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Donovan's Bookshelf

December 2021 Review Issue


Table Of Contents

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


Fantasy & Sci Fi

Compass to Vinland
Dani Resh
Warren Publishing
978-1-954614-51-2         $32.95 Hardcover/$16.95 Paper
www.warrenpublishing.net 

Compass to Vinland will appeal to urban fantasy readers from young adult into adult audiences. It follows the adventures of loner Wren Larkin, who finds his life changed when Maria moves to town and befriends him. 

Used to being ignored by his father and bullied by his peers, Wren finds her support unusual and welcome—even if it does lead to his involvement in a magical threat. 

It's not chance that leads Wren to live in a strange house that looks like a shoe. There's a magical shoe-making workshop underneath it. His discovery of this leads to a brush with danger as he and his companions flee strange visitors to enter the world of Underfoot and its many strange inhabitants. 

Dani Resh does an excellent job of exploring magic in an unlikely setting. References to shoes, feet, and a mission leads the characters to find hope in the Eradicator, who might be able to wake up Maria's abuela...for a price. 

As Tristen, Rusty, Maria, and Wren uncover many new truths about the nature of their world, reality, and the Undershoe residents, their journey embraces revised perceptions of their lives: "People didn’t appear and disappear because they were ghosts, they were simply Vins traveling from one port to another." 

All ages will appreciate the blend of paranormal and fantasy inspection in an epic adventure that melds the individual desires and perceptions of four disparate teens. 

Resh's ability to show each of these young people try to make sense of an alien world and their place in it (and at home) makes for satisfying contrasts and plenty of action. 

The tension is nicely developed, the magical components are intriguing, and the adventure spirit never lets up. 

The result is an enticing story of the absurd and the impossible. Compass to Vinland will delight readers looking for an urban fantasy/paranormal magic experience that builds on the evolution of teen relationships and changing senses of place and purpose. 

Compass to Vinland

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The Final Decree
Shami Stovall
Capital Station Books
ASIN: B099QV8TL6              $5.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Final-Decree-Shami-Stovall-ebook/dp/B099QV8TL6 

The Final Decree blends fantasy and horror genres with a vivid inspection of powerful God-King Eliezer, who uses the power of a curse to rule his subjects. His decrees are written in stone and his magic allows him to instantly know when they've been broken. 

What hope does the land have under such an all-powerful ruler? They have Artemisia, a girl who has been cursed by the king, but who is on the run, somehow having escaped being turned into a monster for her transgression. 

If she transforms (which is still a real possibility), she will join the ranks of beasts that destroy everything they love. If she doesn't, she may be the only hope the kingdom has of defying the powerful rule of Eliezer. 

Enter Rylion Nasos, a monster hunter who captures her. Rylion well knows Artemisia's danger, but he also comes to realize her potential. Together, they pool resources and strengths to organize an overthrow attempt. 

One fine attribute of Shami Stovall's story is that it adopts a progression of events that are not entirely linear. Other voices add information and interludes that expand the perceptions and events, as in the section "Interlude-Steen Callows," which provides the perspective of a follower whose wife has been injured in one of the battles led by Rylion and Artemisia: "It was only a matter of time before we met with a casualty. Rylion and Wulf relied on Artemis to act as their sword, but I still didn’t trust the woman. Sure, she wielded fire. Yet when they had faced two monsters, Lydia had been injured." 

Dovetailing different perspectives affects perceptions of outcomes and possibilities as the story moves through action-packed scenes and new revelations. It also provides a fine series of supporting reflections by Steen, Lydia, Thea Yellahjar, and others, which enhance the growing romance and confrontations between the main characters and their world. 

Stovall crafts a fast pace that is richly accented by matters of the heart as Artemis and Rylion join forces and the Forsaken and the King Killer clash. 

Readers seeking an epic fantasy that adeptly weaves psychology with social inspection and occult horror will welcome The Final Decree's ability to create a fantasy that rests on an evolving mission and changing perceptions about freedom, rulers, and decrees worth fighting for. 

While the story provides a satisfying conclusion that makes it a stand-alone read, it also paves the way for more books in the series. Yes, please! 

Fantasy and occult horror collections alike will find that The Final Decree draws different readers with its unique, compellingly original voice. 

The Final Decree

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Hælend's Ballad
Ian V. Conrey
Independently Published
Ebook: 978-1-7368806-2-3           $4.99
Website: www.haelendsballad.com
Ordering link: https://www.amazon.com/Haelends-Ballad-Ian-V-Conrey-ebook/dp/B091BSWD8D 

Hælend's Ballad is an epic fantasy that will delight fans of Lord of the Rings and other works more than lightly steeped in a sense of place and purpose. 

No light read, it's a tale of dark places, dark hearts, and a quest that joins three unlikely comrades in a world-confronting journey where their choices and impact do not always make them the good guys. 

The first feature to note is the exquisite sense of place that opens the story with powerful atmosphere: "Stepping through the open entryway, the smell of sour milk and lantern oil filled Eilívur’s nose. Several Sunderian men, clothed in brown leather tunics and jerkins, sat at the bar. As with just about everyone else in Sunder, they looked like poor farmers. One man, with a leathery face, smiled, revealing his toothless gums. Another man chewed on something, probably tobacco." 

Ian Conrey's ability to bring alive this backdrop, injecting three very different characters whose perspectives of the world work at cross purposes to not only each other, but their own best interests, is part of what makes Hælend's Ballad a compelling force to contend with. 

Fantasy readers who look for satisfyingly complex reads cemented by history, cultural, and psychological examination will find each flawed character equally compelling. This succeeds in creating subplots that hold the ability to stand powerfully on their own, yet interact in unexpected ways as a militia man, an abused teen, and a mother accused of murder each find themselves in an unexpected dance with fate and each other. 

One defining moment describes appearances, but also equally applies to matters of changing hearts as experience and new revelations change these characters: “They must feel like true Daecish lords now,” said a young soldier standing next to Eilívur. “I’m sure they do,” he said. “But what you wear does not define who you are.” 

The shadow which enters these people changes their perceptions, intentions, and interactions: "He was different now. Ever since the shadow entered him, he had a new strength and saw things from a different perspective." As each struggles with their choice to accept forces beyond their ability to properly assess, readers are treated to a compelling saga that closely examines the results of good intentions gone awry. 

The spiritual reflections that affect these choices are also very nicely done: “Don’t you ever get frustrated at your god for making you go through all of this? I mean, wouldn’t he want to stop it if he loved you?” 

As these multifaceted stories coalesce to become a powerful inspection of moral, ethical, and spiritual paths, readers receive a fine story that embraces and contrasts dark appetites, terrible memories, and beauty alike. 

Hælend's Ballad lingers in the mind as it explores the end of one life and the beginning of another. Its complex saga of adversity, forgiveness and new possibilities will delight readers looking for more than a light fantasy. 

Hælend's Ballad

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Love in the Time of Wormholes
Jess K. Hardy
Mystic Owl/Owl City Press
978-1648981173            $12.99
www.cityowlpress.com 

Love in the Time of Wormholes operates on the edge of sci-fi and romance, as demonstrated by a steamy cover that's more often associated with romance novels than fantasy. 

Sunastara Jeka ("Sunny") is an interstellar businesswoman whose pleasure cruise among the stars attracts a diverse clientele of aliens. Her main charge is keeping them happy. Her secondary concern is not becoming romantically involved with any of them. 

Both objectives are thwarted when a former one-night stand joins her crew with romance in mind, wooing her when he's not on duty in a manner that challenges her self-imposed rules and the ship's decorum. 

Her life is further complicated when a hostile species chooses her vessel for their holiday, endangering not just everyone on board, but the universe. 

As many romances do, Love in the Time of Wormholes opens with the sordid aftermath of a night with an alien that Sunny doesn't actually remember: "Scratching his chest between his stunning pectorals, he said, “Argos makes a strong drink. Do not feel ashamed.” “Did we…? Did I…?” Sunny gulped. He shook his head, rueful. “We did not join. We were not worthy of each other.” A profound relief buckled her knees. Worthy, on Argos—where males tended to outweigh females by one hundred kilos or more—referred to the way body parts might or might not fit together between two partners. Sunny offered a silent prayer of thanks to the sweet gods of fermentation who had blessed her with complete amnesia of the evaluation of said worth. “Apologies, dear man.” She clicked her tongue. “Anatomy strikes again, eh?” 

At this point, it should be evident that one of the delights of Love in the Time of Wormholes is its wry sense of humor, which observes Sunny's life and evolving challenges with an attention to whimsical reflection. 

As drinking, sex, and the perils of various associations intersect, sci-fi readers who also like romances will find the story sports the exceptional ability to weave between relationships and broader conundrums. 

Perhaps this is because Jess K. Hardy employs a lyrical touch to her descriptions to bring her characters and their emotional dilemmas to life: "The way Sunny felt, wrapped inside the senator’s embrace, sharing tears with another mother, it wasn’t fear or pity or despair. It was love, just love. It made her wonder why she’d been keeping this pain to herself for so long. And then, like the anchor that had been weighing down her heart gave the rope one final tug before it snapped free..." 

Readers will enjoy the capable yet bawdy Sunny and her milieu, the unusual specter of a pleasure trip amongst the stars gone awry, and the social, sexual, and political challenges that threaten more than individual objectives. 

Sunny and Freddie find their worlds turned upside down and their assumptions and expectations tested. Usually, romantic choices affect individuals alone. This time, they could change the balance of power in the universe. 

It's rare to see a steamy romance folded into a serious sci-fi adventure, tempered by an escapade that draws all the characters into world-challenging and changing scenarios. The dance between genres is finely done. Akin to a ballet that dances between subjects and emotions, it opens with the unexpected and draws readers with a sassy, zany, often thought-provoking story that excels in mercurial changes and unexpected developments both emotional and political. 

Readers looking for something different in either romance or sci-fi will find Love in the Time of Wormholes more than fits the bill for a romp through space and desire. 

Love in the Time of Wormholes

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OldEarth ARAM Encounter
A.K. Frailey
A.K. Frailey Books
978-1732395206            $14.95 Paper/$2.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/OldEarth-ARAM-Encounter/dp/1732395209 

OldEarth ARAM Encounter will delight readers of alien invasion sci-fi works with its story of space visitors to OldEarth; and Aram, Ishtar, and others who lead primitive lives on the young planet. 

Think Clan of the Cave Bear mixed with extraterrestrial perspectives and influences for a sense of the unique approach A.K. Frailey cultivates as the story unfolds to juxtapose old worlds with futuristic alien overseers. 

When an Ingoti trading vessel on an intercept course with Earth changes perspectives about the planet's future, readers receive a introductory insight into the events destined to connect the very different races sooner than later. 

Information always pays. But, does it? As magical abilities, powerful desires, and portents of the future change OldEarth, humans and aliens alike adopt new responsibilities as their lives intersect. 

From the rigors of the guardianship role to confronting evil in its different incarnations, OldEarth ARAM Encounter romps through warriors' lives, good fights, and clans that take risks to fulfill destinies. 

As Frailey moves through these various clans and their changing worlds, quests, confrontations, and questions keep their stories and encounters fast-paced. 

There are a host of earthly and alien characters and special interests at play in OldEarth ARAM Encounter, which make it more complex and thought-provoking than your usual alien/human encounter. These juxtapositions of purpose and place may stymie those who anticipated a linear, predictable production, but will delight readers who look for originality and plots that are anything but staid. 

From obsessions with gods to visions of a different future, Frailey provides a story that considers the sources of evil, good, and evolving moral senses. 

OldEarth ARAM Encounter is more than another alien invasion story. It's an inspection of budding ideals and values that charts a course through turmoil to find the path that brings peace and resolution to a world, and will prove a satisfying read for sci-fi fans looking for more than a series of confrontations from their alien scenarios. 

OldEarth ARAM Encounter

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Rewired
Kfir Luzzatto
Pine Ten
ASIN: ‎B09H4QWC91            $5.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/REWIRED-sequel-CHIPLESS-City-Book-ebook/dp/B09H4QWC91 

Dystopian sci-fi readers will find Rewired a satisfying sequel to Chipless. It continues the story of Kal, who is now chipless and determined to expose the forces that hold The City's citizens under thrall. 

Amber, too, is motivated to join this quest because she plans on rescuing her father from the High Professor's clutches. Her days with Kal taught her a different kind of truth—one that paints quite a different picture of High Professor Alvin, who perfected the chip implanted in every citizen’s brain on their first birthday to control them and assure The City runs in a predictable, orderly way. 

From the moment Kal's chip first malfunctioned and revealed the desolate truth about the physical and psychological world, he's been on a mission to reveal the real threat to the dying city. 

As the story progresses, readers are treated to ongoing ethical and moral concerns about the vision of this new society and its impact: “Understanding the difference between us and City people is not easy,” she said, answering the question. “The society they live in is not based on free will but on a distorted conception of what is good for the individual. All choices are made for them, even the smallest ones..." 

Can a group of ex-chipped independent thinkers change the dying course of society? 

As the story moves through disparate groups and realms, Kfir Luzzatto creates excellent contrasts between different worlds. Kidnappings, attacks, rescues, and parting gifts challenge the characters to not just rebel, but grow from their discoveries in new ways. 

Kal's journey to become a free man brings him full circle in an unexpected manner that will delight readers who won't fully fathom the impact of his decisions until the end. 

Beware of what you fight...it's what you might become. 

Rewired is a delightful companion to Chipless, best absorbed by prior fans who will find the continuing social inspections and conundrum to be thoroughly engrossing. 

Rewired

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The Spell of the Rose
Toni Behm
Independently Published
978-0-578-31338-2                $5.99
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09KM8562F?ref_=pe_3052080_276849420 

Fleex: Adventures Around the Worlds sounds like it is (or will be) a fantasy series, but The Spell of the Rose is a story that stands firmly alone with no prior adventures to introduce it. It will prove immediately absorbing to those who enter Toni Behm's world through Fleex's eyes. 

The choice between good and evil and the classic influences upon making that choice are revealed as Fleex contemplates his immediate goals and undertakes bigger-picture spiritual and philosophical reflections on life's meaning and influences. 

The story opens with his desire for romance. It paints a warm picture of the little village of Fogland, located in the valley called Lowland; a melancholy place in eternal fall. 

Behm's ability to weave atmospheric descriptions into his story is evident from the beginning, as is a wry voice of social and spiritual observation: "Sometimes, the most curious ones would climb up the slopes of the Mysterious Mountains which surrounded the village, but the thick fog did not allow them to see much. Autumn melancholy was typical for Fogland, as it was always autumn there. Its villagers, of course, could sow crops during the sunny days of the year and gather them on the cold days, but how exactly that should be done was decided by Fog Almighty, who made sure Foglanders did not starve and had, in abundance, almost everything they needed." 

Fleex is in love with Fin, but she confesses to him that she's had a hard time finding joy in life, lately. The "thing-nobody-speaks-about," a form of amnesia that affects anyone who enters their land, is lending to her melancholy. Those who do begin to recall their past and share it publicly are taken by the Fog and never seen again; but if that past is shared with only one person, its nature changes and the threat dissolves. 

Fin's memory has led to the point where she no longer feels there's a life for her in the village. Her revelation sends Fleex on his own journey away from Fogland, "a land which you could enter but could not leave. Not on your own. It was a place with a purpose. But exactly what that purpose was, none of the locals knew." 

As Fleex makes leaps of faith and enters new realms of possibility, readers embark on a trip that is affected by truth, lies, and changing judgment. His passage through Book World and other milieus will delight readers, pairing whimsical fantasy with a thought-provoking philosophical and spiritual overlay. 

As he becomes a hero in the eyes of some and is seen as a rebel and threat by others, the allusions to religious history (inspired by ancient Thrace and Thracians who lived on the Balkans about two thousand years BC) will delight those who want to look at events and stories in a very different light: "While they were marching him to the western crypt, where they were going to lock him up, Fleex desperately tried to think of a plan. For a moment, he thought it would be better if he died. He could at least save all the worlds in that way. His desperation turned into anger. He could not surrender to a lunatic with sandals on his feet and a wreath of twigs on his head, who had decided to become a god!" 

From goddesses and road trips to influences of darkness and light, readers embark on a bewitching mix of mythology, Bulgarian references, loosely reconstructed ancient history, and a struggle for freedom and meaning that introduces Fleex to a myriad of characters and special interests. 

Colorful drawings pepper the story, providing an artistic visual flavor to an adventure as embedded with technological wonders as it is replete in social inspection. 

Toni Behm's enchanting fantasy may be read on many levels. It works as an attractive adventure story, a philosophical inspection, a religious commentary, a cultural exploration, and a dynamic myth-based mystery, all in one. 

While fantasy readers will be its most likely audience, The Spell of the Rose is also (and especially) recommended reading for those who appreciate bigger-picture thinking and inspections that lead to reflections about life, civilization, and the choices involved in changing hearts and minds. 

It's rare to find a story that will appeal beyond a single genre audience, but The Spell of the Rose is such a creation. Perhaps that's why it reads so sweetly. 

The Spell of the Rose

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Where the Rain Cannot Reach
Adesina Brown
Atmosphere Press
9781639880812             $18.99
www.atmospherepress.com 

Where the Rain Cannot Reach opens with an image from "Before": "Through the thicket lay a crying child. Stuck in time though she was, the child was no more than three years of age. The child could no longer cry for her parents, who she had forgotten long ago, and still she sobbed over a future lost far too soon. Just a little thing, with only the missai birds to watch over her, until a kind hand reached out and awakened her to a new world." 

Tair is shown kindness and has been raised by elves in Mirte, but her sheltered, protected life will not remain that way for the rest of her days. At age fourteen, she is no longer a child, and remains alienated from the Elven world around her, by her Human roots. 

Racially and socially isolated by her heritage, Tair embarks on a journey to Domain, the current abode of Dwarvenkind where past human inhabitants left a dark legacy behind. 

There, she forms new connections with the almost-alien-seeming Humans of Sossoa and is forced to reconsider not just her heritage and uncommon upbringing, but her loyalties and friendships. 

Adesina Brown does an outstanding job of capturing a sense of place and background, bringing to life Tair's world and her path through it: "They then followed the curve of the nearby Dessoa River that stemmed out from Doman’s lake. The summer was heat thick as the night deepened and, later, steadily turned into dawn. Though they relished in the cold, refreshing water that lapsed at their shoes, they were careful not to lose their footing. In the receding darkness, the water was their only guide—along with the rising Red Sun and the retreating moon. Tair had been so long without them that they now took on a new beauty." 

As Tair experiences new realms and ways of living and interacting, her growth and reactions are captured in a compelling, realistic manner: "As tall and sprawling as the city had seemed from the outside, it was even bigger inside. Winding streets with shops and restaurants and pubs, residential areas, passing wagons with patrons loaded up on the back—everything felt disorganized but there were clearly rules, unknown to Tair though they were. It was as if everyone wanted to live in chaos. It became more overwhelming by the second..." 

From the repercussions of prejudice, perception, and love to changing political status that challenge mates to accept one another, Brown captures the heart and soul of characters that confront, break, heal, and move on in different ways. 

The emotional and political components added into the fantasy make for compelling reading. 

From training and untraining to the relentless rain and the unfolding nature of Tair's significance to this world, Brown crafts an involving story of a Child of Sossa whose journey beings her into the presence of the son of King Usnano, Rain Storm, whom she will have to kill in order to foster a rebellion that will set the world free. 

Is there anywhere the rain in this world does not reach? 

Brown's ability to bring the sense of place and their characters to life in a vivid, compelling story gives fantasy readers a multifaceted, involving tale that's hard to put down as Tair questions her identity, origins, and involvements. 

Where the Rain Cannot Reach is a riveting tale that deserves a spot in any fantasy or epic adventure collection. Even though it holds a definitive conclusion, the 'After' note leaves the door open for more. This would be a welcome thought. 

Where the Rain Cannot Reach

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Literature

Newer Testaments
Philip Brunetti
Atmosphere Press
978-1649219022           
$25.99 Hardcover/$17.99 Paper/$4.99 ebook
www.atmospherepress.com 

Readers seeking literary blends of visionary fiction, philosophy, and psychology will find Newer Testaments a satisfyingly complex novel that defies easy categorization while embracing elements of these disciplines and more. 

A prologue, for example, usually sets the stage with either present atmosphere or past experience. In this case, Newer Testaments opens with "Disintegration" and provides the first-person reflection of a self-proclaimed "Jesus Girl," a nameless individual who faces an existential twist between instant love and death. 

From confrontation with death and love to slavery and "practicing the art of nothing," the narrator considers the dissolution of self in staccato moments of exploration and explosion: "These visions that passed through me. I didn’t want to be a soldier of God. I had other plans but my mind split open. I saw everything false for what it was—all the time. I had to fall on my knees and start to pray. I said, ‘I’m a creature. I’m a creature. I’m a creature.’ I may have said some other things. It wasn’t meant to be a chant but it came out like a chant. What was the point of it?" 

This "short trip to nowhere" sets the stage for a literary and philosophical inspection that offers a kaleidoscopic dream world of archetypal images and personas using a host of characters both male and female, real and imagined. 

From sanity, insanity, and a Facility that seeks to eject Model Patients from its realm to dreams and realities that move between past, present, history, and future possibility, Philip Brunetti's mind romp brings with it a powerful associative investigation of self and purpose. These invite reader to enter a realm of tragedy and dreams. 

Literary readers who appreciate historical, psychological, and cultural cross-references will find Brunetti's story oblique and astute. 

Newer Testaments is a French New Wave existential inspection of life and spirituality that brings readers on a roller coaster ride through the phenomenology of the Jesus Girl and beyond. 

Its special brand of allusion won't be for everyone, but will delight literary audiences who appreciate mercurial inspections of unfolding dreams and alternate realities. 

Newer Testaments

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Sparks and Disperses
Cathleen Cohen
Cornerstone Press
978-1-7333086-8-7         $17.95    
www.uwsp.edu/cornerstone 

If ever there was an appropriate time for the appearance of a poetry collection rooted in concepts of fracture and recovery, it's now, during a raging major pandemic. That's when such approaches and words hold their greatest power to deliver messages that resonate—and is one reason why Sparks and Disperses feels so powerful. 

But, perhaps this collection would hold equal strength during more peaceful times, as well, because Sparks and Disperses cultivates a special voice and brand of inspection that is the perfect panacea and inspiration for everyday challenges during less dramatic times. 

Shards of logic, spiritual reflection, and philosophical insight permeate poems that come soldered with the glitter of possibilities and angst. 

Cathleen Cohen captures worlds from spectator as well as participant viewpoints, embedding these observations with powerful messages that readers will find compelling as they question events, responses, and results: "We didn’t witness the explosion./But sometimes/don’t you feel tremors?" 

If there is any poetry collection which demonstrates the power of brevity when done right, it's Cohen's work. Every word is important. The insights can be amazing, as in "Maybe a Hawk", which juxtaposes a child's imagination with harsh contemporary reality over the social dilemma of gun control: "Last week, a box of bullets/appeared/beneath a fourth grader’s desk./The children say/it fell from the sky,/or maybe a hawk dropped it." 

The poems are diverse, "beautiful, and sharp." They capture layers of life and psyche that lead to breaking and coming back together, with each poem presenting both a scenario and a wider-ranging inspection of personal and social struggle. 

Sparks and Disperses feels so powerful because it is a reflection of modern times that delves into the angst of coming apart and the process of putting life back together to uncover meaning in its processes, against all odds. 

It's the perfect poetic reflection of our pandemic times and human nature's ability to recover, and belongs in any contemporary poetry collection and on the radars of readers looking for hard-hitting poems. 

Sparks and Disperses

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Stay With Me, Wisconsin
JoAnneh Nagler
Coyote Point Press
9781970151-93-0
$18.99 softcover; $11.99 ebook
www.coyotepointpress.com 

The short stories in Stay With Me, Wisconsin represent a sense of Midwest place and are set in small towns and communities across Wisconsin. Steeped in diverse experiences, they coalesce under the flags of family and community as each character grows and changes. 

Take Shelby, in "Doggie Stay." She's a dog trainer who was married to a deadbeat man. Once she kicked him out, she quickly falls for another...a fact that distresses her mother: “You’re like a goddamned Labrador,” her mother said when she told her about getting married. They were having lunch at the Dipsy Diner, Ruff at their feet at an outside table, the sixties tune Don’t Let Me Down blaring on the outside speaker. The early autumn heat was winding down, just-turning leaves on the trees above them wavering and threatening to drop. “I mean, for God’s sake!” Evvy shoved French fries into her mouth while she spoke, ramping up her volume. “You like every man that smells good! What–he licked your hand and you knew it was love? Why can’t you just wait?” 

