to scream, because of course I want to think about shitty depictions of romance or anything, really..." 

As the truth comes out, readers receive an engrossing story that is hard to put down and difficult to predict, filled with two strong characters and satisfying tension surrounding the odd course their lives take. 

From the pull of numbers and strange visions to their choices in creating the kind of future they want, Pull exerts a draw that young adults will find compelling. 

At once a suspense tale and a story of love, it's an evolution of and contrast in experiences and reactions that gives readers a ride for their money through opportunities, choices, and understanding what is really important in life. 

Young adult library collections strong in multifaceted reads about control and love will find Pull a powerful addition. 

Pull

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The Rise of Runes and Shields
J.M. Stephen
DX Varos Publishing
978-1-955065-50-4         $19.95 Paper/$4.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Runes-Shields-Seidr-Sagas-ebook/dp/B09Y3RJTF8 

The Rise of Runes and Shields presents young adult fantasy readers with the first book in the Seidr Sagas series and follows twins Freyja and Bjorn, who live in a world that eschews the forbidden Viking magic Seidr. 

Drawn into circumstances beyond their control by a murder and by an ongoing battle between the Fire and Frost Giants, each must learn a skill that introduces its own problems and possibilities, in order to survive and protect their family. 

Freyja's sword and shield are gifts from an aunt who bequeathed her an unusual legacy along with the physical tools of strength: "I can see it in you, even if the law does not allow it, you will be a great shield maiden." Her mother allows it even as she cautions, “You’re going to give her big ideas the world can’t possibly deliver on." 

The inherited attitudes and mission that each twin receives ultimately directs them to new forms of response and action in their lives as J.M. Stephen depicts a rising struggle that immerses them in a changing world. 

As their father faces grave dangers from many sides, the twins find that physical and psychic confrontations rely not just on the lessons they've been taught, but how they employ them in the world, forming decisions which hold wide-ranging consequences for their future. 

Stephen creates a story propelled by battles and political and social savvy alike as each twin comes into his and her own powers, yet remains firmly connected to family. 

From those in minor positions of power who demonstrate more leadership than the actual leaders, to power plays that involve shape shifters and heroes in challenges heightened by the twins' presence and absence, Stephen captures the rise of powers and magic in this world. 

The result is a story fueled by passion and energy that will attract and delight young adult fantasy readers with its special brand of coming-of-age and magical transformations. 

Libraries looking for strong beginnings to series presentations will find The Rise of Runes and Shields a powerful introduction to a broken world that requires fixing on many new levels. 

The Rise of Runes and Shields

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Rune and Flash
Joe Canzano

Happy Joe Control
979-8985913200            $9.99 Paper/$2.99 Kindle

https://www.amazon.com/Rune-Flash-Inside-Dream-Prison-ebook/dp/B0B1CGJ9S6 

Nobody cares what sixteen-year-olds think. But they do care what they do. 

Young adult sci-fi readers who choose Rune and Flash: Inside the Dream Prison will find the futuristic scenario and dilemma of sixteen-year-old Markla Flash, who has been convicted of murder and sentenced to 1,000 nightmares inside the Dream Prison, a refreshingly original environment and concept. 

Her friend Rune is determined to help Markla, but giving her assistance places him at odds with not only his family but society itself, which has promoted the punishment of nightmares as the best solution to criminal behavior. 

As he faces the consequences of Markla's actions and his own decisions, bigger pictures come into play as the two find themselves not only defending their actions, but defying the very tenants their society has been built on, and the artificial dreams used to oversee and control it. 

Joe Canzano creates an avid fantasy centered on evolving truths about groups, individuals, and this future society. As Markla, Dru, Rune, and others find their lives not only entwined but embracing truths they'd never quite acknowledged about their world and their roles in it, they come to feel that things should change. 

Any young adult who has harbored the notion of feeling alien in the world will readily relate to Markla and Rune's discoveries and struggles. 

The sci-fi setting is well detailed, the characters compel reader attention through their multifaceted interests and experiences, and the bigger picture evolves with some surprising twists to maintain young adult attention throughout. The themes of control, powerlessness, and taking charge of personal destiny become a study in relationships and choice that offer many intriguing inspections. 

While Rune and Flash is a satisfying leisure sci-fi read, ideally it will be profiled in discussion groups and book clubs for its thought-provoking inspections of social norms and what happens to two young adults who move outside the accepted rules of behavior to challenge the system. 

Rune and Flash

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Sockboy in Space
Karl Cottle

Precocity Press
979-8985149432
$29.95 Hardcover/$14.95 Paper/$9.99 Kindle

https://www.amazon.com/Sockboy-Space-Karl-Cottle/dp/B09WCQFHD1 

Readers might expect that the third book in the children's series about Sockboy would require familiarity with its predecessors; but the powerful message imparted here needs no special introduction in order to reach newcomers and prior Karl Cottle (a.k.a. artist "Ultrakarl") fans alike. 