When another short-term relationship falls apart, Shelby is tasked with finding a warm, enthusiastic man. Her description of her heart's desire sounds amazingly like a dog... 

Contrast this piece of love in the making and dog-oriented descriptions with the powerful voice in "Atotoniclo," which opens with the bang of observing that "You are just fine–you know you are; you’re just friggin’ fine, for God’s sake–managing, bearing up–you’re absolutely handling it. And then one day, you abruptly realize, you most certainly are not. It is the day your husband dies, and you are standing next to his bed–home now, nothing they can do, the two of you in this box of a Milwaukee apart­ment (not your real home; that was Janesville, a life before this wasting.) He is disconnected from all of the tubes and beeping objects and screens he has been wired to–screens you watched for months on end, like a mesmerizing but over­dramatized Thursday night movie-of-the-week (red, digital numbers declining or rising; alerts and alarms going off so often that you came to think they were part of the clatter of your own brain)–and then, all at once, you throw your heavy-heeled boot through the apartment window." 

As rebellion, anger, and family come together over a death, the "unraveling" of watching a spouse die and reassessing what remains of value in life is brought to light in emotionally vigorous passages as events lead to transformation and travel beyond the Midwest, into strange foreign realms of the heart. 

Each story offers a succinct, diverse portrait of an individual firmly rooted in Wisconsin, whose life events and choices create an upward trajectory. 

Brought to light by emotionally vigorous passages that travel beyond the Midwest into the strange, foreign realms of the heart, Stay With Me, Wisconsin crafts a wonderful journey. Filled with a delicate sense of place and purpose, its characters work their way inside the reader's soul, allowing access into delightfully unexpected regions of the evocative and the sensual. 

Ultimately, each character finds a way "back to myself" and to the roots that cemented the foundations of their journeys. Each step to finding a renewed sense of self allows readers to reexamine their own journeys, influences, and roots. 

Delightful and unexpected in their progression, each piece in Stay With Me, Wisconsin embraces a sense of place and purpose that carries readers into both the Wisconsin milieu and the lives and growth of characters who at once embrace and move beyond these influences. 

The journey represented in these stories is thought-provoking, hard-hitting, and filled with bright moments of inspection and reflection. 

Stay With Me, Wisconsin

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The Store-House of Wonder and Astonishment
Sherry Mossafer Rind
Pleasure Boat Studio
978-1-7364799-2-6                $16.00
www.pleasureboatstudio.com 

The Store-House of Wonder and Astonishment is a unique collection of natural history poems that capture animal life, wilderness, and journeys that reflect both human and animal relationships. The poem is written as a journal, in the voice of Antonio Pigafetta. 

Sherry Mossafer Rind's science-based consideration of world wonders reflects natural history writers of the past. Thus, such names as Pliny, Aristotle, Saint Ambrose, and Herodotus consider the habits of animals such as magpies, llamas, iguanas, and toads. 

Folklore and science blend in many of these pieces, which trace the evolution of discoveries about different creatures and reflect on their meaning to humanity. 

Rind writes with a studied attention to detail and perception. One good example is 'The Physic of Toads', in which toad folklore is presented: "If someone offend a toad, she gathers air into her body/and sighs out that poisoned breath/as near the offending person as she can get/and thus has her revenge./If air causes blindness or dizziness, seek the toad." 

The weave of human and natural history is nicely done. Observations of the intersections of these worlds, the mysteries and myths of nature, and the long-ranging history of these encounters are captured in the chronological journey 'Paradise', in which explorers who initially encountered these animal mysteries found remarkable danger reflected by them: "Declaring himself a servant of the King of Spain,/the Sultan of Bacchian filled our ships with cloves./He also gave us beautiful dead birds/of a kind never before seen. The size of thrushes/with small heads and long beaks like crows..." 

As this work moves through different experiences in the 1500s age of exploration and daring, Rind creates a beautiful (and thought-provoking) examination of the routes of sailors and encounters with the "birds who would bring us Paradise." 

A concluding section of notes bows to the sources of inspiration that fueled these works, offering readers more opportunities to investigate source materials. 

While The Store-House of Wonder and Astonishment will likely be considered for collections strong in contemporary poetry, it holds value and recommendation for natural history and travel holdings, as well. 

Its different perspectives, studied and reasoned contrasts between human experience, exploration, and encounters with animals, and its thought-provoking, lyrical commentary are astute, evocative considerations of human roots in the natural world (which, in modern times, are too often forgotten): "Nothing then is lost; the vital heat survives in air, wheat,/cloth, mice, the very clay on which we stand or dig for pots./Beings generate in every combination, and everything on earth is life." 

The Store-House of Wonder and Astonishment

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Tales From the Liminal
S.K. Kruse
Deuxmers, LLC
978-1-944521-15-8         $6.99 ebook
www.deuxmers.com 

Tales From the Liminal gathers fifteen short stories that are firmly rooted in both realism and humor, and represent a diverse set of scenarios that excel in succinct wild rides through opportunities and conundrums alike. 

Literary readers who enjoy the unexpected will find these stories both digestible and thought-provoking. 

Take "When They Come For Me," for one example. Here, the first-person narrator rails against rules and those who have unsuccessfully "hunted me for decades" because his life's mission is to "wake people the fuck up." 

From giving kids a sermon about subliminal advertising to launching a diatribe on the steps of a county courthouse on a Sunday when people hurrying by don't pause to listen to a word, the narrator (who has been called 'crazy' more than one time) finds that an encounter with a woman changes everything—including the nature of his message. 

S.K. Kruse captures this individual's perspective, passion, and life: "I fled through the streets of the town, past the ignorant, blind masses gorging themselves on pancakes and bacon and the endless stream of indoctrination pouring out of their phones and televisions, preparing them, like calves fattened for the slaughter, for the coming of 'they.' I could hear their footsteps behind me. I knew this was the day." 

An intriguing contrast is "Goodbye, Bonavento," in which an old monkey named Bonavento and a little girl, Angela (who has taken the place of her "angel mother" in her father's life), faces a world in which his organ grinding gig is fading away. 

Can Angela continue the tradition, even though the monkey Bonavento has been taken away? Kruse excels in portraits that capture the girl's desire to recreate the appeal of a vanishing attraction: "The happy tune is halfway over now. The next one is a little sad. The very old Humans like it but not the kids. The rich Shamnais parents will be too impatient to stay for it. The novelty of the organ grinders has worn off, and, unlike the poor Humans and Shamnais, they can afford access to all the wonderful music ever created by both species, and to go to the new shows and concerts. I should take the hand of one of their little ones and start dancing. If they dance, then the older children might too..." 

Literary, thought-provoking, and magical, these stories probe the roots of changing lives and different worlds, providing proof that the power of the written word does not need length in order to be outstanding and influential. 

The diversity and power of these creations results in a collection that will delight literature readers who want consistently powerful examples of the short story form used to its greatest effectiveness. It delights with hard-hitting messages that linger in the mind long after their reading. 

Tales From the Liminal

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Winter Solstice
Diana Howard
Atmosphere Press
978-1639880768            $15.99 Paper/$7.99 Kindle
www.atmospherepress.com   

Winter Solstice shares poems written over a fifteen-year period during which a daughter observes her mother's mental demise, offering a special form of solace that those who struggle with a loved one's mental decline will readily appreciate. 

From the introductory poem "Diana, I Remember the Important Things," which brings to life Diana Howard's mother, "A woman who is kind, forgiving and a little forgetful./A woman who can’t quite tell anymore/what is true and what is false./A woman who gives more than she takes." to a series of progressive leaps in which this woman changes, Howard brings readers into her world and her mother's life. 

Her ability to move through time, juxtaposing past, present, and future moments, captures experience and emotion in a fragile grasp that brings others into her milieu: "I am 19, home for the summer/snuggled down under sheets/that smell like bleach./I am drenched in a Boone’s Farm hangover./My mother’s voice, trilling like a lark,/seeps upward through the porous oak floors./There is the fragrant scent/of lilacs on my nightstand./She remembered." 

From ghosts of fathers in glasses of whiskey to the vivid autobiographical notes present in both poems and (occasionally) as explanatory notes, Howard's skill at bringing her mother's world and their family to life is powerful and revealing whether presented in poem or prose: "My mother lost my dad when he was 65 and she was 63. She lived alone until she died at the age of 93. She would get teary if Dad was ever mentioned in conversation. Sometimes she would talk to him. Her confusion broke my heart. She had lost most memories of him yet saw him in every man she met." 

The result gives voice to the passion of love and the process of letting go to find that love rekindled in different ways through aging and memory challenges. 

While Winter Solstice will likely appear in collections geared to contemporary poets, it also deserves a place in any literary library alongside reflections of family and dementia experiences. Its powerful voice offers a perspective many similar attempts don't begin to match. 

Winter Solstice

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Biography & Autobiography


Blood Brother: A Memoir
Susan Keller
TouchPoint Press
978-1-952816-39-0
$16.99 paperback/$5.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Brother-Memoir-Susan-Keller/dp/1952816394 

Blood Brother: A Memoir details a powerful search for a missing brother whose bone marrow could save Susan Keller's life. It combines the author's efforts to locate her brother with deep reflections on family ties, medical conundrums, and the lengthy process of forgiveness. 

While some might think this memoir is about a genealogical pursuit alone, oncologists and those in the medical profession will find Blood Brother equally eye-opening and important as it charts a moral, ethical, and psychological journey through family trauma and considers the special connections of donor and recipient under life-threatening conditions. 

Susan was fifty-five and happily married when, overnight, she was diagnosed with a life-threatening blood cancer that prompted both hallucinations and questions about mortality and life. 

To live, she needed a stem cell transplant from a blood relative. At that time, her brother Johnny had been missing for over thirty years, having escaped the violent childhood that Susan also experienced. 

Her journey to find him and save her life connects past and present in a tale of not only reaching out to rebuild lost family, but understanding how, without cancer, this never would have happened. 

Keller also explores social consideration of life-threatening illness and expensive treatments: "Cancer and money are not strange bedfellows. Being in the medical education field, I’ve heard health economists say, with all due respect and disassociation: Death is very cost effective. A deceased patient is no longer a drain on health care resources. It’s the treatment that’s expensive. And as sad as it is, even in these wealthy United States, cancer can have a devastating monetary effect on victims and their families." 

Susan's family ties, recovery from dysfunctional family scenarios, and the ethics of medical treatments woven into her journey provide a satisfying blend of emotional revelation, unexpected humor, and thought-provoking considerations of family and medical community alike. 

While Blood Brother will be chosen by many who read about cancer survivors and changed lives, it also is highly recommended for medical professionals at all levels, from doctors to nurses and therapists. It offers a compelling, multifaceted approach to cancer diagnosis, treatment, making the most of a second chance at life, and simple ideas for better medical and hospital experiences which patients and doctors can use to improve both the system and their own individual approaches to cancer diagnosis and treatment. 

Blood Brother: A Memoir

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Breaking Barriers
DeWitt S. Williams
Independently Published
978-1-09838-457-9         $19.21 Paper/$3.99 ebook
Ordering:https://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Barriers-First-Ladies-Education/dp/1098384571
And
https://store.bookbaby.com/book/breaking-barriers-the-first-ladies-of-education 

A century ago, three black women confronted racism and the white glass ceiling at Ivy League schools, entering them against all odds to become, in June of 1921, the first black women to earn PhDs. Breaking Barriers: The First Ladies of Education chronicles and contrasts these women's lives and efforts in a story that has received surprisingly little publicity despite modern-day attention to biographies of civil rights pioneers. That's just one of the reasons Breaking Barriers deserves a prominent place on the shelves of any collection strong in civil rights issues. 

The stories of Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander, Eva B. Dykes, and Georgiana Rose Simpson are not just portraits in courage, but illustrations of how personal perseverance can pave the way for peers and future generations. 

DeWitt S. Williams notes that "“Firsts” are trailblazers. They go where no one else has been or thought to go." One reason why these stories deserve special attention is the trailblazing process itself. As he reviews each woman's background, from childhood to adulthood, and considers the psychological, social, and political perspectives that created their drive to succeed in a world that would seem impossible to penetrate, he produces an analysis that bridges the gap between personal experience and social change. 

At issue are more than individual obstacles, but those of educational accreditation, standards of excellence, and many underlying admittance routines that kept black women, in particular, from reaching higher education goals. 

Focuses on change agents such as church involvements in this process provide particularly eye-opening discussions of community influences on educational pursuits. This is especially astute because in many communities and religious groups, education is not only promoted, but is overseen and fostered by the religious organization itself. 

The history includes contrasts between White and Black Adventists and documents anti-education for black sentiments that evolved from plantation management: "In this area of Virginia, Blacks and Whites worshipped in the same churches. The owners did not like slaves having their own unsupervised religious meetings. Personal servants were allowed to sit with their owners in the pews and in some churches in the rear. 'No guns. No schools. No books. No learning.' Ninety-nine percent of the slave owners used this as their motto. Even slaves who worked in the house shouldn’t have too much education and book learning." 

These reflections and studies mean that while Breaking Barriers offers three biographical sketches and an in-depth focus on these women's lives, it concurrently considers the evolution of inclusive education in the U.S. as a whole, following how this revolutionary concept took hold in the course of American history. 

At times, Breaking Barriers reads with the drama of fiction. At other times, it injects letters and source materials into various discussions. If these writings had appeared in italics or with more separation, the flow between nonfiction story and source letter might have been more seamless; but they still serve to illustrate important points in the development of events and provide invaluable examples of sentiments and processes. 

Seventeen black and white photos of each woman are excellent adjuncts to their stories, and bring them to life. 

While it's likely that Breaking Barriers will find its way into any American civil rights history or women's issues collection, its audience shouldn't be limited to these arenas alone. Ideally, educators interested in the progress of inclusive education will find it just as eye-opening and important, and will want to see Breaking Barriers in their libraries, as well. 

Breaking Barriers

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My Life in Gray: A Widow’s Journey
Rebecca Brooke
WIP Publications, LLC
978-1-7364582-3-5         $9.99 Paper/$4.99 ebook
www.wippublications.com 

My Life in Gray: A Widow’s Journey outlines the unexpected journey of a young widow whose questions begin in the first few paragraphs: "How did I get here? How is it possible that I am here helping to pen an obituary for my best friend? My thirty-nine-year-old husband, who was just helping me get ready to host our first Thanksgiving dinner for the family. What happened to my life?" 

The story doesn't come from an expert on grief, but one who charts her experience knowing that this can help others newly on the same path. She includes observations that circles of friends to loved ones can also absorb as they offer support: "I am here to tell you when you lose a close loved one, you do not ever forget; therefore, there is no need to fear reminding someone. The memory of the lost loved one is never too far away from one's brain and hearing the name of that loved one or a happy memory can help remind them that that person is still alive in another person's memories, which is a comforting thought." 

Rebecca Brooke begins her memoir with childhood experiences and how she came to know her best friend Darwin, whom she eventually would marry. 

As they grew and moved away from one another and into relationships with others, the intimacy and friendship formed at an early age was never far from Rebecca's mind, cemented by candid letters between them that served to remind her of different choices and possibilities until she eventually threw them out, despairing that this type of relationship would ever come her way: "During these times after breakups, I would take out the letters that Darwin had written me years ago from bootcamp. Yes, I still had them. I never could throw them away. I just wanted a man to talk to me that way he had, to spill all of his feelings out in the open and not leave me wondering where I stood. These letters held plans two teens had for a future together. Darwin had wanted to give me a future all those years ago. Yet, I walked away. Maybe this was the reason my relationships always failed. Nobody could attain the status Darwin held in my mind." 

As the story moves into her marriage, Darwin's death, and its impact on her entire family, readers learn from a set of inspections that focus on the newfound vulnerability of a single mother with children, the impact of losing an irreplaceable soul mate, and how Brooke funneled her despair into new paths while grieving her loss. 

Anyone who has not been through the loss of a loved one will find much food for thought as Brooke reveals her emotions and how she slowly rebuilt her world. Those who have been through such a loss will find that much will resonate about Brooke's fears, thoughts, and adaptations. 

My Life in Gray: A Widow’s Journey emphasizes that this is not a 'process', but a journey that holds much potential for enlightenment in various ways. 

It should be on the reading lists of everyone who loves, as well as those who have lost. 

My Life in Gray: A Widow’s Journey

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Saigon
Ralph Pezzullo
Atmosphere Press
978-1639880676            $17.99
www.Atmospherepress.com  

Ralph Pezzullo lived in Saigon during the Tonkin Gulf Incident, the overthrow of Diem, and a number of other coup d'etats, experiencing numerous daily Vietcong terrorist attacks against Americans. Perhaps this is why Saigon is so vividly portrayed. Its strength comes to life through the eyes of not just a momentary reporter's short-term perspective, but a resident American's long-term experiences. 

In the summer of 1962, Pezzullo had just turned 13, and was on his way to Saigon with his family. The saga opens with a child's eye of the journey and Vietnam's unknown milieu: "My father says that we’re traveling to Vietnam to fight communism like it’s some kind of disease. But I don’t understand how it infects peoples’ brains and causes them to act like zombies." 

Pezzullo's initial introduction to Vietnam involves making friends and asking questions about their culture, but as his story evolves, his innocence gives way to dangerous associations and threat: "When I tell him the rumor some Vietnamese generals are planning a coup, his ears perk up.
“Who told you that?” he asks, closing the door.
“Is it true?”
He stares at me with penetrating eyes and asks again, stronger, “Where’d you hear that, Michael?”
“Nobody told me. It’s a feeling I have.”
“A what?” he asks.
“An intuition.”
“An intuition?” he repeats in a mocking tone. “Do you think for one minute that any serious person would put the slightest bit of credence into the imagination of a thirteen-year-old boy?” 

As he comes of age and romance and peer relationships change, so does Saigon and Vietnamese culture and daily living. 

All these are narrated from the point of view of a young man on the cusp of his own changes as a coup d’état affects his life.

More so than most stories about Vietnam, Pezzullo holds the ability to follow a young man who finds himself embroiled in adult concerns that change his life while he explores an evolving cultural milieu around him. 

Saigon's world is undergoing transformation, and as rapidly as he comes to understand it, new facets send it and his life in another direction. 

As an American son's involvement changes his father's perceptions of choices and their world, readers are drawn into the overthrow of a country in a personal way that comes to life under the young man's eyes and unique role as an American teen navigating a foreign land. 

Readers who would absorb the politics, culture, and family struggles that this environment brings with it will find Saigon a standout because of its ability to not just personalize the political and cultural struggles of the Vietnamese people, but present these changes through the eyes of a young man just beginning to explore his impact on the world around him. 

Saigon

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Third Time at Bat
Leigh Davis
Warren Publishing
978-1-954614-34-5         $14.50
www.warrenpublishing.net 

Third Time at Bat comes from an actress and artist who tells of two past abusive marriage choices. This sets the stage for a final third (successful) relationship, which will especially appeal to women interested in their own processes of interpersonal relationship assessments and growth. 

From childhood lessons absorbed, about the ideals of a love relationship, to affairs, alcoholism, and abuse, Leigh Davis moves readers through the stormy experiences and outcomes of her relationships and the situations, choices, and consequences that led to two failed marriages. 

These insights educate different readers, from those young enough to be just embarking on their own love lives to others who may have failed relationships behind them, and who look to mates to make them whole again. 

Many different kinds of lessons are imparted in this memoir through the course of its interactions and experiences. Readers will appreciate the inclusion of theological as well as psychological inspections that collect and impart candid nuggets of wisdom. 

From how others around her find and experience love and peace to how Davis navigates obstacles that lead to her own stronger life and lessons, Third Time at Bat is just the kind of personal inspection one can learn from. 

One of the most intriguing aspects of this story is how Davis keeps coming up against major differing belief systems and perceptions that contrast heavily with her own values: "It was apparent their denial was the Great Wall of China that I was slamming against." 

The allusions to baseball that permeate the narrative help readers navigate its shifts and changes, cementing themes that ultimately lead to home runs. 

The result is a study in perception, emotion, and interpersonal dialogues between adults, children, and friends and lovers that will intrigue anyone who wants to more closely examine concepts of what makes for a strong, lasting relationship. 

Going to bat for others means that, to be most effective, you have to be willing to understand and go to bat for yourself. Davis offers these experiences to any who would "Be brave enough to open the doors by yourself." 

Third Time at Bat belongs in any memoir or psychology holding strong in interpersonal relationships, marriage, or self-help.

Third Time at Bat

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Mystery & Thrillers

Acapulco Double-Cross
Wade Stevenson
Independently Published
979-8726189505            $7.99 Paper/$1.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/ACAPULCO-DOUBLE-CROSS-Wade-Stevenson/dp/B09GD2Y4DJ 

Acapulco Double-Cross is a rollicking road trip of a thriller that tells of Nicole's journey to Mexico. There, she looks forward to a place where there "will be more than enough room for her body and spirit," away from her on/off affair with Pierre. 

She has no definite goals in mind and just longs for a blend of adventure and respite, but what evolves is more than a sandy romance on the beaches of Acupulco. Nicole falls into a chance romantic encounter that evolves into ongoing brushes with death. 

Perhaps her sojourn produces more than she'd hoped for, on many levels? But, then, Nicole was ready for something different. Or, so she'd thought. 

Wade Stevenson does an excellent job of portraying the mishaps and adventures of a leggy brunette who seems ripe for trouble even as she questions her life's dubious trajectory: "Was this to be the future pattern of her life, always hurrying to leave as if to catch a train? Except there wasn't any train." 

Readers might not anticipate the sense of humor that underlies some of Nicole's encounters (such as a rubber ducky that harbors a Molotov cocktail), but Stevenson includes these ironic inspections of intrigue and tension as his story evolves, injecting a delightful tickle of fun into the story. 

As Nicole lives a new life of "totally unexpected adventure," she learns lessons from Bobby, a woman who represents (to her mind) the "new woman" who is tough, independent, and embraces life to its fullest—a blonde, lusty buddy that Nicole has difficulty holding back from danger. 

The result is a suspense story especially recommended for women who like their tales of friendship and adversity centered on powerful characters. Their diversity and differences accent a thriller covering different approaches to life as well as adversity. 

This audience will find Acapulco Double-Cross a fine inspection of the different lives of men and women who come together in a milieu that tests their presumptions, abilities, and futures. The blend of romance and action will delight those who look for both, in equally powerful doses. 

Acapulco Double-Cross

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Around the Edges
Henry Wyatt Parr
Atmosphere Press
‎978-1639880096            $18.99 paper/$7.99 ebook
www.atmospherepress.com 

Around the Edges is the first book in a series that mingles a detective thriller with a literary inspection of madness. It opens with the image of a wandering writer's reflections on death as he scribbles in his notebook and mourns what has been lost: the love of his life. 

What does this milieu have to do with the investigations of determined Boston attorney Whitney Horowitz? Plenty; because she's adopting different ways to face her own loss while at the same time unraveling the strings of a situation which may hold its roots in a wide-ranging conspiracy. 

As love, loss, and legal ties between disparate characters coalesce, Henry Wyatt Parr creates an involving story packed with character emotions, satisfying twists and turns of plot, and unexpected moments that even seasoned thriller and mystery readers won't see coming. 

Parr is especially adept at capturing atmospheric details that resonate with readers and give relief to the action components, fleshing out the entire story with a sense of place and interpersonal relationships that embraces a realistic sense of progression as the events unfold: “This is probably gonna sound stupid, but you ever out on a call at night and see the city lights and everything and think, ‘this is my city?’” he asked, looking over at Ellory. “Yeah, I think I’ve felt like that before. Cheesy, but yeah,” she agreed, looking out the passenger side window absentmindedly. She let silence set in; Fuller, weary as he was, didn’t mind. And he knew it was just part of her personality—she was self-assured and confident, indifferent to what went on around her to the point of seeming unaware at times. She was comfortable in quiet where others would be uneasy. She seemed born for silence." 

There is just the right degree of mystery, personal reflection, and sense of place woven into the story to keep it a multifaceted production that feels realistic and engrossing on many different levels. 

Readers seeking a literary thriller investigation that goes beyond nonstop action and intrigue to immerse them in a variety of characters' lives will find Around the Edges an excellent probe of not only discovering a murderer's identity, but probing matters of the heart. 

Around the Edges

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Blood Before Dawn
Daniel V. Meier, Jr.
BQB Publishing
978-1952782350            $16.95 Paper/$7.49 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Before-Dawn-Beetles-Liberia/dp/195278235X 

Volume 2 of the Dung Beetles of Liberia series, Blood Before Dawn, will best be enjoyed by prior readers who appreciated Volume 1's political and social adventure. This grounding will provide immediate access to the riveting continuation of events that opens here with a bang: "I’d always known that one could get into trouble just standing on a street corner, but never like this." 

It's 1979. Ken Verrier and his wife Sam are returning to Liberia to buy diamonds in an effort to raise some quick and easy cash, but become caught up in political struggles as a coup overthrows the Tolbert presidency and threatens their lives. 

Ken becomes involved in the conflict and taps CIA agents and past friends for the truth, uncovering subterfuge and gun and drug smuggling. His effort to stop them will require and test all of his special skills and knowledge. 

As danger escalates from all sides, Ken and Sam become embroiled in a series of confrontations that challenge their ability to survive, make the right choices, and come home together, in one piece. 

Once again, Daniel V. Meier, Jr. provides a riveting, fast-paced adventure that holds its roots in real-life events while keeping the characters and action vivid. 

Meier employs the first-person perspective and alternates seamlessly with the third person omniscient point of view to bring all these elements into an immediate emotional realm, yet maintains an attention to historical detail. Unfolding events make the story semi-autobiographical, semi-historical, and nicely steeped in drama. 

On the cusp of completing his mission in Liberia, diamonds in hand and the West African Air Service returned to profitable status, betrayal and a twist keep Sam and Ken involved and evolving. 

The blend of family interactions and a joyful confession immediately backed by new threats keeps suspense high. Thriller readers will be especially pleased at how Meier teases the emotional strings of tension with back-to-back conflicting emotions. 

Every bit as riveting as The Dung Beetles of Liberia, Blood Before Dawn represents a captivating exploration of African political and social processes wrapped in a layer of intrigue designed to delight thriller audiences looking for reality-based adventure. 

Blood Before Dawn

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The Bronze Scroll
Paul Donsbach and Alia Sina
Independently Published
978-1-7373978-1-6
$19.99 Paper/$29.99 Hardcover/$9.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Bronze-Scroll-Paul-Donsbach/dp/1737397811 

The first book in the Knights of the Lost Temple series, The Bronze Scroll, will attract adventure readers who like Indiana Jones-style action combined with romance and crime investigation. High-profile, successful investigative attorney Sam Romero has resolved many corporate crime situations, uncovering evidence in the most impossible circumstances. 

Pursuing a treasure map, a rogue corporate executive who kidnaps an Israeli journalist, and a murder in Israel all seem somewhat out of his comfort zone, but Sam is motivated to lend a hand to rescue the beautiful reporter. Her salvation depends on his uncovering clues to a deeper mystery that goes beyond fingering or capturing corporate perps, delving into hidden treasures and a Temple scroll's message. 

Paul Donsbach and Alia Sina excel in an action-infused story that also includes spiritual components as Sam taps not only his investigative skills, but his hidden spiritual wellspring of strength. 

Sam and Rebecca's relationship becomes deeper as events unfold, while the historical backdrop powers a compelling story: “Jason and Steve took me to a traveling exhibit at the Getty about this bronze scroll. It’s usually referred to as the Copper Scroll because that’s what the scientists thought it was made of when it was discovered in the 1950s. When it was finally tested, it turned out to be ninety-nine percent copper and one percent tin. So it’s a man-made alloy but with only a trivial amount of tin. Normally, bronze is ten or twenty percent tin, which makes this alloy stronger and more resilient than pure copper. But since this scroll was only one percent tin, that means that the tin was added only for symbolic purposes.” “Really? Like what?” Dawn asked. “Like giving an antiwar speech in front of the Bronze Gate to the Jerusalem Temple, after the Jewish revolt of the year 66 broke out,” Sam replied. “The speaker wanted a powerful metaphor made of bronze to remind his audience of the spiritual meaning of the bronze that was used at the Jerusalem Temple at that time.” 

As spiritual metaphors, too many surprises, and law enforcement conundrums rise, readers are treated to a story that exudes action on many levels, from psychological and spiritual entanglements to political, social, and historical intrigue. 

Sam's ability to accept the realities of his profession while thinking outside the box to solve a special dilemma that proves both personal and professional makes for a story that injects realistic elements to keep suspense and believability equally high: "It may sound innocuous, but the bar association tightly regulates attorney activities. Like most bureaucrats, the bar officials would probably split the difference rather than do the work necessary to figure out what had actually happened. That was the easy path that public officials often followed, making these kinds of things inherent­ly damaging for everyone involved." 

Think The DaVinci Code, blended with the fast pace and ancient mystery of an Indiana Jones production. Then add a healthy dose of romantic entanglement to the action, for a sense of how compellingly rich The Bronze Scroll feels. 

Collections strong in action and adventure fiction that toes the line between historical mystery, legal thriller, and political inspection will find The Bronze Scroll nearly impossible to put down—or predict. 

The Bronze Scroll

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Buried Secrets
Mike Martin
Ottawa Press and Publishing
9781988437781             $19.95
www.ottawapressandpublishing.com 

Buried Secrets adds the 11th volume to the Sergeant Winston Windflower mystery series set in Canada. It takes place as a pandemic is ending and his small Newfoundland town is experiencing unprecedented murders. 

It's a far cry from the marijuana safety checks and other small-town issues Windflower is used to dealing with; especially since the murders bring a sinister and bigger picture into the town which threatens its peace of mind and makes Windflower the unwitting focal point. 

Windflower is just trying to raise his family and do his job. The job description, however, has just expanded to include not just murder, but a whirlwind of controversy that threatens the small town environment and Windflower's own world. 

As in the previous Windflower stories, Mike Martin takes the time to inject Windflower's personal life into the mystery. This concurrent focus on family affairs creates a three-dimensional character who has more on his mind than problem-solving at work, making for a novel that will appeal beyond the usual murder mystery audience. 

Windflower and his wife Sheila have two kids: two-and-a-half-year-old Amelia Louise and five-year-old Stella, who they are in the final stages of adopting. So, Windflower has much to lose and much to fight for as his latest case edges into his personal life to provide additional conundrums. 

Part of the reason why Martin's stories are so vivid is that they give equal time to personal life's evolution and processes. The investigator's ability to simultaneously navigate a puzzle and his family milieu enhances an involving story that operates on different levels; not just that of a murder mystery. 

Add political ramifications and small-town living to the mix, then wrap all in an overlay of ancestral teachings and dreams for a spellbinding probe that represents more than a whodunit alone: "Something about that last comment struck Windflower like a lightning bolt. That’s it, he thought. There are too many parts of the job that I just don’t want in my life or in my head anymore." 

Newcomers to Windflower will find this stand-alone story easily accessible and thoroughly absorbing, while prior enthusiasts receive another Windflower mystery that furthers both his professional abilities and his personal life in a small town that's suddenly embracing big-city problems. 

Buried Secrets

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Four Reasons to Die
K.P. Gresham
Epiphany's Flame, L.L.C.
ASIN: ‎B09G8JVYMB            $4.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Four-Reasons-Die-Pastor-Mystery-ebook/dp/B09G8JVYMB 

The fourth book in the Pastor Matt Hayden mystery series, Four Reasons to Die, introduces the former-cop-turned-pastor to a new threat when a benediction request made by his governor friend results in a tangled blend of political and religious special interests surrounding a missing reverend whom nobody seems concerned about. 

Matt is reluctant to get involved, even though he senses something is deeply wrong. He's still recovering from his last brush with death, and the last thing he needs is a new case. 

When Reverand Duff's assistant is found dead, Matt's investigation brings into question deeply held memories that challenge him on more than one level: "The prayer had gone well. It was Reverend Meade’s parting words that had set him on the downward spiral: I know who you are. I know what you’re trying to do." 

As Matt, his beau Angie (who owns Fire and Icehouse, across the river from his church), and personal and spiritual struggles with sorrow move to the forefront during the course of the investigation, the murder mystery becomes a social, political, and spiritual probe that adds thought-provoking elements into the story. 

Injustice brings with it renewed resolve and fury as Matt edges closer to answers that involve Shelly Duff and other family members, as well as his own incomplete struggles and pain. 

The blends of police procedural and religious and social inspection are especially well balanced and nicely done, and will delight readers interested in a mystery that moves beyond the usual whodunit trappings. 

From the politics of a pulpit war between mega-churches to the specter of a national power grab and families locked in the middle of too many battles, Four Reasons to Die presents many clashing perspectives that will engage readers on more than a singular mystery level. 

From Angie's renewed insights about Matt and why she so loves him to Matt's troubling revelations, Four Reasons to Die crafts superb characters and moral, ethical, and religious conundrums to keep readers involved. 

One might think that the fourth book in a series would rest on the shoulders of its predecessors and require knowledge of prior events. Yes and no. It does support the ongoing evolution of Matt, Angie, and their world. But, it requires no prior familiarity to be accessible and thoroughly engrossing to newcomers. 

This comes with a caveat, however: readers who enjoy this latest action-packed mystery will want to pursue Matt's past experiences for a fuller flavor of his growth processes and evolution. 

Four Reasons to Die

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Freeze Before Burning
Nikki Stern
Ruthenia Press
978-0-9995487-6-9                $14.95 Paper/$3.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09KKL34CW 

Freeze Before Burning adds another book to the Sam Tate mystery series. It opens with Ed Rizzo's humorous confessional: “Forgive me, Father,” he intoned, “for I have sinned, although I’m pretty sure God will cut me some slack even if my wife won’t, if you take my meaning.” 

When he receives no response from the other side of the confessional, Ed investigates, only to find the red-hot body of the priest. 

Sam, now a Maryland county lieutenant visiting family in New York City, is pulled onto a case that is anything but the usual. A clever serial killer whose dramatic modus operandi rests on both scandal and clever tactical moves is targeting true crime fans. 

Sam is operating in territory both familiar and alienating. It's hard for her to believe that life might again be normal after the pandemic sparked an uptick in homicides that stretched her investigative skills. 

Added to the challenge is a flirty new love interest that holds the hope of keeping Sam better engaged in the non-criminal world, even if the person of interest "doesn't know what he wants in the love department." 

As in the other Sam Tate mysteries, Nikki Stern is especially adept at juxtaposing Sam's personal conundrums with her professional challenges. The added value of an evolving emotional connection to others and the growth experiences offered by crime problem-solving challenges keep the story firmly rooted in psychological transformation as well as whodunit twists and turns. Both are wrapped in a contemporary overlay of angst and confusion that will make the proceedings more than recognizable to Sam's fans: “I guess, between COVID-related isolation and my many unresolved issues, I’ve become a little conflicted about what I want." 

The introduction of an antagonistic NYPD detective named Chloe Nichols throws Sam for a loop, especially because she treats the older woman as a problem to be solved. Readers also gain an intriguing perspective on interpersonal relationships that evolve on different levels of mystery and complexity. 

Stern crafts another Sam Tate story that serves nicely as a series addition and, for newcomers, as a stand-alone read steeped in intrigue and social and political inspections. All these challenge Sam's heart in an ongoing manner that involves Sam socially, politically, and psychologically, in a deadly series of events. 

Mystery readers are in for a real treat! 

Freeze Before Burning

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Ghost Town
A. J. Thibault
Independently Published
979-8651774159           
$24.95 Hardcover/$19.99 Paper/$.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Town-Western-Paranormal-Thriller/dp/B08B325G23 

It's hard to easily peg the audience of Ghost Town because it holds a special mix of Western, thriller, and paranormal elements that keep it an intriguing read for all three genre readers as well as those who look for exceptional reads that defy simple categorization. 

There are ghosts and a ghost town. There are military encounters and backdrops. Combine these with eerie paranormal encounters, then add a heavy dose of suspense over a surprising move from modern to Western times. These are just a few of the devices that combine to create a story that is as compelling as it is indefinable. 

The story pulls readers in from the first paragraph: "V.M. Moodbain was about to breach the door to the study when he heard voices shouting in a Russian dialect inside the oak-paneled chamber. He couldn’t make out what they were saying, but he could guess." 

CIA operative Richard Hart is about to meet the famous Moodbain, but something goes awry, and instead he is transported to a ghost town 100 years in the past, where he battles ghostly figures and tries to figure out a way back to his own world and life. 

Hart is trained to be a survivor. But he hasn't been trained to be a time traveler or a Western figure. What he does have going for him, ironically, is the very perseverance that has proved destructive in his marriage: "He and Barbara were held apart by the steel arm of a misplaced balance like two figurines on a coffee table gripped in mutual bondage that never allowed them to be together and yet resisted their efforts to break apart. Never having resolved his ongoing dilemma with women made Richard Hart feel incapable of sorting out some other tangled webs in his life. Yet this unsettling dynamic worked in his favor because it forced him to believe that anything he set his mind to, he could somehow achieve." 

This force is why he always challenged himself with impossible assignments in his job. It may be the sole reason why he survives this impossible new position. 

A. J. Thibault does an exceptional job in weaving together high-octane suspense and the dilemmas of a time-traveling agent who finds his flexibility and strengths tested by an alien milieu that strands him in time. 

Hart's ability to navigate a world that doesn't abide by the same rules he's been used to all his life and his involvement with Erica Burns, who also looks to escape this life (but in a different way), makes for a thriller that is hauntingly and refreshingly different. 

Readers who enjoy the blend of paranormal experience and the nonstop action of an engaging thriller will find the perfect formula for engrossing reading in Ghost Town. Can Hart ever go back? His desire to turn back time proves a challenge in more ways than one. 

Librarians could find Ghost Town a shelving challenge. The solution is to acquire several copies and file them under 'thriller', 'paranormal', and 'Western'. Audiences from all these genres who look for original writings and vivid stories will find Ghost Town hard to put down. 

Ghost Town

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Ill Intent
Geoffrey M. Cooper
Maine Authors Publishing
978-1-63381-290-1                $15.95
Website: https://geofcooper.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09KP177XM 

Medical thriller readers will find Ill Intent a powerful saga that opens with a letter confessing "a sin against science and truth." The confession was made by Ellen Turner's dying uncle. And his admonition to reveal a secret forty years in the keeping will destroy lives. Including her own. 

Mentor Carolyn Gelman didn't expect death and danger to stalk her when she accepted Ellen's plea to get together. But when her friend is murdered before they can meet, her secret left untold, Carolyn embarks on a dangerous investigation of her own not just because of their friendship, but because Ellen managed to convey that her uncle's secret would shake their research field. And the threat is only beginning. 

As Carolyn, Professor Brad Parker, and FBI Special Agent Karen Richmond probe the scientific community's inner sanctum of secrets, a host of complex interactions between peer reviewers, scientific papers, experiments, and individuals who have vested interests in different outcomes collide in a riveting thriller story. 

As readers absorb the nature of the secret, the threat, and its potential impact on not just science but society itself, they receive a gripping account that moves from Carolyn's dual desire for closure and information to a series of decisions about love and life that bring Brad and Karen closer to each other as well as danger. 

Geoffrey M. Cooper is masterful at creating a plot that simmers with changing relationships between investigators, experimenters, and scientists. As all are challenged by the mysterious letter that threatens to expose everything, each character steps up to make changes that adjust their attitudes and ideas about their goals, jobs, and roles. 

The changing viewpoints need some chapter heading clarification to prove seamless, but readers will appreciate how the different first-person inspections add contrasting dimensions to the plot that keep it fast-paced, personal, and involving. 

The shifting landscape between Maine and Boston and the developing issues that result from decisions to change research structures and individual objectives makes for an involving, multifaceted read. 

Ill Intent's focus on moral and ethical conundrums, its dash of romance, and its ability to keep the action on track and varying creates a medical thriller that is firmly rooted in psychological interactions and unexpected developments. 

Medical thriller readers can expect a treat with the depth and many surprises in Ill Intent. 

Ill Intent

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Mainely Angst
Matt Cost
Encircle Publications
978-1-64599-284-4         $16.99 Paper/$4.99 Kindle

https://www.amazon.com/Mainely-Angst-Matt-Cost/dp/1645992845 

Fans of Matt Cost's prior Goff Langdon's 'Mainely' mystery series will relish the appearance of another standalone story of intrigue, Mainely Angst. 

The pandemic has affected both Langdon's bookstore, which is suffering from lack of customers and pandemic restrictions, and his PI business (because fewer people are getting into the kinds of trouble that require his services). 

Typical of life, a challenge emerges that simultaneously affects both endeavors when his bookstore reopens at the same time that three major investigations drop into his lap. 

It's all or nothing. And Langdon discovers that 'nothing' may be preferable, after all, to the convoluted dilemmas faced by three people: a lobsterman who believes his wife has been kidnapped, a frantic family trying to save a youngster being held hostage by a madman who is trying to subvert the pandemic restrictions on his life, and a quest for proof of sexual harassment against a fellow business owner. 

The pandemic has caused many to pull away, become distant, or react in unusual ways. As Langdon and those who hire him struggle with their revised lives, Matt Cost does an especially good job of injecting the pandemic's affects and milieu as a backdrop to these seemingly diverse (but somehow interconnected) investigations: "What was wrong with her, she wondered? It was long before her boy had been abducted that this creeping alienation had entered her life. Was it the pandemic? The polarized politics that dominated the news every day had seemingly torn a hole in her soul and filled it with a despair that she was unable to escape. Nothing was right with the world. The one thing that she’d felt in quite some time was the abduction of Eddie. For that, she was almost, if not quite, grateful, to feel again, even if it was a pain and fear that gripped her with an icy claw and even now, made it hard for her to breathe." 

From lives destroyed by both Covid and restrictions to confrontations that lead Langdon to lose his professional cool and get angry about all kinds of circumstances, Cost creates a moving story that is as much about the psychological impact of revised social conditions as it is about the terror and conundrums that grip a community to provide no easy answers. 

Langdon is not immune to angst or the impacts of political decisions. Neither is he one to back down from evil or politicians. 

As readers follow him on journeys that weave through disparate lives and special interests, the mysteries become more than another story of perps, leads, and threats. They consider resolution and motivation, make the perps not just believable, but human, and pair confrontation with understanding in a manner that allows for a touch of romantic inspection along the way. 

These unexpected twists and thought-provoking considerations keep Mainely Angst centered not just on mysteries, but in community interactions, responses, and anxiety. 

Mainely Angst's special relevance to post-pandemic readers keeps its concerns contemporary and its mystery especially vivid, which will delight genre readers looking for a story firmly rooted in community struggle and current events. 

Mainely Angst

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A Mistaken Hostage
J.F. Foran
Independently Published
978-1-61468-650-7         $8.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Mistaken-Hostage-John-Jeff-Foran-ebook/dp/B09GY8VRF5 

Dr. Brooks Davidson is back in San Francisco after having completed a deal with the president of Egypt. He's just in time to embark on a new romance with psychologist Sarah Pierce. But, in A Mistaken Hostage, Egyptian special interests return to haunt him in an unexpected manner. Even though they are far from the Middle East, their reach continues to prove as powerful as Davidson's influence. 

J.F. Foran tackles evolving events not just from Davidson's perspective, but from the point of view of the Egyptians who view him as a threat: "What was Davidson’s next move? he wondered. Was he becoming a risk to my position in the government, to my relationship with the president?" 

This provides a satisfying shift of viewpoints that move between Davidson's political interests and his personal affairs to the concerns of those who reach the boiling point in Cairo and send some of that fire into Davidson's life. 

Minister Omar Sayed's inspection of Davidson's influence leads to an assessment and a vow that places Davidson in the crosshairs of danger: "He sat with his hands linked behind his head. He knew he had to act, do something to disarm Davidson’s influence and undo the damage to his department. He’d been aware of Davidson for some time and knew of his high-level connections in the Arab world. What surprised him was that Davidson kept his activities legal, aboveboard. He did not get involved, as so many foreigners did, in bribes, drugs, arms, or laundered money. The man was too astute to get involved in that world. How to get rid of a man with such powerful connections? Sayed rose from his chair and decided that was his challenge." 

From family and legal connections to political cat-and-mouse games of intrigue, A Mistaken Hostage draws connections between individuals intrinsically tied into the fabric of relationships between the U.S., Egypt, and their own affairs. 

As a serious international crime involves leaders, lackeys, and independent thinkers in a clash of political and social ideals, readers will find the story's attention to Egyptian politics and life to be easily accessible even if they have no background in Middle East affairs or international business interests. 

The kidnapping is only one piece of the action. At play are underlying elements of psychological and political tension that will delight thriller readers looking for a story of suspense and revelation. 

A Mistaken Hostage belongs in any collection strong in international intrigue. Its wide-ranging and involving tale of treachery, adversity, and social and economic conundrums will keep readers guessing to the end. 

A Mistaken Hostage

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Murder at the Olympiad
James Gilbert
Atmosphere Press
978-1639880232            $17.99
www.atmospherepress.com 

Murder at the Olympiad brings American counsel and investigator Amanda Pennyworth to Puerto Vallarta, where she works with local investigators to uncover a killer involved in the murder of a gay American tourist in a sauna. 

On the line is not only her reputation for problem-solving, but her job with the Foreign Service; because as she refutes evidence that fingers a young boy as the murderer, she inadvertently opens a bigger can of worms that revolves around the identity of the real perp, and his political powers. 

The story opens at the scene of the crime, where the cleanup crew faces more than the usual sauna disarray. The cleanup men are not detectives, but they know something is seriously wrong when they discover the inert American reposing in the sauna after hours, and cannot awaken him. 

The Olympiad Sauna is in trouble. And the only one who may be able to address the problem is the same person who finds herself drawn deeper into its issues. 

As a Consulate official, Amanda becomes involved early in the case. A murder would be a welcome diversion from the paperwork she usually pushes during the course of her job. It also leads her to be cautious about making assumptions that hold political ramifications: "If it was something serious, she would have to be careful; her relations with the authorities had been strained at best. If only Captain Morelos of the Tourist Police hadn’t been transferred back to Oaxaca several months ago, everything would be a lot easier." 

The State Department frowns upon entanglements with locals...a rule Amanda has already broken once, via a romance. Now she's about to run headlong into that rule again—this time, over a murder investigation she is both ill-equipped and yet in the perfect, unique position to handle. 

As events unfold, James Gilbert does an excellent job of juxtaposing the milieu of Mexican culture and the political divides and interactions between Americans and Mexicans with the whodunit segments of the story. 

Amanda's vow to support her country first takes on a challenging new meaning when she confronts the aftermath of a murder that is anything but cut and dried. The political and cultural inspections are as engrossing as her focus on perps that tend to fly under the radar of authority. 

Another satisfying approach is that chapters alternate between Amanda's processes and those of Mexican locals as they search for the killer and confront (or overlook) suspects both Mexican and American. This adds depth and insights to the story that go beyond the singular approach of a savvy female's probe to delve into the hearts and minds of Mexican authorities and civilians. 

Gilbert creates a concurrent consideration of gay issues and life in Mexico as he unfolds his story, which is another facet that adds astute social inspection into the picture. 

Murder at the Olympiad is a murder mystery that embraces social, political, and psychological tensions between two nations, creating a multifaceted read that is enlightening and gripping on more than one level. 

Amanda has put into motion dangerous undercurrents that lead her to question her own motivations, principles, ethics, and whether to keep secret the knowledge she's uncovered. Has her perseverance unleashed a force that she cannot control? 

Mystery readers looking for the full flavor of an international affair that contains the previous Puerto Vallarta background Gilbert employed in other books along with a second profile of Amanda Pennyworth's cleverness as an amateur sleuth will find Murder at the Olympiad a satisfying mystery. 

Murder at the Olympiad

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Perilous Gambit
Kevin G. Chapman
Independently Published
ASIN: B09HT232BP
$4.99 (Kindle), $12.99 (paperback), $23.99 (Hardcover)
www.kevingchapman.com 

Perilous Gambit is a Mike Stoneman murder mystery/thriller that opens in 2019 in South Dakota, where Senator Harlan Bushfield's flat tire leads to a deadly encounter, one snowy night. The local cops have no clue as to who could have accosted and killed him. His wife can't even think of anyone who would've wanted to kill him. 