Sockboy is tired of grappling with worries and insecurities in his life on Earth, so he designs a spacesuit and sets out to escape them by exploring outer space. There are simply too many rules and worries, on Earth. 

Ultrakarl's rollicking rhyme embraces insights that teach picture book readers about taking risks and feeling connected to their worlds as Sockboy forms a plan to foster his self-discovery: "I'll run away beyond the sky,/What I'll find I do not know./I must leave my comfort zone/If I really want to grow." 

Space science is also embedded in this story as Sockboy reviews the nature of each planet in the solar system and how they attract humanity for different reasons. 

As Sockboy builds a sense of his place in this wider universe, read-aloud parents receive the rare opportunity to introduce subjects ranging from identity and perseverance to new discoveries, taking risks, and building connections with the universe. 

It's rare to find a picture book that connects the hard science of astronomy with the personal perspective of a child who is navigating his own new territories and challenges. 

Sockboy in Space represents the perfect intersection of space science and analysis of life that places personal problems in a larger perspective. Ultrakarl's engaging paintings add another dimension of attraction to this story, which will best be used by adults who want to introduce discussions to the very young about their relationships and connections to life. 

Picture book readers interested in a story that moves full circle to bring with it a renewed appreciation for home and its connections will welcome Sockboy's latest explorations of the inner and outer universe.  

Sockboy in Space

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Spindrift Love
Jocelyn Holst Bolster
Atmosphere Press
978-1-63988-384-4         $15.99
www.atmospherepress.com 

Spindrift Love is a young adult novel that centers on fifteen-year-old Jesse, whose first-person story captures the feel of being trapped in the restrictive world of Bourbon County, Kansas. 

Jesse longs for adventure, new experiences, and a different environment, but when a vagabond enters her life to offer her an escape into the outside world she covets and dreams of, Jesse discovers that sometimes dreams are illusions and invitations are better left unaccepted. 

Her upbringing in a "house filled with love" has failed to prepare her for a world that doesn't operate in the same way. 

Evocative moments are captured in a moving manner that brings Jesse's conundrums to life: "To someone from a city I guess it would have been easy to feel lonely out there, but it never occurred to me. Sometimes I felt sad and I didn’t know for what. Maybe the empty space around me crept in a bit too close. Maybe I wasn’t paying close enough attention to notice that it wasn’t really empty." 

Jocelyn Holst Bolster takes the time to capture the nature of Jesse's life experiences: "Now, I’m not trying to say that we lived so far out in the country that we didn’t even have a CD player. My uncle gave my parents one for Christmas before I was even born. But we only listened to music that was written to praise God or glorify His love. There’s some real good stuff that was written for the glory of God, but I just knew Sandy wasn’t talking about listening to that kind of music when she whispered that to me; I just knew Sandy was talking about the kind of music I was not supposed to listen to, the kind that, in my parent’s opinion, nobody was supposed to listen to, especially not good people like Sandy. The kind of music that may or may not have been written by the Devil himself. The kind of music I’d been straining to overhear since I found out it existed." 

As she encounters other family relationships and begins to more deeply inspect her own life, Jesse's assessment of love and her place in the world changes. This doesn't differ from the typical coming-of-age story; but what does give added flavor is Bolster's capture of adult dilemmas that force Jesse to change not only herself, but the nature of her communications with her elders. 

From circumstances of luck to choices that challenge her life, Jesse receives the support and backdrop of a family she also struggles to find a place in. The religious and psychological mixes are especially satisfyingly depicted: “Therefore consider whether the light in you is not darkness,” I quoted. “What about the evil in me? How does God decide who suffers and who doesn’t? Why was that poor lady made to be beaten by that horrible man? How could that happen ten miles away while I’m here eating pie?” 

Young adults seeking coming-of-age stories centered on changing family relationships and the intersection of real-world issues with intergenerational struggles will find Spindrift Love a compelling, attractive choice. 

Bolster's creation of a young protagonist on the cusp of abandoning some (but not all) of her teachings shows how Jesse bridges past precedent with present-day evolution to not only forge ahead, but maintain the close connections that helped sculpt her psyche. 

Libraries looking for coming-of-age sagas rooted in changing family relationships and life experiences will find Spindrift Love is suitable not just for leisure reading, but young adult book discussion groups interested in transformative and inclusive experiences that ultimately embrace love and connection. 

Spindrift Love

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Spoiler
Michael J. Bowler
Independently Published
979-8-9862241-0-7        
$18.99 Hardcover/$12.99 Paperback/$2.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Spoiler-Healer-Chronicles-Book-3-ebook/dp/B0B2V5J6C4
Books2Read link: https://books2read.com/Spoiler-Bowler 

Book 3 of the Healers Chronicle continues the journey of Alex, set adrift after facing his twin Andy, who tried to kill him. Spoiler continues his foray into danger as Alex faces the fallout from his brother's involvement with a cult and tries to navigate a much-changed world because of it. 