Meanwhile, in New York, homicide detective Mike Stoneman and his partner Jason have their hands full. Dr. Michelle McNeill’s best friend, Rachel, set to marry Jason, has just discovered unwelcome news. But that's about to be overshadowed by circumstances that draw her brother Jackie into a murder investigation that lures Mike into unfamiliar territory. 

As perspectives about unfolding events shift between Mike, Rachel, Michelle, and Jason, the wide-ranging story is given satisfying depth and unexpected twists of plot as disparate killings evolve. 

The killers are making a deadly mistake. Can Mike and Jason convince them of this before events spiral out of control completely? 

Kevin G. Chapman creates a mystery thriller especially strong in its nonstop action and varying character perspectives. These elements work together to create a smooth presentation that is so multifaceted, it seems to hold the potential for confusion. However, it deftly slips between characters, special interests, and crime so smoothly that readers are thoroughly engrossed and intrigued...and not at all perplexed. 

It's a pleasure to see a professional woman (Michelle) contributing her research and savvy to find answers that even Mike and Jason cannot discover. The Las Vegas backdrop that emerges is realistic and unexpected as Mike moves from territory he's familiar with into a milieu that baffles him. 

Wedding jitters can't begin to describe the events that lead bride and groom down a deadly path. As Mike works to find answers, he gambles with lives that reach beyond his friendships and relationships in a manner that injects moral and ethical concerns into the mystery and action. 

The result is a cat-and-mouse game about matters of the heart and detective investigations alike, which create a story of love, life, and death that will prove delightful to both prior fans of Mike Stoneman's life and newcomers who arrive at the wedding late. 

Perilous Gambit

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Split City
Andy Straka
Clovercroft Publishing
978-1-954437-17-3         $13.99 Paper/$4.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Split-City-Jesus-Spares-Mystery/dp/195443717X 

Split City is a contemporary Christian mystery set in the Catskills and tells of an ex-pro bowler and owner of bowling alley Split City Lanes, Billy Gills, who is charged with identifying his twin brother Bo at a morgue. From there, he becomes determined to uncover the truth about his brother's life. 

The story opens with a wry observation "In bowling, as the old joke goes, there is never a good time to clean the gutters. Likewise, I suppose, there is never a good time to visit the morgue." 

This leads to Billy's increasing dilemma as he probes not only his brother's world, but his connections. 

In the typical whodunit mystery environment, investigators are supported by a cast of friends and professionals who augment their abilities. Here, Billy is drawn to investigate the Christian community, powered by the "Jesus Spares" church service environment. This spiritual component to the investigative process will delight Christian readers who enjoy mysteries and social examinations that move into religious realms—a relatively rare combination. 

The advantage of being Bo's twin opens many doors into his life that ordinarily would be shut. The benefit of holding a belief system and community ties that overcome a circumspect sheriff's own investigations into Bo's life and legal difficulties adds intriguing elements to the Jesus Spares events that intersect with the evolving mystery. 

As the Jesus Spares episode becomes more deeply connected to Bo's life, Billy uncovers many revelations about faith, community, politics, and special interests: "Jesus Spares had filled Split City with a cacoph­onous assortment of people. They’d come from all walks of life, from all races and backgrounds, young and old—from Partridgeberry, Madaga, and beyond. They’d showed up seeking free food, free bowling, laughter, and fun—and for some, maybe even some measure of truth and forgiveness. This particular Sunday, there seemed to be plenty of forgiveness, smiles, and laughter to go around." 

Is the small-town and spiritual community family that connected Bo and Billy and Split City to be trusted? 

Split City creates a powerful story of bowling, adversity, small-town politics, and Billy's search for truth and community. Its blend of mystery and social inspection will delight readers seeking solid psychological stories of self and community ties, tempered by surprising twists and turns. 

Split City

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The Tests
Robert W. Kirby
Independently Published
979-8525672994
$12.18 Paper/$21.66 Hardcover/$2.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/TESTS-terrible-secrets-buried-hidden/dp/B097SNB8KQ
 

The Tests will appeal to fans of psychological thrillers. It opens with a foray into the world of Alex Clayton, who is living with his wife in Edinburgh in 2019, but remains threatened by dreams of his childhood and the initiation rites he underwent with his group of peers, who changed his life forever. 

Faced with intense memory dreams that bring back these past events so vividly that they threaten his marriage, Alex decides to journey back to his roots in Kent, reconnect with the group members, and face his demons once and for all. 

What evolves provides a gripping story of torment and tragedy that reaches from the past to involve his wife Natalie, who is determined to uncover and dismiss the demons that are trashing her marriage. 

There is such a thing as repressed memories; even of events that are so stark that one would think they would be engrained in the mind forever. There is also the phenomenon of false memories, as Alex comes to realize when his rekindled relationships reveal events he has no memory of. 

As the group investigates, compares, and considers the real truth about the tests they underwent in the past, the darkness of their initiation trails comes back to life in a new, deadly manner. 

Robert W. Kirby keeps readers guessing with a story that moves between thriller, psychological inspection, and the lasting impact of one tragic day on all involved (and even those who love them). 

Alex's consideration of these times comes to life as his story moves between past and present: "Alex’s heart was thudding as the memory of his previous encounter here came flooding back. He could almost hear the shouts and curses coming from the boys as they hunted him that grim day. The terror had been overwhelming. But he’d not succumbed to them, and he’d fought back and escaped, and he’d do whatever was required to repeat that scenario." 

Patrick, too, recalls the depraved course his life took. Gavin still blames Alex for the outcome of their experiment. All face emotional damage and game-changing decisions now, in their future world as adults, when they confront these past decisions. 

Kirby is especially adept at contrasting the psychological changes and responses of his characters. Their varied choices and influences on who they became and their current feelings now (or, even their intrinsic ability to process emotions) come to life in a game-changing story that is fast-paced and firmly centered in a psychological inspection filled with many surprises. 

Readers who relish stories of uncertain recovery, damaged adults who return to their childhood milieu for answers and redemption, and interested outsiders who are determined not to let the past ruin their future will find The Tests a powerful story of recollection, depravity, and redemption. Its moral and ethical force will remain in the mind long after the final pages are read. 

The Tests

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The Thresher Ghost
Spencer Compton
Independently Published

9798742785774             $10.99
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09LWGXW9C/

The Thresher Ghost is a powerful historical thriller set in 1960s America. It revolves around a cast of characters both real and fictional including a disgraced Los Angeles surgeon, Howard Hughes, the Kennedy family and relationships and events which change everything.  

From the opening paragraphs, Spencer Compton excels at outlining evocative scenes connecting the worlds of Jack, Bobby, Marilyn, and other real-life people: ""Do you hear them?  They’re cicadas.  Listen.  It’s so sad.  The nymphs are born every seventeen years.  They sing to attract their mates.  Then they die.  Isn’t that beautiful?” He smiled.  Every moment with her was a performance." 

From Marilyn's not-so-mysterious death (as it's explained in the opening scenes) to doctors, actors, and personalities that move through the 1960s with both familiar history and fictional presentations conjured by Compton, this is a fine examination of how an ordinary man is caught up in murder and danger. 

Compton creates a wide cast of characters and places them in environments that test their perceptions, prejudices, and objectives. 

As Dr. Wiley McCoy finds himself immersed ever deeper in an intriguing world beyond his medical training, this milieu comes to life through various characters' eyes. References to music stream through many of their encounters. Circumstances surrounding the lost American nuclear submarine Thresher move through these scenarios and create a focal point of intrigue as McCoy's antagonist Romulo, a scientific adventurer, selects American malcontent Lee Harvey Oswald for an extraordinary mission. Meanwhile, McCoy embarks on life aboard the newly retrofitted Thresher, whose journey connects Romulo and McCoy in unusual ways. 

From the cultural milieu of Haiti to a dangerous dictator's murderous confrontations; intrigue, politics, and personal ambition create an absorbing interplay between characters in a story that moves far beyond Kennedy's assassination into international waters and political motivations. 

Spencer Compton's novel is complex and involving. Readers of historical thrillers will find its roots in facts and its extrapolations of connections and people to be engrossing, mercurial, and hard to put down. 

The Thresher Ghost

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What Seems True
James Garrison
Touchpoint Press
978-1-952816-56-7         eBook: $4.99/Paper: $16.99
Ordering: www.touchpointpress.com
Author website:
https://jamesgarrison-author.com/ 

What Seems True is crime writing fiction at its best, mingling social and political commentary with a murder mystery centered in Texas, where black supervisor Billy Graham, who works at a refinery, is found dead in an abandoned drive-in theater. 

Refinery attorney Dan Esperson never expected a murder investigation to be part of his routine company consultations, but as he's drawn into a probe that fingers company employees as the perps, his involvement takes a personal turn as he becomes a target. 

Perhaps one reason why What Seems True feels so realistic is that it's based on a real-world event that took place in 1979. Another reason is because of the way James Garrison crafts his fictionalized story, filling it with first-person reflections that incorporate both a sense of place and the times: "This being the South in the waning days of Jimmy Carter and the Klan still holding sway in this neck of the woods, a lot of people were interested in how and why the refinery’s first black supervisor had met his end. And who killed him." 

An indictment for murder leaves Dan shaking his head and wondering about the truth as readers embark on a survey that embraces hearings, truths, lies, and a forbidden romance that looms to complicate matters even further. 

Garrison does an excellent job of juxtaposing all these interests in a way that supports the rising tension of the story, adding social and political observations to strengthen the events that unfold. 

Insights about legal and political process are provided in the course of an engrossing exploration that incorporates realistic scenarios and questions: “These questions are highly improper,” I said as calmly as I could, but I was shaking. “They have no bearing on this tape.” I tapped the cassette on the table. “Or on this arbitration case. I object to Mr. Landry using this red herring to confuse the issues and divert attention from what’s really at issue here.” 

Fans of noir detective stories that embrace legal proceedings and social issues will find that What Seems True questions many attitudes, moral and ethical standards, and motivations. 

The touch of philosophical inspection (which appears at various times) cements the story and lends an introspective eye to detail that keeps it a winning proposition for readers who like more than a whodunit scenario alone: "'The Law' was just a thin patina of regulation over the instinctive hard core of human nature. A frail web holding together the larger society, a porous sponge buffering individuals and families and cliques struggling against each other." 

These vivid inspections make for a story that should be on the shelves of any Texas mystery collection, certainly—but also on the radars of holdings interested in broader portraits of social and ethical concerns. 

What Seems True

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The Witch's Child
Susan Van Kirk
Prairie Lights Publishing
978-1-7376674-0-7         $19.95
https://www.amazon.com/Witchs-Child-Endurance-Mystery/dp/1737667401 

The Witch's Child blends several elements of the mystery genre (cozy, culinary, and animal-oriented) to brew up an intriguing read that returns to the small town of Endurance and its treasure trove of special offerings. 

In this story, retired teacher Grace Kimball is delighted when a former student returns to town, even if it's to oversee the sad duty of burying her mother. The woman was a self-proclaimed witch who died in jail after an eye-popping murder trial that turned the small town on end. 

Detective TJ Sweeney is well aware that Sybil Mackenzie's death holds as much potential for controversy as her life once did. But what he doesn't know is that the return of the witch's child will prove a catalyst for unleashing forces both psychic and psychological that will, once again, turn the town upside down and challenge his investigative skills. 

As Susan Van Kirk moves through this story of ill-fated lives touched by magic and mystery, even newcomers to this milieu gain a fine sense of the small town's special atmosphere as controversy brews up a storm. 

Has fate led Grace to that restaurant where her boyfriend Jeff Maitlin and best friend TJ are discussing political changes when all hell literally walks through the door? The peaceful and cooperative atmosphere described at the beginning of the story is a wonderful contrast to what evolves as Fiona Mackenzie's arrival reawakens trouble and introduces danger to the peaceful small town atmosphere.  

Van Kirk is especially adept at portraying Endurance's struggle to live up to its name as events unfold. Does Fiona have the power to be in two places at the same time? Is Sybil haunting them all? 

As relatives, strangers, and town history intersect, readers are treated to a blend of atmospheric small-town concerns and intrigue that capture its residents' love for their beautiful place as much as the forces that conspire to change it: "Grace loved Endurance, and she could hardly walk around the town without seeing students she’d had in high school classes. Sometimes the memories were wonderful, but other memories weren’t so happy. She couldn’t begin to count how many of her students she’d outlived at age fifty-seven, but she constantly reminded herself of the happier times she’d been able to share during their young lives. Teaching them had been an experience that filled her heart even now." 

This cozy mystery unfolds on many levels, most of them designed to support the 'cozy' designation of its characters and intrigue with a layer of pleasurable comfort that will delight readers more interested in a supernatural whodunit (or, who is it?) conundrum than a tension-laden piece. 

Any mystery collection interested in small town settings or another story of Endurance's compelling people will find The Witch's Child delightful. 

The Witch's Child

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Novels

Adam's Roads
Edwin Litts
Atmosphere Press
978-1637529768            $17.99
www.atmospherepress.com 

Adam's Roads is an engaging story about Adam Bell's romance with Mary, a young woman he sees as a perfect potential mate. But, his story doesn't begin with love. It begins with a stark description of life in an apartment off the expressway, a milieu of noise and racing engines where residents are prompted by a Big Brother-like sentiment to keep their homes in perfect appearance and their lives under the eye of Big 7. 

Adam is twenty-five, out of the military, and ready to pursue his academic and personal dreams. Armed with a GI bill and new motivation, he pursues life as a freshman with a new apartment and goals which need to expand if Mary is to have a place in them. 

Readers who expect a romance, social inspection, or coming of age story alone will be surprised at the philosophical reflection which powers this story. Adam faces changes not only from his environment, but his psyche. These lead him to reflect on new possibilities in many circumstances: "As a survivor of this English class brawl and other previous confrontations as well, Adam had been reminded of high and low human promise. He knew that each individual possessed an available set of retaliatory genes. These genetics were ready to be activated at will. Oneupmanship never failed to remind of the fight-back potential and whether or not to employ said innate option. Understandably, some are better than others and more comfortable when fighting back. We admire the ones who can do this well. Does it take guts to break the rules of civilized decorum? It would require less courage to retaliate when it becomes apparent that there is no other alternative but to fudge on the etiquette of these bylaws." 

Adam may be a late bloomer, but he approaches potential romance and life with a reflective eye that brings not just Mary, but his world to life. Edwin Litts writes with a lyrical hand that captures this milieu's blend of philosophical and social inspection: "This beer can hate was a potential case of life and death; a neverending lifelong case of enjoyable living being gushed right down the drain. Every single day of unease. Unhealthy on the nerves. Unhealthy on the organs. Unhealthy on life. Unhealthy on living. Unshedding and forever clinging bad stuff. Definitely. It would be the era of forever waiting for something bad to happen." 

From promise and hope to angst and travels which demonstrate to Adam that roads and goals can be flexible and ever-changing, Litts offers a compendium of inspections and reactions that make for a smooth-flowing experience punctuated with the Big 7's noise: "Grruumm! Thank you, 7, he thought. Boom blimpf flip. Then, Adam's conviction continued: Continuing on with our present and busy life, we advance. blimph flip." 

Adam's Roads is a story highly recommended as an alternative road trip and coming of age journey for modern readers who live within the confines of social expectation and emotional assumptions. It will lead this audience out of the box with an unexpected narrative highly recommended for literary collections. Ideally, Adam's Roads should appear alongside such books as (and be read concurrently with) Catcher in the Rye and other coming-of-age classics. 

Adam's Roads

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Called
Marlena Fiol and Ed O’Connor
JRS Books
978-1-7375314-0-1         $16.99 Paper/$2.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Called-Marlena-Fiol/dp/1737531402 

Called presents a historical piece that opens during World War II and stands out from the crowd by weaving together three disparate lives that unfold in a non-European milieu: a shy Mennonite nurse, a physician whose calling is to serve the poor, and a female attorney who is an Argentinean activist. 

It would initially seem unlikely that these very different individuals' lives would coalesce in any way; but World War II brought together people who might otherwise have never met—and that's one of the hard-hitting messages in Called. 

Another reason why this particular story is so strong is because its events reflect the true experiences of Dr. John and Clara Schmidt, Kansas Mennonites who devoted their lives as medical pioneers in Paraguay, South America. Marlena Fiol and Ed O’Connor researched over seven hundred references for this piece, from published books and diaries to conducting interviews with those who knew the Schmidts. 

Thus, readers receive much in-depth background information about the Mennonite community, its activities in South America, and the special challenges affecting its work and people over a period of decades. 

From challenging new notions about the treatment and understanding of leprosy to clinical trials of drugs, a mission that evolves past war times and into the 1960s, and John and Clara's own connections to each other, God, and their work, the story unfolds with an attention to both medical challenges and social change. 

Only at the book's end are its autobiographical roots revealed. By then, readers have become thoroughly engaged in John and Clara's mission and discoveries—and also thoroughly educated in their community-building legacy, which lives on to this day, in Paraguay. 

Further insights on missionary work and the history behind this story may be found at www.CalledASaga.com. Suffice it to say that the blend of high drama and real-world events creates a compelling draw, covering, in-depth, a mission that changes hearts, minds, and lives. 

Called is a powerful tale that deserves a spot in a wide variety of holdings, from historical fiction and memoir collections to those interested in missionary and medical challenges, South America in general and Paraguay in particular, and the drive to follow God's calling to create and support better lives for everyone. 

Its powerful message of ministry, faith, and perseverance also belongs in libraries strong in spiritual stories of heroism against all odds. 

Called

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Champagne Window
Rebecca Rosenberg
Lion Heart Publishing
978-1-7329699-1-9                $16.00 Print/$9.99 ebook
www.rebecca-rosenberg.com 

Historical fiction readers who enjoy stories centered on France, wine, and women will find Champagne Window an attractive tale. It revolves around 1800s twenty-year-old Barbe-Nicole, who inherits a taste for champagne and business from her famous champagne maker great-grandfather. 

There's only one problem. At this time, the Napoleon Code prohibits women from pursuing businesses. Deciding to marry a her childhood sweetheart because his title opens the door for her business venture despite his mental illness, Barbe-Nicole continues to pursue her passion for champagne against all odds—including the war and the death that surrounds her. 

A coming child also affects her abilities and passions, promising to change everything even as Barbe-Nichole faces the fact that her near-perfect arrangement holds its flaws. 

Rebecca Rosenberg recreates the times with a deft hand that embraces one woman's determination to pursue positive courses in her life while capturing the culture and milieu of 1800s France: “Don’t worry, Barbe-Nicole. He’ll get used to the idea,” Lizzette says when she brings me a chocolate croissant in the morning. “Men are spoiled little boys when they think they have to share your atten­tion.” “I don’t want to share his attention, either.” I take a bite of croissant while Lizzette plaits my hair which has grown to my waist. “It was perfect, just the two of us.” “Qui n’avance pas, recule,” she says in her native Occitaine tongue from her Trobairitz heritage. “Those who don’t move forward, move backward?” I guess her meaning." 

Her ability to personalize business concerns, marital transactions, and political and military strife allows even readers who normally eschew historical novels to easily absorb the setting and influences of Barbe-Nichole's times. 

The portraits of international business agreements and politics, as well as the evolution of Napoleon's own concerns and rule, are presented through vivid scenes that juxtapose Barbe-Nichole's concerns with broader politics. Passages provide illuminating insights into how this clever woman navigates some major obstacles to further her champagne business during challenging times: "If Louis can’t sell champagne, we make no money, yet I still have to pay his substantial expenses. At what point must I cut our losses? Louis has no luck in the Scandinavian countries either, with their hatred of Napoleon and France, so I ask him to return to Russia where his brawn and bluster are appreciated with open arms. I agree with the Russians. The longer he is gone, the more I miss the way he lights up a room with his antics and stories." 

One particular strength of Champagne Window lies in its ability to weave complicated social and political affairs into the perspectives and objectives of a strong woman who refuses to quit, back down, or completely bow to the role of women in her times. 

As issues of personal and political empowerment emerge against the backdrop of change, Barbe-Nichole (now called Veuve Clicquot) must consider whether to cede her position in the name of love and for the sake of her business, or stand against Napoleon. 

Vivid, lively, and packed with psychological and social inspection, Champagne Window is highly recommended for women who enjoy passionate stories of friends, fine wine, and the delicate lines between personal and political empowerment. 

Champagne Window

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Christmas at Hembry Castle
Meredith Allard
Copperfield Press
9780578814896             $10.99 Paper/$3.99 Kindle
www.copperfieldpress.com 

Christmas at Hembry Castle transports readers to Victorian times and the holiday season as it tells of the dilemma of a ghost, the former Earl of Staton, who tackles both Christmas and family problems. 

Ordinarily, the earl is a patient ghost who keeps a watchful, passive eye on his family. But this season brings with it new challenges, from his niece Daphne's wedding (which will take place without him) to being cursed not only by his position, but by his ghostly spectator role after his death.

This is not a ghost who feels empowered to make changes. In fact, he holds many regrets for his actions when he was alive: “I should have given it more thought,” the ghost said aloud to the rain now splattering his bowler hat. “I should have considered how my actions would affect my family. Perhaps I’ve only ever thought of myself when there are so many who think of me.” He was embarrassed, the ghost. Ashamed, even." 

As he becomes a force in Daphne and her beau Edward's world, everything changes. Daphne's heart is broken as the ghost awaits his opportunity to change the world. He is an unobtrusive ghost, so can his presence affect Daphne, his family, and the Christmas season? 

Meredith Allard's novella creates a compelling vision of Victorian times, romance, and Christmas conundrums. Like a different version of A Christmas Carol, Christmas at Hembry Castle brings to life an atmosphere of change, personal transformation, and the intersection of ghostly and human endeavors in a manner that embraces living and dead concerns. 

The blend of holiday feel, romance, and a touch of intrigue that offers new possibilities brings the season and times to life, and will delight readers looking for a holiday read that touches the heart. 

The final twist to this tale offers an especially delightful surprise, providing a satisfying icing to the sweet story of holiday angst and family interactions. 

Christmas at Hembry Castle

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Ciscoe's Dance
Marion Hill
Red Mango Publishing
978-1734644524            $13.99 Paper/$2.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Ciscoes-Dance-Marion-Hill/dp/1734644524 

It's hard to easily categorize Ciscoe's Dance. At once a fantasy, a dance story, and a lively reel of action, the story is set in the fictional world of Kammbia, where married professional dancers have made a success of their traditional form...until modern Piccanta music, with its very different dance style, takes over. 

Suddenly, Ciscoe and Latisha Maldonado are the dinosaurs of style in a world changed by a passion for Piccanta, and their art and traditions languish as the next generation eschews both. 

As community support for their beloved Guanamamma music fades, the couple (and those involved with their creative effort) begins to feel outdated and unwanted. 

At this point, it would have been all too easy for the story to fall into the moralistic avenues of aging and transformation.  Marion Hill takes a turn that leads it in an unexpected direction...and herein lies the magic of Ciscoe's Dance. Its ability to capture hearts and minds with a story of adaptation, struggles with bitterness and change, and the affects of present-day choices and their past influences becomes a study in adaptation. 

As intrigue grows surrounding this mercurial past's impact and lessons, readers will enjoy Ciscoe's evolving sense of purpose and possibility, and the messages that come from their study of the Book of Kammbi, which maintains that “Things in life cannot be made straight after becoming crooked.” 

The spiritual discussions of choice, consequences, and lasting impact are particularly revealing as Ciscoe and Latisha struggle with issues of faith, learning to dance different roles amidst their community's changes: “A life of being a believer and follower in Kammbi does not mean he will remove all the bad things from our lives. Life will become crooked and as believers and followers of Kammbi we must learn how to handle it. And we need to lean on the guidance of the Eternal Comforter, our gift as believers and followers, to get us through the bad things in life." 

As study of the Book of Kammbi reveals new messages that can be applied to these times, Ciscoe and Latisha tackle family, community, and artistic truths that "hurt, but also heal," finding within themselves the courage to forge ahead, albeit in a revised fashion. 

Music and dance are at the center of this story—but so is faith, growth, and healing interpersonal relationships of all kinds. 

These multifaceted themes make the first novel in Hill's "Dance & Listen" series an adventure worth reading. It which holds a passion for not just dance, but life's unexpected movements and the opportunities it brings to draw disparate people together. 

Whether as a novel or a fantasy recommendation, Ciscoe's Dance holds special appeal for literary and arts readers who will find its special enthusiasm for art and life to be both thought-provoking and entertaining. 

Ciscoe's Dance

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Flower Girl
Merida Johns
Coffee Cup Press
978-1-7332790-2-4         $16.99
www.MeridaJohnsAuthor.com

Flower Girl opens in 1984, where Suzanna finds herself charged with "living her truth." Her decision to flee her abuser and start a new life involves more than changing physical proximity. 

Her story then moves back in time to her Ohio roots and birth in 1958. As Suzanna follows the patterns of her upbringing and relationship developments, Merida Johns provides a series of revelations about life's progression and probes subconscious and deliberate choices in how it unfolds: "I view my life as an open highway crisscrossing the countryside of my beloved home state. Like the scenic and undulating Ohio hill country, there are ups and downs." 

From coming of age in an upper-middle-class suburb of Columbus to husband Jonathan's temper and move from subliminal to overt threat, Suzanna navigates a life where inspection and discovery increasingly dictate that she make sweeping changes in order to survive. 

Her development of healthier, more conscious friendships and relationships as a newly single woman still faces obstacles even as possibilities expand: "As Robert would say, my life was running on octane. My work was fulfilling as I cut a path toward my North Star. My strengths of love and kindness overflowed with supportive friends and colleagues and a trusting relationship with Craig. My home and the splendor of western New York powered my appreciation of beauty. And new hobbies and music, music, music on Friday evenings nourished my soul. It was perfect until . . ." 

Merida Johns crafts an outstanding story of mistreatment, recovery, and growth that will resonate with any woman who finds herself on the receiving end of abuse.  These readers will avidly follow Suzanna's pursuit of a better life and her realizations about what influences have blinded her, in the past. 

Its attention to realistic descriptions of this process and the changing momentum of Suzanna's world creates an outstanding inspection of the undercurrents and influences life holds as she strives to keep her personal North Star firmly in mind against all odds. 

Collections strong in women's literature and fiction surrounding domestic violence and recovery processes will find Flower Girl an evocative, compelling read that chooses no easy paths to resolution. Suzanna's changing choices and perceptions are outstanding examinations of the darkness that pervades her world, and provide important keys to recovery that women will want to learn about. 

Flower Girl

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From Where I Stand
Caroline Goldberg Igra
Koehler Books
978164663-5504           
$27.95 Hardcover/$19.95 Paper/$7.99 ebook

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/from-where-i-stand-caroline-goldberg-igra/1140507296 

From Where I Stand presents Elizabeth, who is tired of trying to live up to her mother's demanding expectations, and is determined to parent her own daughter Belle differently, even though Belle wants to be left alone. An amazing opportunity for Belle to pursue her musical dreams early, in New York, means that Elizabeth must hand Belle over to the mother from who she once ran —a woman whose influence she's worked hard to overcome. 

Belle is thrilled to get away and Grandmother Lillian welcomes the opportunity to host her teen granddaughter and redo her own disappointments through her experiences. Back at home, Elizabeth finds solace by redirecting her mothering skills to a troubled girl who, unlike Belle, is desperate to stay with her mother. 

Caroline Goldberg Igra juxtaposes the lives and viewpoints of each character in alternating chapters that use the first person to capture the character's perceptions while clearly identifying them in chapter headings. Another aspect of the story's development is the significant role of the Jewish Community in enabling the characters to pursue their dreams and find a healthier path.   

As Elizabeth, Belle, Lillian and Julie move in different directions, their relationships grow and change. Igra captures these moments of transformation, also including the psychological backdrops to each individual's reaction to those around them, as in Julie's response to Elizabeth's purposeful support: "Spending hours hunched together over one text or another, it was only natural we’d become closer, but Elizabeth made a point of extending the boundaries of our relationship. Just recently she’d moved from her spot across the table to one by my side. Now her shadow joined with mine, falling over the page as I read, the last remaining barrier between us quietly erased." 

From different memories and pain to the emotional damage that threatens long-held dreams, each life and viewpoint is a dance of realization and change that ripples into the others' lives through a current of transformation. 

The result is a close inspection of family ties, mother/daughter bonds, and dreams both followed and broken that will especially interest women who struggle to revise their own family relationships. 

Collections strong in contemporary women's literature and mother/daughter perspectives will find From Where I Stand a thought-provoking story firmly embraced by Jewish culture and community. 

From Where I Stand

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Ghost Runners: An Olympic Dream Betrayed
Robert Rubenstein
Independently Published
979-8480247794    
$27.95 Hardcover/$19.99 Paper/$3.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Runners-Olympic-Dream-Betrayed/dp/B09GJMCH7G 

Ghost Runners: An Olympic Dream Betrayed is a historical novel and sports examination that also portrays anti-Semitism in the athletic world. 

The story opens at the Chicago World's Fair in 1933, where Joshua Sellers awakens on a Greyhound bus with the memory of a footrace against Jesse Owens and dreams of losing once again. He holds one more chance to beat Jesse, the champion "Brown Thunderbolt" whose ability seems impossible to defeat. 

From the start, Robert Rubenstein outlines the real focus of his story—racism: "Blacks paid double the price to Soldier’s Field. Not even to get to see the midway outside the Fair. It was an outrage worse than a racial slur. It was racism undisguised. The Century of Progress, the theme of the fair, only served corporate interests. Neither women nor Blacks were represented. Blacks worked as porters, latrine cleaners, or as “freaks” or pygmies in midway spectacles." 

His inspections of real-world events surrounding the American Olympic team in Nazi Germany in Berlin in August of 1936 (during the Holocaust) will interest and attract novel readers not just for its sports milieu, but for its close inspections of racism and the forces that contributed to oppression in various forms, against various peoples, around the world. Even champions. 

The reader who begins this odyssey may hold initial interest on Joshua's racing career and not racism. But as both immediately entwine to breach boundaries both real and imagined, readers delve into the 1930s via a series of vivid descriptions that bring this era to life: "Through the Balkan Peninsula and halfway across Europe, local police scanned the highways, stopping any would-be troublemaker from marring the parade. Solemn choreographed ceremonies greeted the arrival of the carriers of the flame. While he never forgot Leni’s allure, Goebbels attended to the task at hand. He made tens of thousands of youth from every European nation line the roads at attention. They gave the Olympic salutation by raising the arms level with their shoulders or thrust out and up in the Hitler salute, much to the delight of the trailing German press corps...Proclaiming the Eleventh Olympiad a youth pageant and festival of the world, the Germans waited in the towns and villages along the Czech-German border for a glimpse of the last non-Aryan runner to appear." 

Rubenstein does a fine job of juxtaposing the trappings of normalcy with the rise of Nazi powers and rules that confront and alter that state. Even the Olympics are not immune to political pressure and social strife as white supremacy rises, young radicals are provoked to action, and friendships are tested with new rules of decency and morality. 

Under Rubenstein's hand, history is closely inspected, melding with a fictional overlay that brings peoples, events, and issues to life. 

While it would have been too easy to limit discussions to racial implications alone, Rubenstein implicates and describes the underlying business interests that affected and directed social and political currents both in America and abroad. 

This focus on motivation and financial entanglements adds depth and further thought-provoking inspection to the evolving story of two Jewish-American athletes who both hone their competitive abilities and examine their decisions during the 1936 Berlin Olympic games. 

Perhaps the real power of Ghost Runners lies in its ability to meld an impressive historical backdrop with a fictional consideration of special interests and the political struggles that inject themselves into an athlete's choices and competitive drive to win against all odds. 

In this milieu, winning against all odds includes more than physical ability. It's about reconsidering the kinds of decisions and influences that dictate the rules of the game itself, even at its highest levels. 

The audience for Ghost Runners may begin with those who look for historical fiction surrounding sports events, but to limit it to this readership would be to do the book a grave disservice. Ideally, it should be in any collection strong in Jewish experience, Nazi examinations, and the social and political atmosphere of the 1930s. 

Many themes and historic events are explored in a story that looks to connect the dots between systemic racism, from the rise of eugenics theories in America and its influences on Nazism to The White Bridge, Ginger Lee's relationship with Joshua and her trials and tribulations as a cub reporter and as a woman in Jazz Age Chicago, and the story of Jesse Owens. 

What seem to be disparate themes, biographical sketches, and events dovetail in a hard-hitting, thought-provoking work that embraces a lot of researched history. Ghost Runners should be digested in snippets, to assure that its astute points and powerful revelations are entirely understood. 

From one individual's secret use of philanthropy to fund National Socialism at home and abroad to powerful statements of responsibility in America for events that unfold in Germany, Rubenstein pulls no punches and lets no country go uncriticized for what transpires: “If America had made that statement, of Jews and Blacks running together against fascism, the rest of the world may not have moved in lock-step with the Nazi timetable. The Jew wouldn’t have been marginalized, not that fast, not in Europe. And maybe those Jewish kids would start standing up for their heritage. Maybe, they’d be running. I need to know if that can happen again-that we can run proud in this country, and not always be the victim?" 

All these strengths set Ghost Runners apart from many stories of these times; making it a top recommendation that literary collections and readers won't want to miss. 

Ghost Runners: An Olympic Dream Betrayed

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Hey, White Girl
Judith Bice
Atmosphere Press
978-1639880980            $18.99
www.atmospherepress.com 

Hey, White Girl takes place in the 1960s, an era of promise and possibility when men land on the moon and music festivals such as Woodstock can bring peace to the world. 

Despite its ideals and enthusiasm, it's also an era of rising racial tensions, captured in Hey, White Girl. 

The white Randolph children face this firsthand; especially Nell, who begins her senior year at a black school that offers such controversy that her concerned mother pulls her out to enter a private school instead. At the same time, Nell's older brother is facing the draft and the Vietnam War: another life-changing event. 

Between rising civil rights issues and the war, the Randolph family is caught in a tide of change. All this is captured from the viewpoint of Nell, who is able to transmit both the promise of the times and its potential for sweeping, unprecedented changes. 

Judith Bice captures this milieu in an intriguing manner, juxtaposing white and black worlds and experiences with descriptions that are thought-provoking: "St. Mary’s was a safer school than Stonewall. No one pushed me during gym class or “accidentally” knocked my elbows in the hall. I wasn’t nervous about going to the bathroom or worried about standing in line to buy milk. My presence didn’t provoke anger; it didn’t provoke anything." 

The contrasts between these worlds are particularly well done, standing out from any preset notion of prejudice on either side: "Had I never been to Stonewall I would have adjusted to St. Mary’s. I could have been part of the chatting circle of girls if they had been my friends from the beginning. I could have been the kind of student the nuns would have loved: engaged, pious, submissive. But even if I had to be on my guard in the halls and bathrooms of Stonewall, I missed the authenticity of Claudia, Venetia, and Fergy, even if I couldn’t name it at the time. The girls of St. Mary’s were tiresome and boring in comparison and I had to be on my guard in much harder ways than holding tight to my pocketbook." 

From candid conversations about the color of skin, opportunities, and prejudice to the dilemma of being a different kind of thinker who doesn't quite fit in with set notions on either side, Bice takes the time to document and reveal her characters' feelings and reactions: “I’m tired of being the different one. I didn’t fit in at St. Mary’s. Most of my white friends, like Sally and Allison, don’t understand why I like to hang out with Venetia and Fergy. But I’m not black, and I know I won’t ever really fit in with them either." 

The result is a compelling story of a how a close-knit family and community fracture and come back together again. It's an astute reflection of the country and the times, and will prove involving and revealing to both those who have lived them and new generations coming up. 

Collections strong in civil rights fiction and social issues in 1960s America will find Hey, White Girl a powerful examination and a compelling work of fiction. 

Hey, White Girl

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Hitchhiking Across America: 1963
Daniel Robinson
Atmosphere Press
978-1639880294            $18.99 Paper/$7.99 Kindle
www.atmospherepress.com 

Hitchhiking Across America: 1963 tells of a young man's decision to hitchhike across the country during a pivotal time in America's evolutionary process. It follows nineteen-year-old Nick's journey as he experiences not just different regions and people, but some of the cultural and political changes that embroiled the nation during the 1960s. 

From the start, Nick explores why the act of hitchhiking opens more doors and results in more candid revelations than staying put and absorbing what an environment can offer: "I’d hitchhiked a lot and discovered that people who pick you up will often say whatever might be on their mind. They talk about their wives, girlfriends, jobs, regrets. They’ll say things they’d never tell a wife or a friend or even a priest. Because their relationship with you is so temporary, what difference does it make what you know about them." 

As he assesses people, diverse perspectives, and different environments across America, Nick transmits these findings to his reader in ways that give insights into the different towns and contrasts between them: "I walked around Waco for a while. The Brazos River, Baylor University, a Dr. Pepper cannery, a couple of big white silos, Baptist churches and cowboy hats. It didn’t seem much different from a medium sized town in California, like Bakersfield or Fresno." 

As Nick moves across the country and encounters Jim Crow, picks up and leaves behind fellow travelers and would-be companions, and absorbs the realities of the world around him, the 1960s comes to life in many ways: "I looked at President Kennedy. He wasn’t smiling. At certain moments, he looked like he was in pain. He held his hands clasped behind his back, or he’d put one hand into the pocket of his suit jacket. He looked different from when he first took office, like he’d aged a lot and was tired." 

Hitchhiking Across America: 1963 reads with the drama of fiction, but its nonfiction roots provide realistic elements key to understanding how life evolves, and the sentiments of people across the nation during these times. 

The result is more than a novel about a new adult's journey across America. It's a survey of the hearts and minds of the nation during the 1960s, and the effects of temporary relationships and fleeting moments of understanding. It will engross readers of Kerouac's On the Road with a different road trip through bygone times in America. 

Hitchhiking Across America: 1963

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John Brown's Women
Susan Higginbotham
Onslow Press
978-1-7374749-0-6         $9.99
https://www.amazon.com/John-Browns-Women-Susan-Higginbotham-ebook/dp/B09GCR2C6Y 

John Brown's Women chronicles the foundations of early struggles for democracy and freedom with a sweeping historical review that personalizes events that took place from 1833 to 1859. It opens by noting that the main character, Mary Day, was not originally expected to be John Brown's wife. Her sister was. But the widowed John Brown proposes instead to Mary, who accepts more as a sensible decision than for any sense of love. 

The saga unfolds as Mary experiences the tides of social and political change that sweep the country and affect her world. She becomes privy to her husband's daring plot and finds herself not just a supporter, but an active participant when it fails. 

John Brown's Women doesn't just outline Mary's adventures. It concurrently weaves in the stories of Wealthy Brown (who marries John's oldest son and moves to Kansas, only to find their lives embroiled in controversy and struggle over slavery) and daughter Annie Brown, who finds her own life changed because of the role she takes in the raid her father has planned. 

Historical events come to life through the experiences and perspectives of three women who all find themselves caught up in social and political issues far beyond their experiences.

These events test their beliefs and their courage as each make decisions that originate from the actions of the men in their lives. 

Susan Higginbotham provides a vivid inspection of the times that will delight fiction readers seeking women's perspectives and historical representation. These forces often test their beliefs in their men, their world, and their own moral and ethical foundations: "The next morning, the Sabbath sun had risen to reveal five dead bodies, all slashed with swords, and some shot as well. It was Mr. Harris who had identified Father Brown as the man in charge of the killing party, and the widows Doyle and Wilkinson had agreed that an older man had led the expedition. Wealthy thought of all the fuss her father-in-law had made about keeping the Sabbath holy. Evidently, he had been willing to make an exception." 

That John Brown's Women takes the time to portray more than events, but their deeper issues and ramifications, makes for a historical work highly recommended for readers who want their action and facts reinforced by attention to the impact these events hold on women's daily lives and psyches. 

Collections strong in women's representations in historical fiction surrounding Civil War events, in particular, will find John Brown's Women thought-provoking reading that brings the times to life. 

John Brown's Women

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Life Rolls Along
Linda Nielsen
TouchPoint Press
978-1-952816-90-1                        $4.99 ebook
www.touchpointpress.com  

Most men who discover their business partner coveted their wife would find themselves confronting both wife and partner in an effort to preserve one or both relationships. Not Skye Topple. 

His method of dealing with this problem is to make it a non-issue by revising his own trajectory and expectations of his financial and personal world. This approach leads to far-reaching changes as the Covington family moves from owning a consulting firm to becoming involved in real estate. 

In many ways, Life Rolls Along is a portrait of adaptation that leads a family in unexpected directions. Readers already familiar with its predecessor, Because I'm Worth It, will be further enlightened on the methods employed by the Covington family as they chart a different course. 

Skye married into a wealthy Southern family, and their relationship set their world on end. His reaction to these new circumstances will, once again, challenge the family's approach to life, finances, and legacy as he handles his relationship with daughter Monique, lives with hard decisions made in the past, and interacts with Sophie, who is in stark contrast to wife Delaney Mae Anne Von Campe-Covington-Topple. 

Linda Nielsen recreates the dialogue and captures the contrasting social inspections of the South and North alike, but her story also embraces Paris and other milieus. 

It also contrasts generational perspectives and experiences as Skye's mother Melissa absorbs the unfamiliar world of Chicago, considers her son's revised life and challenges, and faces an uncertain future. 

As the Covington heritage and Skye's world continue to expand outward with new challenges and opportunities, readers will find Life Rolls Along a satisfying companion to the first story, while newcomers will become enthralled with the different ways the characters move through their social worlds and adapt to challenges. 

Novel readers who enjoy interplays between Northern and Southern perspectives and strong stories of relatives struggling with themselves and one another will find Life Rolls Along fun, engaging, and thought-provoking. 

Life Rolls Along

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My Name on a Grain of Rice
Richard Voigt
Atmosphere Press
978-1-63988-073-7         $18.99
www.atmospherepress.com 

My Name on a Grain of Rice opens with the first-person narrator's somewhat gruesome reflection: "When exposed to air, blood darkens and thickens. I knew this simple fact from childhood when I watched scabs form. But those scabs came from only a few drops of blood, which coagulated quickly. A pint of blood that runs from a man's mouth and then stiffens into a maroon jelly is something different." 

Given this introduction, readers might expect a murder mystery to evolve. But Richard Voigt paints a compelling portrait of a man from a monied family who makes the move to enter a milieu he's completely unfamiliar with (and unprepared for). As his story evolves, it becomes one of romance and tragedy. 

Harry Travers walks away from a seemingly secure future set in stone on many different levels. As his journey unfolds, he quits his job at the Speed of Light ("...or SOL as we called it – a software startup."). For better or for worse, this move begins a new path in which nothing is on Harry's agenda but change and survival: two milieus he is ill-equipped to handle. 

Harry has always chosen to be a spectator of life. Driven towards a series of choices that place him in a more active role, he reflects on how his family fell into better fortunes, and the effects of this on his life: "I can't say that initially I was unhappy with these developments. My parents were certainly excited by their success when it first appeared. But eventually, everyone's attitude changed. I felt marooned on our property and my parents began to act as if they had lost their bearings. With so much money coming in, it was no longer something real to them. It could now be spent without careful calculation; it could be wasted without regret." 

Despite this aura of success, Harry knows that something has gone increasingly wrong. Wealth does not necessarily bring with it freedom. And, for that, mistakes have to be made. 

Richard Voigt builds a story of transformation, change, redemption, and growth. As Harry moves into a relationship with Minnie and comes to absorb a very different family milieu that comes with her, he enters into a bond that promises even more change and challenges. 

Voigt creates a powerful tale that revolves around a death, a renewal, and choices that hold unforeseen consequences for future health, happiness, and success. 

Readers who navigate the special trials and opportunities of Harry's world will especially appreciate the conundrums of a man from a newly-monied family who chooses blue-collar work and the unfamiliar world it introduces. 

The unexpected results of Harry's blind trajectory and the consequences of his actions and his ability to rise above both to create a new life and love make for an engrossing novel especially recommended for readers interested in stories of family influences and change. 

My Name on a Grain of Rice

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Out of the Darkness
Jeanne Fortune
5Ms Publishing
9781735092843             $14.99 Paper/$4.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Out-Darkness-Jeanne-Fortune/dp/1735092843 

Out of the Darkness is a novel about Haitian teen Cynthia Josaphat's move from Haiti to the United States. The immigrant experience depicted comes not from a single background, but is a compilation of stories that holds a focus different from most—an attention to the mental health of the immigrant, which here overshadows legal and social concerns. 

The young narrator is set to leave her home and her mother to move to the U.S. with her sister, living with a distant father she barely knows to journey to a country she feels no connections to. 

Jeanne Fortune chooses the first person point of view to bring Cynthia's world to life as she faces changes, health challenges in her new home, and a father who proves more demanding in his expectations of her than she can accept. 

As Cynthia moves from Haiti to an unfamiliar milieu in which her physical and mental resilience is tested, readers receive an unusual focus in the course of a dangerous journey that leads Cynthia to sinister places and the darker relationships to be found within them. 

How do immigrants navigate matters of the heart and mind while learning about an entirely new world? Very tentatively. In Cynthia's case, this involves decisions which lead not to freedom, but brushes with death. 

Much more than an immigrant's journey, Out of the Darkness also addresses how young women fall into abusive situations and not only tolerate, but justify them: "I forgave him because I thought he loved me; he would never hurt me again, I convinced myself. He never stopped telling me how beautiful I was and how he was so lucky to have me. He made me feel so special; I was the best thing that ever happened to him. How could I leave him for hurting me? After all, it was an accident. He didn’t do it on purpose, I told myself. Besides, he didn’t leave any scars that I would have to explain to people outside my home. No one needed to know. It was our secret. A dangerous one indeed." 

From the financial struggles that come with being an independent adult to Cynthia's ties with the Haitian community and her family, Jeanne Fortune is especially skilled at exploring how Cynthia begins to confront the forces that have fed her darkness: "I finally had the courage to tell my father how much he had hurt me. I told him about my emptiness, the depression, the sadness. I told him how his absence affected me throughout the years. I told him how he’d been complicit in allowing others to hurt his children while giving his love to another man’s children. I told him how the way he treated my mom had affected me as a woman. He didn’t even show up to her funeral. I told him we all stayed away because we couldn’t handle the pain he caused. Because of his absence, I had looked for love in all the wrong places and had gotten hurt too many times. I had dealt with homelessness, and nearly died in an abusive relationship. All before I was twenty-one years old." 

Filled with more psychological inspection than the usual immigrant story, Out of the Darkness transcends its roots to hold appeal for not just immigrants, but any woman who has struggled to disengage from abusive patterns in her life. 

This audience will find much to recognize and applaud about Out of the Darkness as Cynthia finds a way to make a better life and home for herself, even in a strange land which doesn't fully address mental illness issues. 

Jeanne Fortune was born and raised in Haiti, and is in a special position to make that culture and its contrasts with the U.S. come alive. 

Out of the Darkness

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The Pop Tart Insurrection
Marcus Herzberg
Oren Village, LLC
978-0-9912672-9-3        
Paperback:
www.marcusherzberg.com                          $9.98
Ebook:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09666ZR3Q      $4.99 

The Pop Tart Insurrection represents satirical humor at its best and poses a battle that begins when a new toaster destroys Magnus Haycock's pop tart, leading him to become determined to take over the world and correct such wrongs: "I wasn’t mad at the ten-year-olds working in the un-airconditioned factory who had assembled this contraption, or the red-and-tan-clad cashier who scanned it and bagged it for my mother. I understood that they were just cogs in a machine. I was mad at the assholes who designed it, and okayed it, and at the system that allows shit like this to be sold for $29.99, only to dash the hopes of high school seniors looking for a seminutritious late-night snack. We’re the future of the damn country, after all." 

His decision to assume command of his world and life, sparked by the seeming low-importance specter of a pop tart gone awry, provides a hilarious scenario that teen to adult readers will find fun and thought-provoking as Magnus struggles with graduating high school, pursuing his goals, and enduring dumb instructors who come with higher-level studies and pursuits. 

All these encounters just serve to prove to Magnus that his special abilities are needed, and that taking over the world may not be an impossible goal when faced with the IQs of those who currently run it. 

As Marcus Herzberg romps through the visions of a new adult who thinks he can do better, readers gain a vivid story of brewing revolution, institutional craziness, family relationships gone awry, and instructor Dr. Thorn's precarious position between administrator and student perceptions. 

Another word for 'troublemaker' is 'revolutionary'. Does Magnus really hold the ability to change the world? 

The Pop Tart Insurrection's special brand of social inspection is sassy, funny, and thought-provoking, all in one. Its social, religious, and political inspections may rub some readers the wrong way, but that’s the delight of an edgy story designed to keep them thinking about sane and insane pursuits. 