Only two weeks have passed since he was reunited with his missing twin, only to face the fallout from Andy's stealing his healing power. 

As if this wasn't enough, he faces imprisonment, an assault on humanity that only he can thwart, and the rise of dangerous forces that shake his depression and challenges the emptiness he feels in his soul. 

Can a young man who faces betrayal, imprisonment, and the loss of his own abilities and direction become the saving force for the world? 

Because Michael J. Bowler's story rests so heavily on past events, it's recommended that those who choose Spoiler be prior fans of the series. This audience will harbor the background suitable for easily following Alex's conundrums and special challenges in this latest saga. 

Charged with helping his brother "shift the good" out of humanity, Alex faces his own moral and ethical conundrums as he faces the treacherous Mrs. G. and a standoff that threatens his friends, as well. 

Bowler crafts a fast pace and strong characterization that builds on the prior books, expanding the story's moral and ethical dilemmas. 

Young adults who enjoyed Alex and Andy's previous struggles will find the fast pace, the presence of a mysterious gate to another dimension, and the choices Alex faces not only in himself but in his relationship with his twin and the world to be thoroughly engrossing. 

Alex and Andy's special ability to 'shift' forces between friends and enemies alike creates an especially intriguing series of situations in which their choices and consequences intersect in unexpected ways. 

The result is a coming of age fantasy that closely examines the evolution of sibling relationships as well as their connection to the greater world at large. 

It's a vivid story highly recommended for YA fantasy collections seeing interest in the prior two books in a mesmerizing series. 

Spoiler

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Sweet Little You
Joni
Halabi
Independently Published
978-0-578-39216-5         $16.99
http://jhalabi.com  

Sweet Little You is a lovely picture book story narrated by a mother who tells her baby about how she was wanted and conceived by a single mother. It is a simple, engaging story that synthesizes the process into a story of love. 

Creating a story about a child's origins for a very young picture book audience may feel like a stretch, but Joni Halabi's focus on a loving mother's enthusiasm about her child's potential and growth drives the information, which is provided in a gentle way that emphasizes this acceptance and love over the circumstances of the child's conception. 

Engaging illustrations by Lisa Wee capture a toddler's world and a mother's promise to her child to make that world as rich as possible. 

The result is especially recommended for single parents who would approach the subject of the purposeful conception of a child with the love and simple explanation suitable for this age range. 

The book's lovely blend of colorful illustrations and simple love-centric story make for a winningly inviting production. 

Sweet Little You

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True North
Jennifer G. Edelson
Bad Apple Books
978-1-7335140-2-6         $18.99
www.jennifergedelsonauthor.com 

Young adults who choose True North for either its sci-fi or romance elements will find each in abundance, but what really powers the story is seventeen-year-old Indy's personality and drive. These are shaped by a drowning incident in her childhood, in which she had a vision of a UFO before she was saved. 

That vision, too, has come back to life as she stands on the cusp of adulthood, experiencing keys to locating UFOs that virtually guarantee their sighting. 

Tired of adults dismissing her visions as the results of drowning, Indy establishes a late-night internet radio show presence and begins to connect with listeners who not only believe and support her, but offer their own insights into what is going on. 

One of these, Henry, is of special interest as he begs her to help him find 'his people' using her special UFO-sighting powers. 

Her radio show True North rapidly evolves to become a viral internet phenomenon sparking rebellion and revolution in listeners committed to unraveling the mystery of Indy's experiences, drawing Indy ever deeper into a world in which the mystery grows. It comes to threaten her budding relationship with Sawyer and even her life. 

Jennifer G. Edelson creates a compelling story of possibilities, growth, and impossibilities in True North. Her attention to describing psychological insights that come with these sightings lends special drama to the story that brings it to life in unexpected ways: "The new coordinates provoked a mix of horror and excitement. She didn’t doubt that the numbers themselves were legit, but she sometimes wondered if the way she interpreted them might be more psyche-driven than celestial, like a fucked-up Rorschach test. Maybe the part where True North’s listeners claimed to see disturbances in the sky was an elaborate hoax, or her listeners made the sightings up because they wanted to believe—because sometimes, fantasy was easier to get behind than real life." 

The romance element, too, is subject to change as Indy makes discoveries about Sawyer that lead her to question his role and purpose in influencing her life. 

Young adults who choose True North for its sci-fi or romance elements won't be disappointed, but they receive so much more. The intrigue, action, characterization, and various interpersonal and bigger picture dilemmas make for a thoroughly engrossing story that takes many unexpected twists and turns. 

Libraries who include it in YA sections should find it a popular choice, especially recommended for teens that look for unique representations of love and aliens.

True North

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