The satire embedded in these inspections is as strong as the revelations that challenge Magnus to achieve his goals, and come from unexpected, crazy places: "...rather than becoming immersed in this country’s ridiculous attachment to sport, you need to figure out how to use it, and eventually, to degrade it and replace it with a consciousness about your concerns. You need to wake people up, Magnus. You need to shake them out of their stupor and lead them into the light of day." 

How is social change achieved? From the people who have had enough, and what they decide to do about the forces that direct their daily lives. 

People like Magnus, whose reeling journey through his new adult years intrigues, delights, and sometimes puzzles his readers with inspections of how the foundations of insurrection can emerge from daily life frustrations and routines. 

The Pop Tart Insurrection

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PsycheDeliah
Kite Jenson
Furthest Press
978-0-9651190-7-8         $2.99 ebook
Website: psychedeliah.com
Ordering:
https://www.amazon.com/PsycheDeliah-Novel-Kite-Jenson-ebook/dp/B09GKZLHKV 

PsycheDeliah is about a purposeful suicide designed to snare a web of characters into answering questions about Deliah's life and demise, and provides novel readers with a powerful story of psychological intrigue and tension. 

From the start, Deliah's tale comes from the jigsaw puzzle perceptions of others, from a husband who relishes her sexuality and considers her his lusty soul mate to his regret that his actions couldn't prevent her death. 

From the beginning, Kite Jenson paints a series of sexually explicit scenes to make it evident that PsycheDeliah revolves around not just regret or redemption, but the kinds of sexual trauma that lead to psychological challenges. 

Others besides Deliah are involved in these stories of serial rapists, lovers, and abuse. From predatory father Walter to a childhood boy also raped by him who grows up to be a trans club dancer, and a series of victims also devastated by Walter's clan involvements and their actions, the story moves between social impact and psychological trauma as victims band together to search for peace and recovery. 

Deliah's loss impacts different victims and those she loved. The perspectives of each individual are presented with a fine attention to detail that explores and explains the lasting effects of sexual trauma on a wide circle of people: "That was exactly why I’d lost Deliah. All those years I’d cared so much about other people’s image of me. I’d thought it was a sign of weakness to rely on money and power to prop up oneself." 

Concerns about money, white privilege, choice and consequences, and patterns of living and survival created by trauma also contribute to a hard-hitting, thought-provoking account. 

PsycheDeliah is not recommended for those looking for circumspect representations of abuse. Its candid, graphic portrayals of different kinds of physical and psychological challenge will likely trigger readers who may come from circumstances similar to Deliah. Kite Jenson pulls no punches in pursuing the connections between victims and abusers alike, and as his novel progresses through different experiences, rapists and victims alike confront their own impulses and survival tactics. 

Rich in descriptions of psychological control, trauma, and unusual routes to resolution and recovery, PsycheDeliah will prove especially inviting reading for fiction enthusiasts who like their stories complex, well-detailed, thought-provoking, and unpredictable. 

PsycheDeliah

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Sisters of the Sweetwater Fury
Kinley Bryan
Blue Mug Press
978-1-7379152-0-1                $14.99 Paper/$4.99 ebook
Website: kinleybryan.com
Ordering:
https://books2read.com/sweetwaterfury 

Sisters of the Sweetwater Fury is a historical fiction piece set in 1913 and tells of Great Lakes galley cook Sunny Colvin, whose world revolves around feeding a freighter crew even as her dreams center on doing something more. 

The story opens with a succinct yet compelling note about the state of seagoing affairs in 1913 on the Great Lakes: "Only fools and shipping bosses would boast of safety before the boats were in winter layup, but the sailors were keenly aware how few fatalities 1913 had seen: only nine—ten—men lost, with mere weeks to go." 

Sunny's culinary efforts are part of the reason why the crew of steel freighter Titus Brown seems particularly lucky—and happy. She's sailed with Captain for ten years, now. It's time for a change. 

Between culinary references and steamer and barge descriptions, Sisters of the Sweetwater Fury comes alive with a sense of time and place that immediately involves readers in Sunny's life. 

As action heats up, Kinley Bryan's portraits are mesmerizing, cementing strong characters with challenges that evolve from their actions and the seafaring world around them: "Where was Herb now that they were all about to die? The Titus Brown hung, mid-tilt. Suspended between air and water long enough for Sunny to change her mind half a dozen times about whether they would or would not tip all the way over." 

Sunny has plans for a life ashore, but her husband Herb, the steward, wants to sign on for yet another year on the lakes. The contrasts between their perceptions of danger offer an intriguing comparison between land and sea life: “Boats are lost every season. There are accidents.” “There’re accidents everywhere,” Herb said. “There are plenty of dangers on land, my love. Illnesses, fevers.” 

Sunny's efforts to change her world as she feels herself changing embrace not only the milieu of her times, but the dichotomy of male/female relationships and duties. She's got a café location all picked out. But Herb thinks he can't make money ashore. 

Kinley Bryan does an outstanding job of portraying the midlife crisis of a woman who, at age thirty-three, no longer waits for a family to cement her life's purpose. Sunny's decision to forge ahead with her own business, a passion reinforced by a deadly storm, leads the couple to make financial and emotional decisions that move them away from their familiar lives and routines into something different. 

Kinley Bryan was born and raised in Northeast Ohio, and counts numerous Great Lakes captains among her ancestors. This familiarity lends to a solid sense of place and culture to the scenarios she describes, cementing both their atmosphere and facts which are based on the real history of the U.S. Life-Saving Service, which operated throughout the Great Lakes and along the Atlantic Coast from the mid-1800s until 1915. 

The events of the paradigm-changing storm are also based on real-world meteorological events, while the husband-and-wife team reflects the Howard M. Hanna Jr.'s real-life cook and her heroism during the storm. 

Filled with psychological twists and physical confrontations as Sunny and Herb move through their environment and towards the Great Storm that will change everything, Sisters of the Sweetwater Fury is a riveting period piece especially recommended for Ohio and nautical history holdings, as well as general interest readers, who will relish the tale of a spunky wife's determination to survive and grow against all odds. 

Sisters of the Sweetwater Fury

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A Small Hotel
Suanne Laqueur
Cathedral Rock Press
978-1-7372649-5-8
$24.99 Hardcover/$18.99 Paper/$5.99 ebook
www.suannelaqueurwrites.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Small-Hotel-Suanne-Laqueur-ebook/dp/B0996GCK2K 

A Small Hotel is the introductory book in the Small Hotel series and opens in the summer of 1941, when Europe is at war, but America is still experiencing the height of the tourist season—a last hurrah before the nation is pulled into conflict. 

Kennet Fiskare has fallen in love with Swedish-Brazilian hotel guest Astrid Virtanen, but it's a love destined to be buffeted by the winds of war and Kennet’s entry into battle in France. 

As his world is transformed by previously incomprehensible fights and struggles, Kennet finds that his perspective, relationships, and values in life have also changed...perhaps to the point that a romance with Astrid is no longer possible. 

Or, is it? 

Suanne Laqueur depicts a fine interplay between family, love, and the revised family circumstances of being part of a military world. She takes the time to move readers between these milieus, capturing various sentiments between generations about the impact of battle and survival: "The chair creaked as Emil leaned and kissed Kennet’s head. “You are my eldest and finest. And I’d fight another war for you.” Kennet closed his eyes. Three words he’d always struggled to say naturally with his father now spilled out without thought: “I love you.” “You’re the best thing that happened to your Ma and me. You’re honorable and decent and kind. You don’t deserve this, and I’d fix it all if I could. But you’ll come out a better man for it.” 

Laqueur also takes the time to portray the impact of soldiers as they move through the countryside and the lives of those who interact with them: "The women took the loot outside while the squad stripped off socks and long johns. Assessing the disgusting pile of unmentionables on the floor of the hay mow, the sisters wondered what these dirty but brave soldiers might offer in return for the use of the hot water in the house? Hot water was a baby gazelle thrown into the lion’s den. The packs opened again and the squad all but pelted their hosts with cigarettes, condensed milk, sugar cubes, instant coffee and chocolate. Then they nearly came to blows over who would get first turn in the bathroom." 

These close inspections of the rituals, routines, and connections between soldiers, families, civilians and lovers come full circle in a story that moves from one hotel in America to sojourn overseas to new seasons and ideas as Kennet moves past war to find an uncertain and different form of peace in his life and loves. 

As A Small Hotel evolves, readers receive a vivid, emotional survey of families challenged by war's arrival and the kinds of decisions that change everyone. 

Its powerful force brings the times and individual struggles and perceptions to life, making A Small Hotel highly recommended for any fiction reader interested in World War Two's impact on disparate lives around the world. 

A Small Hotel

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So Beware
James Hockenberry
HN Books, LLC
978-0-9915612-3-0                $3.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/BEWARE-World-War-One-Intrigue-ebook/dp/B075639ZK2 

One would expect that the third book in a World War I novel series would require prior familiarity with characters and setting. But, then, that same newcomer to James Hockenberry's work will also be surprised at the blend of history and intrigue that sets this book apart from most World War I scenarios, requiring no prior familiarity with its predecessors in order to prove accessible. 

The blend of intrigue, suspense, and World War I events is taut and attractive. A rather long list of characters at the beginning helps newcomers understand that this novel will be wide-ranging both in its viewpoints and its international scope. It is followed by a section of historical background that will delight readers of nonfiction who want to understand both the milieu and premise of the novel and also serves to introduce the reader to the coming narrative. 

Chapter 1 opens with 'The Last Day' and is set in France in 1918, where Captain Gilbert Martin and the Kellers (heroes of the first two books, Over Here and Send the Word) return to the limelight. 

A threat to the signing of the Versailles peace treaty emerges to threaten catastrophe unless the military intelligence officers can thwart a dangerous plot. 

A series of cat-and-mouse encounters based on lesser-known World War I real events and people keeps the story fast-paced and readers on their toes. Even those versed in history will find many of the intelligence and historical insights riveting and unexpected. 

From links between chess moves and encryption puzzles to political deals and schemes that determine the fate of nations and their connections to one another, Hockenberry provides a seamless intersection between history and fiction that keeps his story action-packed, believable, and hard to put down. 

Readers should ideally be attracted to historical backdrops surrounding World War I, while also satisfied with fictional intrigue and action that bring these situations to life. There are many passages of historical insight that reflect not just the usual physical battles, but behind-the-scenes maneuvering and special interests that result in political alliances and agreements: "The Allies would promise to remove their entire forces from Russia and end the blockade. They would also stop all financial and military aid to the White Russians and would guarantee the White Russians would accept the conditions. Lenin gave the Allies one month to accept the deal. Bullitt ended by saying, 'These are excellent terms. Better than we could have hoped for.'" 

Through the lens of accusations, confrontations, and agreements, fragments of a puzzle "click into place" as readers follow the intelligence leaders in a desperate struggle to prevent calamity. The drama and complexities of the Peace Conference jump off the pages, culminating in the electrifying moment when German delegates are invited to receive the punishing terms. 

James Hockenberry's story will reach even those who enjoy thrillers but have little World War I interest. Its vivid blend of action, drama, and political intrigue will keep audiences on edge and wondering about outcomes, especially with the twists and turns that keep intrigue high and results unpredictable. 

Any historical fiction collection looking for more than battle stories alone will find So Beware a fitting, complex, appealing addition. 

So Beware

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Stage Seven
Ruth F. Stevens
DartFrog Books
978-1-956019-01-8         $16.99 Paper/$5.99 ebook
Publisher: https://dartfrogbooks.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Stage-Seven-Ruth-F-Stevens-ebook/dp/B09J5DNQ94 

In Stage Seven, Barbara is a busy caregiver and part of the "sandwich generation" caught between family and the needs of aging parents. 

Dedicated to family and more than "taken" by her responsibilities, Barbara is in desperate need of love and caring, herself. And when she finds it in an unusual way, she stands to lose more than propriety in Stage Seven. 

As the story opens, Barbara struggles with her recent decision to move her mother, Dolly, into an Alzheimer’s facility: "I feared Ma had lost all regard for the rules of the game, and the age level of her play more closely approximated three than her actual eighty-three years...The laughter stopped, and Ma turned to me in confusion to ask, “Where the hell are we?” As I witnessed her emotions turning on a dime, my own mood pivoted from calm to apprehensive." 

Driven by her sense of family and responsibility to live up to her obligations and values, Barbara nonetheless finds the energy to move in a different direction for herself with Jack, a married older man who struggles with a wife with dementia who no longer knows who he is. 

"Every place is a strange place to Ma now." It's also a strange situation, for Barbara to consider options she never knew she had, much less believed in pursuing. Barbara has spent quite a long time denying her own needs. When new possibilities blossom, she faces a transformation that challenges not only her sense of duty and trajectory in life, but the values she has built about love, making connections, and taking risks. 

While the story centers on Barbara and Jack, it doesn't neglect the thoughts and reactions of those around them such as Sarah, Barbara's daughter. Ruth F. Stevens takes the time to give her a voice in matters, as well, as her perception of her mother evolves and changes: "Sarah had always viewed Barbara as a frail, over-emotional person who cried too often, worried too strenuously, and balked at taking risks. But now, she understood she had always focused on her mother’s weaknesses without giving her enough credit for her strengths." 

These realistic, intimate inspections of lives affected by dementia, obligations, and love create a compelling story that will prove especially appealing to any "sandwich generation" member struggling with similar duties and opportunities. 

Its ability to juxtapose fun with serious inspections and thought-provoking moments makes Stage Seven highly recommended for women and families who are navigating the currents of dementia and romance concurrently, and who look for stories steeped in real-world emotions and interpersonal explorations. 

Stage Seven

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Those Brisbane Romantics
Danielle de Valera
Old Tiger Books
978-0-9942745-6-4
US$4.45 (ebook); US$20.30 (print); AU$25.99 (Australian bookstores)
https://tinyurl.com/c96pan8v 

Brisbane, Australia in the 1960s is the pastoral setting for a romantic and social inspection in Those Brisbane Romantics. Set in an old mansion where new adults struggle with issues of commitment and change, the story revolves around Tara and Joe, who each have set paths of achievement and creative opportunity ahead of them. 

A budding romance threatens to derail these plans; and so each resists the other for different reasons—but even though romance is an intrinsic part of the story line, so, also, is Australian history. Danielle de Valera examines the White Australia Policy's racism and the impact of engrained attitudes on the nation's indigenous Aboriginal population. 

These facets are brought to life through the eyes and experiences of Doug Jarratt and Tara’s best friend Cass Clayton, who face personal issues of romance as well as racism's impact on their lives and choices. 

Danielle de Valera does an excellent job of weaving the aspirations and observations of disparate individuals into a story that is rooted in romance, but embraces a wider range of concerns than individual pursuits alone. 

She captures interpersonal conflict and points of difference using astute and pointed dialogue that brings each character to life: "Joe watched a pigeon diving for a piece of bread someone had thrown to it. “Security means nothing to me.” “That is because already you have the security. You are in familiar surroundings, among friends. Later you will learn just how much of your security was really due to you and just how much was due to other things. But you do not like to talk like this, I see.” Joe decided the best method of defence was attack. “Why don’t you want to marry now?” 

de Valera is also skilled at pointing out the barriers to romance and deeper connections as her characters inquire, interact, and evolve: "Tara had a flash of how her life would be if she married Alan. It would be very lonely once the sex wore off. “Sometimes,” she said, “when I’m up really high, I feel as if I could step off, that I’ve escaped from myself for just a moment. But the minute I move or even realise what I’m thinking, I’m back in there again, imprisoned. Have you ever felt that?” Alan shrugged. “Don’t think I’d want to. It sounds a bit dangerous to me.” 

Those Brisbane Romantics is as much about changing times as shifting hearts and minds. With Australia's history and social issues blending into these romantic stories and inspections, the story that engages on more than a linear or singular level. Danielle de Valera has crafted an engaging saga of 1960s Australia and affairs of the heart alike, as her characters enter the wider world, and childhood is left behind. 

Those Brisbane Romantics

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The Unredeemed
D. László Conhaim
Broken Arrow Press
978-0-9843175-3-0                       
Publisher: www.brokenarrowpress.com
Author: www.dlaszloconhaim.com 

With The Unredeemed, D. László Conhaim delivers a sequel to Comanche Captive that will appeal to prior fans of Conhaim's work as well as newcomers who enjoy Western historical fiction. 

From intrigues involving Indian raiders and U.S. Cavalry scouts to dialogue that fits the times, Conhaim presents a story that is vivid, evocative, and filled with satisfying insights about interactions between all kinds of frontier types. 

While its foundations lie in real-world Herman Lehmann's experiences of abduction and living nine years with the Apaches (during which time Lehmann lived and thought as one of them and not as a "paleface," as he came to call white people), The Unredeemed provides a fascinating read that depicts a form of Stockholm Syndrome, in which the captive becomes allied with his captor in order to survive. 

Lehmann’s story, however, is only the jumping off point of this fiction about a captive's choice to remain an “Indian.” The story of the white boy turned Native American warrior is explored against the backdrop of the little-known Buffalo Soldier Tragedy of 1877. 

Another notable approach that differentiates The Unredeemed from the typical Western is its attention to diversity. African Americans are prominently represented here in the Old West. 

Black sergeant Emanuel “Tops” Chance takes risks and makes choices every bit as critical as his white or Indian counterparts in this story. This, too, sets The Unredeemed apart. 

Much food for thought emerges as the story unfolds, presenting characters and readers alike with new perspectives: "'The men that saved your brother—here.' He pounded the map with his finger, then purposefully grasped a fistful of his horse’s mane. 'Black men.' Endah simply blinked. Did he understand? 'Chivatá take them there,' said Renald, speaking as plainly as he could. 'They will die. Ellos morirán. You can save them.' The brave’s face flushed. His cheeks seemed to rise and withdraw while his lips cracked open. 'I don’t get it, sir,' Tyler remarked. 'And I suspect he don’t, neither. You letting him go?' 'Question is what he makes of it,' Renald answered. He grasped Endah’s shoulder. 'Frei. You’re frei!'" 

The resulting achievement expands upon its predecessor, Comanche Captive, and yet presents nicely as a stand-alone Western that excels in its sense of place, and whose unusual mix of characters makes it hard to put down and satisfyingly unpredictable. 

The Unredeemed should join Comanche Captive in any collection strong in Western novels and Native American history. 

The Unredeemed

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Reviewer's Choice

Changing Children's Lives with Hypnosis
Ran D. Anbar, MD
Rowman & Littlefield
9781538153666             $35.00 Hardcover/$33.00 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Changing-Childrens-Lives-Hypnosis-Journey/dp/1538153661 

Changing Children's Lives with Hypnosis: A Journey to the Center gathers case history examples of patient healing processes to encourage and support the notion that children, too, can be healed by hypnosis. It poses a variety of applications answering many questions about the process and the results that can be gained through such treatment. 

Changing Children's Lives with Hypnosis is particularly notable because the bulk of medical books about hypnosis therapy apply to adults. Another important note is that Dr. Anbar is a physician who specialized not in hypnosis, but in pediatric pulmonary disorders. As he learned about and came to apply hypnosis therapy to his young patients, Dr. Anbar discovered that nearly every child under his care who suffered from a chronic physical or mental ailment seemed to benefit from adding hypnosis treatments into the regimen. 

The rationale for why this treatment works so effectively and universally is presented in the first chapter: "The reason hypnosis benefits children with a broad range of symptoms is in part that this therapy is unique in meeting them where they have the most need. In many children with chronic illness, for example, the burden of their medical issues leads to anxiety, depression, or other psychological reactions. By learning how to use hypnosis to better regulate themselves emotionally, these children can handle their illnesses with less psychological distress and more resilience. In children whose psychological burdens cause them to develop physical symptoms, those symptoms often resolve completely when the children learn to understand and regulate their feelings and responses. Finally, almost every child can benefit from learning how to control their negative reactions to uncomfortable medical procedures and stressful situations." 

By incorporating hypnosis therapy into his practice, Dr. Anbar discovered its wide-reaching impact helped not only his young patients, but their family members. The results were so astonishing that Dr. Anbar established his own hypnosis clinic: "At the outset of this journey, I had no idea that within a few years I’d realize I could accomplish more healing every day, week, month, and year with hypnosis than I could through traditional medicine alone." 

This book represents a three-fold exploration. It defines and explores the process and theory of hypnosis in therapeutic settings; it considers how patients and therapists interact during sessions to build a process that holds lasting value; and it supports its approaches and contentions with case history examples that capture the hypnosis experience. 

General-interest readers need not be versed in either hypnosis or medical terminology in order to find Changing Children's Lives with Hypnosis accessible and enlightening; especially since it also includes tips and insights that family members, caregivers, and health professionals can use to support and understand the hypnosis treatment (even incorporating these techniques into their own everyday lives). 

While not intended to circumvent or replace the work of a seasoned medical provider trained in hypnosis, this book creates a supportive system and atmosphere that allows adults to be more proactive in supporting all children, including those who are in hypnosis therapy. 

From psychological revelations on how pain is addressed and converted to how "hypnosis can recalibrate a child’s fear by putting the original incident into new focus," Changing Children's Lives with Hypnosis is highly recommended for those who would like to better understand how hypnosis approaches to therapy can both support traditional medicine and move beyond it to address psychological needs in children. 

It should be on the shelves of any medical library as well as many a general-interest collection strong in parenting and self-help. 

Changing Children's Lives with Hypnosis

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Connecting with Ourselves and Others as We Age
Mary L. Flett, PhD
Five Pillars of Aging Press
978-1-7342395-6-0                $9.99
www.fivepillarsofaging.com 

Book 2 in the Aging with Finesse series, Connecting with Ourselves and Others as We Age, continues Dr. Flett's survey of the modern process and impact of aging. It discusses new opportunities posed by growing and establishing new connections with self and life. 

Unlike many other books on aging on the market today, the focus on how to achieve the positive benefits of aging uses Dr. Flett's experiences and blog as a pivot point for exploring the process of continuing growth and evolution. 

Take "Becoming a Pathfinder," for one example. Dr. Flett reflects that she wishes aging continued the pride and process of striving for Girl Scout badges that recognize achievement. Then she explores how to duplicate this feel of success through life approaches that encourage adaptation and collaboration with others. 

From the benefits of travel and the mindfulness it can bring to solo travelers to differences in conversations and content between old and new friendships, acquiring the trait of curiosity when none is previously evident, and embarking on brain-stimulating, life-supporting ventures ("Your brain literally lights up when it is faced with a problem to solve or a new experience to incorporate."), these offer different approaches to revising the perception and experience of aging into a positive venture. 

Connecting with others first requires connecting better with self. Both pursuits involve cultivating a more open, flexible, and mindful approach to aging and growth than they may have harbored before picking up this book. 

As Connecting with Ourselves and Others as We Age documents not only the benefits of making these diverse connections, but shows how those unfamiliar with the process can begin, it provides another brick in the wall of exploding common myths about aging, being stuck, and living in the past. 

As a companion to Valuing Ourselves as We Get Older, it continues a program of insight and connection recommended for any collection strong in the psychology of aging and self-help opportunities for changing its progress and perception. 

Connecting with Ourselves and Others as We Age

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Dancing At the Gate
Carol K. Grosz
Heavenly Light Press
978-1-63183-529-2         $12.99 Paper/$2.99 ebook

https://www.amazon.com/Dancing-Gate-Facing-Pain-Courage/dp/1631835297

Dancing At the Gate: Facing Pain With Hope and Courage is a testimony to survival. It comes from a 'Chronic Pain Warrior' who has struggled with the crippling effects of a neurological pain disease for decades. 

Christians who look to the Bible for inspiration on how to overcome suffering or live with chronic conditions will find this memoir a fine adjunct to Scripture. It blends the perspective of a woman who faces daily trials with the uplifting insights of a Christian who finds in Biblical passages her personal salvation and inspiration, and will appeal to religious readers, especially, with its mix of spiritual and psychological insights. 

Carol K. Grosz speaks of faith and strengths to be gained from such belief, and imparts her messages in an inspiring manner: "It requires a lot of trust in the Lord. It takes all of the trust that heaven provides. And if we can breathe in and jump in and live in that trust, we are emboldened. Let’s get bold enough to give God a great big God-size chance. After all, He did create the Universe!" 

She employs Bible quotes to teach readers a better approach to tackling life's pain, doing so without diminishing the special challenges of believing in better things even in the throes of agony: "This is a short course in how to live each day. Hold on to this verse when you just can’t concentrate and when it seems impossible to tackle the day’s “to do” list. If you’re experiencing a pain flare or dealing with chronic fatigue, the number of days the “to do” list gets left behind can begin to stack up. At some point, it’s easy to begin to feel diminished." 

As chapters juxtapose Gospel analysis and quotes with Grosz's own experiences, readers gain insights on how to more effectively turn to faith, reflections, and trust to alleviate physical and mental suffering. 

Sometimes the memoir takes the form of a letter to God: "I woke up this morning believing a lie. I thought because I am in pain that today wouldn’t count. I told myself that because my body hurts and my mind is restless that You must have abandoned me and taken away my hope. But those are lies." 

At other points, it's a letter to self and to readers who also hold faith, yet struggle with life's slings and arrows. 

At all times, it's a reminder to step back, take a breath, and revel in faith and the belief in a greater purpose and a better life; all of which can be found in Scripture, and in the experiences, reflections, and lessons of Dancing At the Gate. 

Its admonition encourages these introspective thoughts: "In this journey of ever seeking healing, we should just try being a leaf. Instead of working so hard and trying so hard and constantly striving for positivity, we could just give Jesus a chance to make us new." 

Collections strong in faith-centered memoirs and self-help titles will find Dancing At the Gate inspirational, reflective, and motivational—a fine choice for Christians who want to better cement their relationship to God against all adversity. 

Dancing At the Gate

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Drawn Into the Dream
Walter Berry
Precocity Press
978-1736217498            $19.95 Paper/$9.99 Kindle
Website: www.drawnintothedream.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Drawn-into-Dream-Drawing-Dreams/dp/1736217496/ 

Drawn into the Dream: How Drawing Your Dreams Can Take You to the Land of Awes sports a deceptively simple cover art of a drawing of a dream that introduces us to the book’s intriguing subject—drawing simple sketches of one's dreams to solidify their underlying meanings and emotions—the book is meant to attract people interested in a very different form of dream analysis. 

Unlike the typical dream inspection which encourages psychological analysis, Walter Berry uses art to support the process. The art of drawing is one way of connecting to the unconscious mind, and often produces results that enhance the dream analysis process. 

Examples and instructions are provided in a step-by-step approach that encourages readers to put drawing implement to paper to capture these meanings: "The idea that someone would project on their own dream may sound strange, but this is exactly what happens when the dreamer gives birth to the dream by delineating its form on a piece of paper. The dream has taken on a life of its own, and everyone in the room, including the dreamer, gets to dance with it by projecting on it. Our focus during this stage is on the drawing, not the dreamer, and we keep connecting more deeply to the dream itself." 

While it may sound like psychological analysis is part of the equation, it's not. Berry connects all the dots needed to understand why drawing one's dream differs from writing, how to do it, and how to understand its fruitful results. 

The enthusiasm and spark of energy is also captured in this book: "In spite of their thoughtfulness, words cannot truly capture or encompass the experience of standing in the place of awe. These definitions refer to awe as an emotion, but I look at it also as an experience, not just the emotion alone. It is a state of being for me, a place where you can connect with something outside yourself. The difference between the concept (and definitions) of awe and the experience of awe is akin to the difference between the concept of love and being in love. I can feel love, but being in love is an immersive experience that comes with magic. The same is true of awe. I can feel awe as an emotion, but when I am in the experience of awe, I have moved beyond the emotion to a state of being. When you are in that place—and I find it to be an actual place—other things happen that are beyond explaining in words only. Experiencing true awe is always magical. In that state, the ego diminishes, and the senses become heightened, but most importantly, the magic connects you to an experience outside of yourself. You are standing in a world that is not your own and experiencing emotions that come from that place." 

As readers pursue Drawn into the Dream, the choice of its simple cover art becomes apparent. It's a deliberate representation of all the possibilities this method of dream inspection promises. 

All that's required is the memory of one's dreams...no artistic talent is needed. Just draw. 

Drawn Into the Dream

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Essential Skills for Growing Old with Grace
Mary L. Flett, PhD
Five Pillars of Aging Press
978-1-7342395-7-7                $9.99
www.fivepillarsofaging.com 

While it might be presumed that this title's subject has already been adequately covered in Dr. Flett's previous books about aging, in actuality, Essential Skills for Growing Old with Grace is a review of how these prior discussions tie together. This makes for its essential inclusion in any collection which found Valuing Ourselves as We Get Older and Connecting with Ourselves and Others as We Age to be important and popular reads. 

In some ways, Essential Skills for Growing Old with Grace is a weightier read than its predecessors. That's because it embarks on hard conversations that consider such subjects as dying, integrating old and new paradigms of belief about aging and living, and asking the question "What is enough?" when it comes to life choices and achievements. 

All these issues and more require that the reader stop, take a deep breath, and reconsider the outcome of their life path and its motivating drive. And this is why, even more than the other books in the series, Essential Skills for Growing Old with Grace needs to be digested in segments that allow enough time for contemplation. 

As Dr. Flett faces her own health crisis and the decisions that this brings, readers receive a blend of autobiographical inspection and keys to unraveling their own desires and underlying tensions and influences. 

These, in turn, lend to a revised idea of aging, coping, and decision-making that ultimately feed the main messages of these books, on how to lead a better, more mindful life as one ages. 

From finding nourishment on many levels to cultivating a sense of gratitude and attending to building daily competency in the face of Covid and other challenges, there is no better formula for moving into advancing years than the strategies outlined in Essential Skills for Growing Old with Grace. 

This is why it and its other series companions deserve a place not only in psychology and self-help collections, but in any general library catering to those who would walk more mindfully and purposely into later life. 

Essential Skills for Growing Old with Grace

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Fast Track Online
Judy Nichols
In House Publishing Australia
978-0-646-82934-0                        $4.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Fast-Track-Online-Transition-knowledge-ebook/dp/B09GP5LNS3 

Fast Track Online: Transition Your Work, Knowledge, Purpose And Skills Online To Earn More, Live More And Be Free focuses on starting up an online side gig that holds income and promises freedom from 9-5 workplace demands, and is highly recommended reading for those who want to tailor a plan of action to support this transitional opportunity. 

It synthesizes Judy Nichols's years of research, digital learning, and trial and error experiences into a set of ten recommended best practices for achieving success, conducting the leg work needed so that those who would make this change don't experience the same pitfalls that Nichols faced. 

From self-assessment of expertise and strengths that could translate well to an online work environment to what influences online business success stories, Nichols pairs basic business ideas about risk management, new ventures, and customer development into a specific set of rules that apply to those making such transitions, no matter what the skill or job. 

Specifics range from webinars and e-teaching to understanding affiliate relationships and various choices in email and social media marketing tactics, offering advice on developing online content, emphasizing expertise and reaching target audiences, and crafting LinkedIn and other profiles that sync with strategy priorities identified in early efforts. 

From finding the best way to research, hire, and utilize talent to learning from the stories and challenges of others who successfully made the transition to online business, Fast Track Online contrasts processes that held different lessons: "She reinvented herself again with a mix of face to face and online consultancy roles in the health, government and not-for-profit sectors. She was able to replace her executive income and work only half the hours. From her first-hand experience of doing the work she loves and helping others, Judy also realised the huge freedom and flexibility available to experts who choose to transition online. Seeing the potential for others to succeed, she decided to share her knowledge and story." 

Fast Track Online should be a standard acquisition for any business library seeking a blend of business advice and personal experience. Its focus on navigating the conundrums of transitional processes makes it an important guide that offers approaches and strategies proven to hold superior results. 

Fast Track Online

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Finding Joy with an Invisible Chronic Illness
Christopher Martin
Martin Family Bookstore
9780990826958
Hardcover: $19.95/Paper: $12.95/ebook: $8.95
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0990826953
Website: www.invisibleillnessbooks.com 

Finding Joy with an Invisible Chronic Illness:  Proven Strategies for Discovering Happiness, Meaning, and Fulfillment comes from a psychologist and father of 6 who has battled multiple invisible chronic ailments ranging from asthma and allergies, a primary immune deficiency disorder, sleep apnea, and more. While any of these would seem enough to struggle with, the combination results in a real challenge to leading a joyful life, injecting the specter of debilitation and illness into the most mundane of daily rituals. 

Invisible chronic illness is more prevalent in society than one would think. There are all kinds of conditions that create pain, uncertainty, and struggles with daily routines, yet are not observed by those outside the family. As a result, they are less understood by others, are often self-diagnosed outside of medical circles, and are challenging for everyone involved. 

Chris Martin advises that the first step in dealing with chronic illness is to gain an accurate medical diagnosis, but he's careful to also say that this isn't the last step in the process of regaining a meaningful life: "While an official diagnosis represents a huge step forward in the management of your condition, it also represents a new beginning in your journey of further seeking help for your condition, not the end. In dealing with a chronic illness, the search for improved health and a better quality of life never ceases. Likewise, despite an official diagnosis, you will continue to confront challenges when accessing quality healthcare or dealing with others, but it will be that much easier to confront these challenges. You have cleared a major hurdle." 

Finding Joy acknowledges both the complexity of searching for better treatments and health through medical circles and gaining support from family and friends who may come to question a process which holds no clear avenue to resolution, yet impacts many life choices: "When others doubt the validity of your illness, they may view you as faking your illness and encourage you to just push through it. They struggle to understand why you frequently need to cancel on them, why you are not up for social gatherings or outings, or why you do not appear productive. Although most people with chronic illness would prefer to stay productive than chronically ill any day, they may view you as lazy and over-indulging in rest or your “time off.” In short, they often perceive your invisible chronic illness as not severe enough to prevent you from engaging in daily life activities." 

Martin offers concrete paths to better health, communication, and mind-stretching/supporting routines such as mindfulness, and tailors all these approaches to chronic illness. 

While there is plenty of information here about acceptance, self-compassion, reappraisal, encouraging self-talk, social support, and positive psychology concepts and stress management techniques, the heart of this discussion lies in putting these ethereal concepts and ideals into daily life and interactions with others. 

All this lends an ultimate purpose of finding joy in everyday life against all obstacles. Martin's discussion incorporates how to create new mindsets, habits, and approaches to living for optimal results. These offer a revised set of actions and new solutions for those who have found themselves swamped with chronic ailments and daily life challenges. 

Anyone with chronic illness needs this blueprint of new pathways to joy. It's a survey recommended not just for the chronically ill patient, but also for the family and friends supporting their efforts. 

Finding Joy with an Invisible Chronic Illness

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Gaza Conflict 2021: Hamas, Israel and Eleven Days of War
Jonathan Schanzer
FDD Press
978-1-956450-01-9         $29.95
Website:
https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2021/11/10/gaza-conflict-2021/
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Gaza-Conflict-2021-Jonathan-Schanzer/dp/1956450017 

Gaza Conflict 2021: Hamas, Israel and Eleven Days of War should be required reading for anyone looking for a closer inspection of Gaza politics and events than is usually provided in the typical survey of the Middle East's conflicts.

It provides a hard-hitting inspection from a personal perspective. This adds details and insights unavailable from third-party reporting. 

Jonathan Schanzer first visited the Gaza Strip in 1998 as a graduate student at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. 

At that time, he found his calling in not only researching the region, but conducting personal research to get a better feel for its people, history, and controversies. 

This approach provided him with a historical and personal familiarity that contrasted rich and poor perspectives, setting the stage for understanding why Gaza proved a focal point hotbed for Hamas terrorist activity. 

After his visit, the area fell under the complete control of Hamas, but the insights he gained from that experience still led to a book essential for probing the roots of the war between Hamas and Israel that took place in May of 2021. 

Neither a debate about Israel's military justification for its actions nor a condemnation of Hamas as a terrorist organization, Schanzer's probe seeks to present the events of this conflict (the fourth between these forces) as a microcosm that employs hindsight to better explain its evolution and why it is important to consider and reconsider its lasting ramifications. 

Chapters identify a fundamental disconnect between reality and reporting methods which holds important meaning for media studies students; especially those interested in capturing historical and military events. 

This audience receives a pointed history of events which is critical, because it outlines important departures between reality and reporting choices: "...media reporting during the 2021 conflict often ignored the clear patterns from the previous rounds of conflict between Hamas and Israel. There is plenty of material from which to draw...Here in America, the reporting and analysis on the 2021 Gaza war also ignored the brutality of Hamas." 

That these and other inconsistencies in coverage prompted Schanzer to produce his own inspection of the conflict is to be celebrated, because he brings to the table a perspective, personal experience, and observations that is not covered in typical reports of the war. 

Lest any wonder, Gaza Conflict 2021 is not an opinion piece. It's a carefully researched, highly footnoted survey that overlays the author's insights with the facts surrounding both sides. 

More so than most, this book identifies just why Gaza stands out in Israel's historical record of conflicts: "Israel’s wars with Hamas are very distinct from the uneasy but pragmatic relations that currently exist between the PA and Israel. Gaza is now ground zero in a proxy conflict. It is part of a bigger battle between Israel and Iran, along with other determined foes." 

Collections strong in Middle East history might be tempted to see Gaza Conflict 2021 as a familiar coverage that is already reflected in other books, but this would be a fallacy. The book is actually a standout, identifying perspectives and falsehoods that other surveys gloss over. 

It should be considered essential reading for any library strong in Israeli history and the Middle East region's conflicts as a whole. 

Gaza Conflict 2021: Hamas, Israel and Eleven Days of War

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Halloween Party '21
David Yurkovich, Editor
Gravelight Press/Devil’s Party Press, LLC
978-1-7340918-4-7                $14.99 Paper/$.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Halloween-Party-21-Dianne-Pearce/dp/1734091843 

Halloween Party '21 is a horror anthology that belongs in any collection strong in frightening reads, featuring a wide range of vampire and ghostly scenarios that will delight genre fans. 

Many of these writers will be unfamiliar, but that doesn't mean their works within are any less powerful than better-known authors. Halloween Party '21 presents a wide range of presentation forms, from poetry to prose, which also expands the vision of what constitutes a horror read. 

Take Morgan Golladay's "It Is Highly Illegal to Hit Someone With an Egg," for example. This hip-hop poem captures some "hard-boiled attitude" over Halloween egging and how the devil gets into those who celebrate the holiday in ways that impact their frightened neighbors. 

Faye Perozich's "Unwell," in contrast, is about a happy life changed by tragedy, leading to the contemplation of suicide. A father and daughter find themselves in the same place, for different reasons: "It felt like they were two complete strangers who just happened to be in the same place, each doing the same thing by sheer coincidence, an entire world of loneliness, guilt, and grief separating them." But the real horror lies in the intersection of blame, love, murder, and a macabre twist of fate. 

Each piece brings with it a different form of horror inspection that is both delightful and thought-provoking. 

Readers young and old who are interested in horror accounts that go beyond the usual spooks and hauntings to poke at the heart of horrors that remain unseen, unspoken, and unacknowledged will find the diversity and literary excellence of these writings to be captivatingly different from any other horror anthology. 

While Halloween Party '21 will likely be chosen for horror collections, it also deserves a place in any literary collection seeking to push the boundaries of genre reading to attract thinking audiences who relish unexpected twists and turns. 

Halloween Party '21

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The Jewish Book of Horror
Josh Schlossberg, Editor
Denver Horror Collective
978-1-7341917-7-6         $15.99 Paper/$9.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Jewish-Book-Horror-Daniel-Braum/dp/1734191775 

Many readers may be surprised at the association between 'Jewish' and traditional horror writing, but as this collection shows, Jewish history and legends hold strong roots in depictions of horror. The Jewish Book of Horror presents both sample stories and introductory discussions of the tradition. 

Rabbi John Carrier kicks off the survey with "An Orchard of Terror: Scary Stories and the Jewish Tradition." This provides readers with a historical and literary backdrop for the connection between horror and Jewish experience, offering a scholarly but lively inspection of the Jewish psyche, its dilemmas, and its incarnations in the horror genre. 

He also points out that "If you dissect the stories herein, you may be stricken by themes, vocabulary, or a particular sense of humor that set them apart from horror that is not explicitly Jewish. The ingredients speak more to “our” demonology or eschatology. What we fear (and what we don’t) may be different based on our unique historical experience. Ultimately, what makes Jewish horror, I believe, is that a Jew made it." 

And yet, the sources of these legends and their influence have a long tradition of being "...all carried around in our heads for the first thousand years or so, or at least carried in the heads of specialists who, like Homer, stored vast collections mnemonically to be shared at hearth, by campfire, and from one dungeon cell to the next." 

The experiences of the Jewish people and culture carry over into these diverse explorations and will prove delightful reading to both horror genre readers and those of Jewish descent, who will find them uncanny and satisfyingly creative. 

One example of this diversity lies in KD Casey's "The Last Plague," which opens with a reference to a Jewish tradition: "My mother sends me to open the back door to admit a prophet. “Be quick and don’t let out all the heat from the house!” she says. Pesach is early this year." 

As the young narrator depicts a Seder dinner that, like Groundhog Day, seems destined to repeat (albeit with different outcomes to being sent to welcome in a prophet), Pesach changes...and so do the lives of the Jewish people who celebrate it. 

As life changes for the narrator over a period of Pesachs and time, readers receive powerful inspections of its downfall: "I dream of our life before, our backyard and our family, and wonder if Jerusalem smells like chicken fat and onions...We do not go to Jerusalem but to a farm in upstate New York, rented from an Amish farmer my mother pays in cash. My  father no longer writes; his last letter said there is a paper shortage." 

The true horror lies on the impact life has on this Jewish family through the eyes of a young observer of tradition and change. 

In contrast, Lindsay King-Miller's "How To Build A Sukkah At The End Of The World" holds some of the same elements of faith during end times, but with a different focus on not just survival, but preserving traditions when the logic for having the celebration has vanished: "The ready-made sukkah your mother put together and took apart each year was stored in the basement. You’ll improvise. Three walls and a roof made of branches—there are more rules than that, but these are the ones you remember. A sukkah must be beneath the open sky, so you can see stars between the branches. Well, that’s an old rule from when there were stars." 

The Jewish Book of Horror excels in portraying different forms of horror. But its real value lies in explorations of Jewish identity and changing tradition that depict the real horror: the erosion of facets of Jewish culture that face vast changes and horrors that range from sorcery to insurrection. 

Each tale comes steeped in a background of Jewish lives and traditions. Each holds a powerful key to understanding the varied sources of horror in adversities that challenge heart, soul, and spiritual wellsprings alike. 

While The Jewish Book of Horror will likely be a literary addition to Jewish collections, it should not be missed by gentiles, either. Its inspections, lessons, and sources of true horror make its diverse tales standouts. 

The Jewish Book of Horror

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Nerds Gone Wild
Mister Victor
Independently Published
978-1-7376113-0-1         $19.99 Paper/$5.99 ebook
Ordering:  Nerds Gone Wild
Author website: TheMisterVictor.com

Nerds Gone Wild offers a special blend of serious reflection and wry humor, providing a social observation of the nerd's history and place in world events. It is a lively and unexpected journey into 'nerddom' that lends particularly well to browsing rather than linear examination, as the preface to its Table of Contents suggests: "Chapters are arranged solely by the author’s sagacious insight, which generally means sheer happenstance— so feel free to read them in any order you choose." 

Yes, there are "big words." And that is one of the pleasurable challenges to be found in a witty, unpredictable collection of humor essays that skirt the boundaries of autobiography and social inspection. 

Take "Food," for example. Readers might expect this chapter might be a dry historical survey; but in fact it's as lively an inspection of food and culture as the "Civics and Winning" essay before it linked football games with moral and ethical ideas and strategies for winning. 

The discussion of food opens with a hilarious query: "History Question: What is the man in the picture doing?
A. Tinkering with the design mechanics of an early atom bomb.
B. Measuring the electrostatic potential of a substation stepdown transformer.
C. Praying to God that somehow he’ll manage to extract his right hand from this man-eating machine.
D. Putting the finishing touches on a modern cooking device." 

As the microwave's history is revealed, its "supernerd" creator (self-taught engineer Percy Spencer) comes to life, as does the very purpose and idea of saving kitchen time against too much activity in human lives: "The adoption of the microwave is quite indicative of the broader nerd experience which our society is currently experiencing. The way a microwave can rapidly speed up cooking, is the same way the speed of our lives is accelerating. Considering our lives are jam-packed with work, rent, bills, kids, school, texts, emails, social networks, shopping and errands, we are racing to get more things done all the time. However, the irony is that there seems to be more and more to do all the time. As a result, we always have the gnawing feeling that there is no time for anything,.........and forget having time to do nothing." 

And, that's the real beauty of these essays. Readers who expect humor alone will be surprised at the route taken from initial comedy overlay to serious discussion. Where other essay collections might cut to the chase but lose their audience with dryness, Mister Victor's droll, wry sense of humor allows for examinations that link daily pursuits, experiences, and ideals to bigger-picture thinking. 

The result is a satisfying blend of humor and serious social reflection that belongs on the shelves of not just humor collections, but those interested in representations of the angst and problems of humankind done in a refreshingly different manner. 

Nerds Gone Wild

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Old Testament Readings & Devotionals, Volume 4
C.M.H. Koenig (compiler)
C.M.H. Koenig Books
978-1-7377324-0-2                Paperback: $14.99
www.cmhkoenigbooks.net 

Like its predecessors, the fourth volume of Old Testament Readings & Devotionals offers Bible students a reasoned course of study. This book explores portions of 1 & 2 Samuel, first Chronicles, and Psalms, providing a survey that links devotionals to Biblical readings that cover 1025 BC – 1010 BC. 

As C.M.H. Koenig moves through this Bible study, students receive the opportunity to savor and re-examine the scriptures and their underlying meaning and messages. 

This is accomplished not just by profiled passages themselves, but through the added value of excerpts from the devotionals by Robert Hawker (1753–1827), Charles H. Spurgeon (1834-1892), and Octavius Winslow (1808-1878). The Psalms utilized are interspersed throughout the Old Testament volumes.  

It's easy to differentiate the key verses (from the Christian Standard Bible) from these associated writings—they appear in italics. It's also easy to link these to a daily pursuit, as each quote and piece appears in a daily format to encourage succinct, thought-provoking reading. 

One example is that presented on Day 38, with a reading from Psalm 54: “God, save me by your name, and vindicate me by your might! God, hear my prayer; listen to the words from my mouth. For strangers rise up against me, and violent men intend to kill me. They do not let God guide them. Selah. God is my helper; the Lord is the sustainer of my life.” Psalm 54:1-4. 

This pairs with an inspection by Winslow from his Evening Thoughts work: "Where was David now? "In the wilderness of Ziph, in a wood." With not a follower or companion, this favorite of the nation was a homeless wanderer, hunted like a partridge upon the mountain by the bloodthirsty king. But oh, the deep teaching of which he would now be the subject! The nothingness of earthly glory – the emptiness of human applause – the poverty of the creature – the treachery of his own heart – in a word, the vapid nature and utter insufficiency of all earthly good, would be among the many holy and costly lessons he would now learn. Nor this alone. Driven from man, he would now be more exclusively and entirely shut in with God. In his happy experience, that wilderness would be as a peopled world, and that wood as a blooming paradise." 

These linked passages offer newfound opportunities for reflection, interpretation, and debate. 

Koenig does readers a great service in making these pairings relevant to contemporary times and philosophical and spiritual reflection alike, creating bonds and methods of inquiry that support belief and Biblical relevance alike. 

Another note to this collection is that its links are easy to digest in length; yet designed for a contemplation that lends to day-long consideration. An example of this is Day 63's reading of Psalm 73: "It is good for me to draw near to God." Psalm 73:28 (AKJV). This seemingly clear one-liner assumes new meaning when paired with Winslow's Morning Thoughts: "Reader, are you a professing child of God? Content not yourself to live thus; it is a poor, lifeless existence, unworthy of your profession, unworthy of Him whose name you do bear, and unworthy of the glorious destiny towards which you are looking. Thus, may a believer test the character of his love. He in whose heart divine affection deepens, increases, and expands, finds God an object of increasing delight and desire..." 

More than a study of Biblical passages alone, Old Testament Readings & Devotionals offers key connections between Biblical words and modern living. As its predecessors do, this fourth volume allows readers the opportunity to slow down and take a reasoned look at the underlying meaning and impact of the Old Testament. 

Students can use this volume for either self-study or/and (ideally) discussion. Its powerful associations offer much food for thought, making Old Testament Readings & Devotionals, Volume 4 an ideal choice for all kinds of Christian collections and readers. 

Old Testament Readings & Devotionals, Volume 4

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Satisfy
Mona Dolgov
You Live Right Publishers
978-1-7366756-0-1         $29.95
www.youliveright.com 

Satisfy: Delicious, Healthy, and Full-Filling Meals for 500 Calories or Less! combines gluten-free recipes with calorie consciousness in a presentation designed to emphasize that healthy food can meet both objectives without being flavorless. Mona Dolgov emphasizes fiber-rich content, from vegetables to whole grains and legumes, and tailors her recipes for busy cooks who have limited time (30 minutes max) to produce family-friendly fare. 

The recipes are all based on the Mediterranean diet. This will delight health-conscious readers who look for innovative fare based on this proven system of healthy eating. 

Satisfy includes tips for streamlining prep and making cooking easier, as well as insights for using the latest time-saving kitchen devices more effectively, but the recipes that are the mainstay of Satisfy shine, between their at-a-glance format, appealing color photos of finished dishes, and ease of prep. 

Pasta with Chicken Sausage and Spinach, for example, is flagged as a "skillet and one-pan meal," while the simple introduction mentions the gluten-free chickpea or lentil pasta ingredients and the taste appeal of marrying chicken sausage, mushrooms, spinach, sun dried tomatoes, and Parmesan cheese in a one-pot production that minimizes cleanup, as well. 

In contrast, Chicken Parm Burgers with Grilled Italian Veggies advocates creating an entire summer meal using the outdoor grill, showing how streamlined timing can produce an entire meal in 10 minutes. An 'Ingredient Insider' sidebar of additional information provides flavor-enhancing notes ("I prefer the flavor of the ground chicken breast for these but ground turkey breast can also be used."). 

With its winning formula for quick meal success, gluten-free tips and foundations, calorie-conscious approach, and eye-catching, flavor-filled choices, Satisfy is a standout cookbook for all levels of home cooks seeking family-friendly recipes that embrace both gluten- and trouble-free cooking. 

Satisfy should be in any cook's collection not just because it's healthy, but because its flavor blends and appealing attention make healthy fare not just palatable, but desirable. 

Satisfy

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Shadow Atlas
Hex
Hex Publishers, LLC
978-1-7365964-1-8         $4.99 ebook
www.HexPublishers.com 

Shadow Atlas is virtually impossible to peg as a genre read. Quite simply, it's a blend of horror, speculative fiction, and alternative history told through short stories contributed by 38 authors and poets, including Josh Malerman and Jane Yolen. This production by the "Scribes of the Umbra Arca" opens with the intriguing form of dossiers and memos attempting to explore the roots of the Umbra Arca Society and its works. 

As the "Western Scriptorium" secret society's writings draw readers into a world layered atop the familiar one, shades of The Twilight Zone and paranormal influences blend with an alternate history and social inspection to provide a powerful series of interconnected stories designed to capture high interest. 

An 'FBI Directive' to investigate this world opens the story with a concluding memo that adds mystery, questioning the Society and its revelations. 

A letter from Dane Essa introduces the concept of the Shadow Atlas further, explaining how this secret came to be imparted on the threshold of death, was identified as a possible prank by a mischievousness professor who wanted to leave behind a legacy of fiction and mystery, and gives a possible motive for deception: "...if one cannot participate in history, then one must reinvent it, with one’s own life rough-hewn into the preferred narrative." 

The story unfolds in a satisfying manner that reflects the diverse approaches of the authors. From Dark Watchers to poetry and prose that captures evolving events, Shadow Atlas represents a vivid intersection between literary formats and perspectives, creating a vivid story that rewrites the definition of fantasy, horror, and fiction as well as historical representation. 

Each story is very different in its characters and events. Each also contributes a new adventure to the exploration of the truth about a mysterious book. 

Think The DaVinci Code or Indiana Jones, but with more literary force, as it comments on mortals, immortals, and the intersection of worlds which holds them. 

Mercedes M. Yardley's story of Moira, banshees, and a sense of home and purpose in "Sand and Salt" is one example of a compelling piece of the puzzle. Its focus on Moira's relationship with Imogene, a "relentless town," and the past is exquisitely wrought: "She missed the storms from home. The black skies, the voices of her sisters as they whirled together in the night. This place was lonely and harsh in a completely different way than the high cliffs. After her shift ended, Imogen punched her card, gathered her things, and rode her bicycle home. The air was hot and fetid even in the dark. Her house was still full of her parents’ old things. Why give them away? Why keep them? Why do anything but curl up in the rooms at night and watch the stars from the window? Why even do that, or really, anything at all?" 

Moira followed Imogen's family to this desert world from Ireland. Imogen is the last of her tribe. What will happen to Moira when she dies? Does she return home, or will she pass this legacy to another generation by having a child? 

The lovely descriptions permeate Moira's decision and provide a powerful impact on the reader: “Cut my wrists and I would bleed sand. It’s in me like the sea is in you. I can’t leave here. I belong to the earth, and it belongs to me. The stars fill me up. I’m full of mud and dirt and tumbleweeds. I’m a golem of this land. I want to leave here so you can go back home, but I’ll die." 

Contrast this with Jeanne C. Stein's "Diablo Ballena," which depicts two seniors in the last phase of their lives who met as anthropology majors in college and headed for adventure in Columbia. 

Investigations into mythology and religion changed their lives. The narrator resurrected a legendary monster. He also uncovered a lust for revenge that ties into his next decisions. 

Each story contributes a powerful stand-alone piece that dovetails nicely with the premise and promise of the Shadow Atlas's world. 

Each will delight readers who look for diversity, powerful literary voices, and stories that grab hold with mystery and supernatural intrigue to rewrite not just history, but concepts of reality, fantasy, and lives that exist in between. 

Peppered with black and white drawings that add further visual dimensions to the tales, Shadow Atlas is a top recommendation for horror, fantasy, and literary short story readers seeking diversity in voices and visions. 

Its collaborative intersection of different worlds thoroughly delights. 

Shadow Atlas

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Soulwork
Elizabeth Radcliffe
Bublish, Incorporated
978-1-647044-07-7         $12.00 paper/$9.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Soulwork-Connecting-Universe-Spiritual-Purpose/dp/1647044073 

Soulwork: Connecting with the Universe and your Spiritual Path to Find your True Purpose in Life points out that self-awareness is a goal to be earned, not inherited. The path to purpose often begins with a rendering of reality—a rip in the cloth of expectation or a challenge to one's lifelong preset notions of the journey and what it should entail. 

Whether sparked by a breakup, death, or psychic devastation, the road to defining and achieving one's uniquely true purpose isn't a singular path, but often seems to include many diverse byways and experiences. 

Soulwork offers to connect these dots in a different way, blending autobiographical stories about the process with a close inspection of the Universe and various ways of relating to it. 

Spirituality, science, and psychology intersect through Elizabeth Radcliffe's specific considerations of such challenges as how to quiet the mind to achieve superior inspection, how to seek and follow guidance that leads in better directions, and how to adopt an intentional path towards healing, redemption, and a better life. 

With each piece of advice, Radcliffe cements her life's experiences and changing perceptions with tips on how readers can acknowledge and follow their own paths by employing more astute rationale and intuitive understanding. 

It should be noted that soulwork is no easy venture. Radcliffe readily admits its pitfalls and special challenges: "With my years of experience navigating Soulwork, I knew immediately that seeking out ways to feel wanted wouldn’t help me heal. That was the subconscious strategy I had been employing for years. It had only brought me unhappiness and disruption. But if generating a feeling of being wanted wasn’t the cure for feeling unwanted, what was?" 

As she moves from personal inspection and transformation to bigger-picture thinking about world processes and impacts, Radcliffe draws important connections that readers need to know about the ultimate impact and purpose of attempting soulwork in the first place. 

How does a person evolve to embrace their life destiny in a different way? 

Soulwork is a highly recommended road map for those who have predetermined that this process and the work it involves are worthy of pursuit. It provides cautions, directions, and insights that help streamline processes and promote better understanding of soulwork's promises and potential, and is highly recommended for new age, self-help, and spirituality collections alike. 

Soulwork

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Spirituality for Badasses
J. Stewart Dixon
PIE Publishing
978-0-9858579-0-5        
$15.00 Paper/$7.95 Audiobook/$5.99 ebook
www.spiritualityforbadasses.com 

Spirituality for Badasses may sound sassy, but its message is seriously intentional and revealing: that achieving a spiritual foundation takes work and a brand of self-examination that can't come from easy paths to enlightenment. 

J. Stewart Dixon's chapter headings alone portend a greater revelation than most self-help or spirituality approaches embrace, with such admonitions as "How to pay attention without being a suck-up," "How to put your cell phone down for one goddamn minute," and "How to evolve from a suffering badass-hole to a spiritual badass." 

There's swearing. In a spirituality guide? Oh, yes. This isn't your usual staid encouraging voice, but a brash, contemporary series of admonitions that works especially well to reach younger audiences who largely eschew the ennui and dispassionate approaches of similar books about building spiritual foundations. 

From handling being an emotional wreck to moving into emotional bliss and being mindful during a crisis, Dixon tackles situations that are part of daily living and that, too often, are not part of the typical self-help guide on finding spiritual lessons from everyday life. 

The prerequisites for thoroughly appreciating this discourse (and, there's much to like about its honest dialogue) are an affinity for mindful practice, spiritual investigation, and candid language that pulls no punches as it addresses the common snafus of choices and approaches to life: "Sometimes it requires an ass whipping to wake you up from a bypass. Sometimes life keeps handing you lemons until, one day, you finally decide to make lemonade. A few lemons here and there are okay. Just don’t make a career out of that lemonade stand. I mean—shit, do the math. There is just no way you are going to pay your rent or mortgage with a fifty-cent paper cup of squeezed fruit, water and sugar." 

Spirituality for Badasses should be part of any self-help, spirituality, or mindfulness collection. It goes where no other books in these genres dare travel, doing so in such a manner that older readers may be offended...but younger audiences will find it enlightening food for thought that speaks their language in a way no other book matches. 

Highly recommended for discussion, contemplation, and action-oriented response, Spirituality for Badasses is sassy, brash, forthright...and just the cup of tea needed for modern generations. (Heck, make that a cup of vodka. It really packs a punch.) 

Spirituality for Badasses

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Splitting Pennies
Joseph Gelet
Elite E Services, Inc.
9781533331090             $24.99
www.splittingpennies.com 

Splitting Pennies: Understanding Money makes a lot of sense, in many ways. It will especially appeal to financial professionals and would-be pros interested in issues of debt, the global financial system, and building a better investment portfolio. 

Joseph Gelet has worked for some 15 years in Forex, whom some view as the driver of the world economy despite the fact that many outside the financial world may not have heard of Forex. (Surprise! Just because you may not have heard of Forex doesn't mean you aren't already trading in it!) 

Speaking of having prior familiarity, Joseph Gelet first published Splitting Pennies years ago. It's a testimony to this subject's importance that, despite the passage of time, the book remains as relevant to modern investors and financial circles as it was upon its first appearance. 

Gelet assumes no reader knowledge of the financial world. In fact, in the first few pages, he defines what a "market" is and how it works. This will especially please novices who might think such a book will be beyond their comprehension from the start. It isn't. Splitting Pennies leaves no reader behind and makes no assumptions about education or financial savvy. This is one of its strengths. 

Another strength (especially for more seasoned financial audiences) lies in its historical overview of changing regulations and regulatory perspectives, discussions of Forex operations at the Fed and highest levels of economic activity, and (later) in-depth discussions of its financial algorithms. 

From adopting flexible winning strategies as markets and regulations change to understanding the future of various currencies and why the ordinary person who ventures into Forex tends to lose money, Splitting Pennies juxtaposes financial inspection with broader social and economic issues to provide a well-rounded discussion of pros, cons, history, and financial approaches. 

Who benefits from this? Why is the American Forex system basically anti-competitive, solidifying the USA's monopoly on money? Why is the history of law and Forex in the U.S. so ironic? 

From opening a bank account overseas to understanding the various social, political, and economic forces at work in the Forex environment, a wide audience will find Splitting Pennies essential, accessible reading. 

The combination of financial savvy, history, and social and political questions and inspections create a powerful, insightful read that will, of course, appeal to financial readers. But, ideally, it should also reach the general public with its hard-hitting analysis, as well as into legal, accounting, trader and broker, and financial manager circles. 

Serious business holdings (and many a general-interest library) should add Splitting Pennies to the ranks of powerful, insightful foundation financial writings. 

Splitting Pennies

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Stoves & Suitcases
Cynthia D. Bertelsen
Turquoise Moon Press
978-1-7345579-2-3         $19.95 Paper/$11.95 Kindle
www.turquoisemoonpress.com 

Stoves & Suitcases: Searching for Home in the World's Kitchens should be in the holdings of any collection strong in culinary biography and history. 

What began as a search for home and roots evolved into a culinary exploration, as Cynthia D. Bertelsen documents in chapters that move from Florida and Washington food discoveries to Mexico, Puerto Rico, Paraguay, Europe, and Africa. 

Being born prematurely and placed in an oxygen-rich environment damaged Bertelsen's hearing and sight. She developed a passion for reading books in response to her disability and abilities, which then morphed into a passion for cooking and food. An early discovery of the Time-Life Foods of the World book series allowed her to journey far from her home and roots and led to her next obsession: travel. 

Stoves & Suitcases is a memoir about how all these experiences coalesced into a passion for new experiences, new flavors, and world travels that introduced her to ordinary cooks producing extraordinary new results from their home kitchens. 

Whether the reader is interested in stories of disability recovery, world travel, or cooking, all these subjects and more receive lively inspection and attractive insights, here. 

Bertelsen writes with an evocative hand that brings these worlds and their cooks to life: "The sight of an old-fashioned iron stove. The smell of wood smoke. The aroma of beefsteak milanesa. Or the crackling sound of empanadas, stuffed with ground beef and hard cooked eggs, perfumed with a hint of cumin, frying in smoking-hot grease. That’s all it takes to reconstruct Doña Olga’s magical touch in the kitchen, in my mind anyway." 

Her ability to capture and contrast such different milieus, incorporating them into her own learning experiences and solidifying their value for the reader with recipes, provide the opportunity to duplicate these culinary encounters at home. 

From a Fish Fry batter to the staple African Cornmeal Mush and a Balinese Sambal Rica-Rica, Bertelsen's encounters with chefs, ordinary home cooks, and foodies examines more than the culinary roots of each place. 

She faces social unrest and conflict, struggles with bureaucracies (as in Honduras), and eye-opening experiences ("I was alive. Thanks to a stranger.") that bring not only cooking, but other cultures to life. 

Black and white photos and postcards add visual embellishments to an appealing format that contrasts recipes with experiences. 

It's hard to compare Stoves & Suitcases to other books of its ilk. Perhaps Anthony Bourdain's A Cook's Tour comes closest. But, the blend of insights on different countries, cooking, and an evolving sense of self is hard to find elsewhere. All these elements make Stoves & Suitcases highly recommended for a diverse audience and collections whose subjects range from memoirs to travel and culinary explorations. 

Stoves & Suitcases

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Valuing Ourselves as We Get Older
Mary L. Flett, PhD
Five Pillars of Aging Press
978-1-7342359-5-3                $9.99
https://fivepillarsofaging.com   

Valuing Ourselves as We Get Older: Explorations of Meaning and Purpose: Aging with Finesse belongs in any collection strong in the psychology of aging, and is the first book in a series. 

Unlike many books about aging already on the shelves of psychology holdings, Valuing Ourselves as We Get Older cultivates a comparative sense of how the aging experience and its perception has changed for different generations, thanks to medical advancements and psychological insights. 

This book comes from a series of blogs Dr. Flett wrote. It is centered on the topics of values, life purpose, and how these change over a lifespan to become something different, as the years go by. 

Many coping mechanisms for improving life are juxtaposed with Dr. Flett's experiences, which are presented in a personal manner that makes them accessible to a wide audience: "With each loss I have also learned how to keep my heart open, even though it hurts and I may doubt that the hurt can ever go away. I try to stay aware of my feelings, especially when I am feeling lonely, afraid, or invisible. While I am not always successful in doing so, I get better with practice...Extending compassion to self, and being patient with a process that is anything but linear and predictable, are sound techniques to help patch over the gaping wound that loss creates." 

These personal blog posts are punctuated by daily life events and news that sparked their creative spirit, as in a story of the trauma caused by observing California's fire season in 2018, and the coping mechanism chosen to handle its ravages: "I RAN AWAY THIS WEEK. Fled. Gave up the ghost. Abandoned my post. It all finally became too much, and so I fled to a place that wasn’t in the pathway of raging fires, appeared to have taken appropriate precautions for COVID-19, and held happy memories of better times for me. I have returned home, somewhat chastened, definitely improved in mental state and capacity to face what is a continuing challenge, but also keenly aware of how much I need sanctuary." 

As metaphors for survival and transformation are injected into the process of aging, growing, and accepting change and challenge, readers receive an inspirational series of reflections that are grounded in the author's experiences, everyday events, and her changing reactions and learning process. 

Aging with finesse often translates to making those inner leaps of faith that lead to new ideas and opportunities. Dr. Flett considers the special approach of learning and growing that comes with aging in modern times. 

Collections strong in psychology, self-help, and social inspection will find these reflections powerful ideas for continuing the upward trajectory of wisdom that often comes with aging. 

Valuing Ourselves as We Get Older

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The Whisper of a Distant God
David L. Gersh
Open Books
978-1948598491            $17.95
http://www.open-bks.com/library/moderns/the-whisper-of-a-distant-god/order.html

The Whisper of a Distant God is recommended for military history readers who may enter the story knowing little about the War of New Mexico, but will depart its pages with a much more thorough grounding in the war's events. 

The realistic representations are captured in a blend of letters, diaries, newspaper articles, and both first and third person dialogue that focuses on the lives, thoughts, and experiences of three main characters involved in the fray: Henry Sibley, commander of the Texas Mounted Volunteers; Edward R. S. Canby, the Union commander; and his wife Louisa, deemed the Angel of Santa Fe.

From Louisa Hawkins' diary of her forthcoming marriage to Edward and her visions of a perfect life as his wife to Henry's letters to his wife in which he expresses his convictions and uncertainties ("I will fulfill the honor done to me by President Jefferson Davis and achieve historic things, in spite of the obstacles placed before me. Yes, my dear, even in our Confederacy, there are obstacles. Alas, it reflects a basic defect that exists in some men everywhere, I fear."), the story excels in contrasting first-person inspections of the social and political forces affecting each character's life. 

David L. Gersh crafts a story that is filled with psychological insights as much as politics and struggle. Readers who anticipate a story of military strategy alone will be surprised (and delighted) that Gersh takes the time to candidly reveal the contrasting experiences and perceptions of those who fought on both sides: "That Bob’s a funny one. Today, during the battle, he don’t go and hide like the other slaves. He found hisself a spot near where we was, where he could watch the fightin’. I seen the look on his face. Maybe more hate there for the Yankees than I have. Don’t rightly know why, since them Yankees is supposed to be fightin’ fer him. Can have him, far as I’m concerned. Can have all of them for the good they are." 

These approaches raise the story beyond a war novel alone to represent the depth Gersh has captured in exploring the roots of the war. 

From moral and ethical issues of brutal struggle to the changing lives of all involved, The Whisper of a Distant God will attract military fiction readers with its battle coverage—but then delivers something much more. 

Filled with the unexpected depth and detail that comes from a well-researched production, The Whisper of a Distant God deserves a prominent place not only in collections about New Mexico history and North/South struggles, but in discussion groups about ethical issues. These will find its reflections on prejudice and vivid descriptions of the horrors of war to be more than thought-provoking, encouraging considerations of loyalty, traitors, and the costs of fighting for one's convictions. 

The Whisper of a Distant God

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Young Adult/Children

The Adventure of Sockboy
Karl Cottle
Precocity Press
978-1-7373539-8-0         $24.95 Hardcover  $14.95 Paperback
www.precocitypress.com 

How can a child better handle early traumas to avoid obstacles to emotional growth in later life? Healing and self-love are the central themes in a book that promotes both for young children who experience adversity and trauma in their lives. 

The Adventure of Sockboy sports hand-painted illustrations by Karl "Ultrakarl" Cottle as it pursues the story of a little boy with "popsicle feet" who loves the comfort and support of warm socks. He decides to knit a sock that covers his entire body like a superhero suit, which help him confront the world. 

The lilting rhyme describes his dilemma, then illustrates his problem-solving solution, which involves a cozy-sounding idea carried to extremes. 

As the boy plays and discovers new abilities from his sock-building endeavor, young readers will delight in the unusual opportunities and dilemmas the boy's solution introduces to his life. 

His experiments show that "some things worked well/but most things did not." It also reveals an unexpected ultimate lesson about love, self-sufficiency, and family that kids and their read-aloud parents will find inviting. 

The Adventure of Sockboy introduces this young hero's world. Book 2 in the series, Sockboy: The Halloween Special, was not seen by this reviewer; but if its lessons are as simply and compellingly presented as in this introduction, both books will prove winners for parents looking to impart messages about creative problem-solving, vulnerability and conflict resolution. 

The Adventure of Sockboy

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Bobos Babes Adventures: The Lovey That Came to Life
Karen M. Bobos
Independently Published
978-1-7374375-9-8        
$17.99 Hardcover/$12.99 Paper/$3.99 ebook
www.bobosbabes.com 

The Bobos Babes kids are at it again in another picture book adventure that enjoys colorful illustrations by Emily Hercock. 

Newcomers to the charming fantasy series need no prior introduction in order to appreciate the stand-alone story of Angel Scarlett, who has a precious lovey toy, Polar Bear Pete, that brings her comfort and joy. 

Because each of the Bobos Babes has a magical power, Angel is able to bring her lovey to life for an even better experience. When he then vanishes, the three sisters embark on a magical journey to find him. 

Young picture book readers who like adventures that include magic, castles, and foreign lands will especially appreciate these elements (and more) which permeate the sisters' experiences in The Lovey That Came to Life. 

It's presented in a four-stanza rhyme which lends to parental read aloud, and includes many action details of adventure, combined with experiential descriptions of emotional responses. 

Her lovey has never left Scarlett before. He's the reason she "starts her day with a laugh." What could have happened to the "sweet arctic guy"? 

The answer holds a satisfying surprise that will delight and entertain. 

As in her other Bobos Babes books, Karen M. Bobos creates a gentle story of both magic and sibling connections. Each of the Babes holds a special strength and power. Each of them fosters connections with the world and her siblings that lends them positive perspectives and strength. 

Read-aloud parents will find The Lovey That Came to Life an excellent series addition and stand-alone story about problem-solving, love, and unexpected treats that reinforce ideas of friendship and solidarity with bright illustrations, whimsical fantasy, and fun. 

Bobos Babes Adventures: The Lovey That Came to Life

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Claws
Michael Tougias
DartFrog Books
978-1-953910-55-4         $3.99 ebook/$13.99 print
Publisher: www.dartfrogbooks.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Claws-Michael-Tougias-ebook/dp/B09H3M7NY6 

Shipwreck Island might as well live up to its name, with the isolation and ennui that comes with being stranded, as twelve-year-old Easterly Wind and her younger friends chafe at its life in Claws. Life changes, however, when a lobsterman mysteriously vanishes on the waters, leading the trio to undertake an investigation that moves in mysterious ways. 

The story differs from most mysteries in that readers are let in on the secret from the start: the lobsterman has been dragged to his doom by giant claws...the claws of a seven-foot lobster. Seems like a fitting end. 

But as rumors begin to overtake the island and threaten its treasured tourism, Easterly is blamed for trying to start a panic over an impossible monster. And here's where Michael Tougias really crafts a winner, because the intrigue and elements of a sea monster become closely entwined with the island's politics and various individual motives for keeping the death under wraps. 

Facing character attacks and adult ire, Easterly, Kristin, and Brian find themselves going beyond identifying a perp to trying to salvage their reputations while pointing out a threat many would prefer to ignore. 

There is some scientific basis for the lobster premise in Claws, which is neatly presented during the course of a controversial briefing: "Francis told me she doesn’t think there are lobsters bigger than three feet long. But, she also said lobsters never stop growing, and that scientists think lobsters can live well over a hundred years. So technically, if one were never caught in a lobster trap and it lived for a long time, it’s possible they could grow beyond three feet.” 

Another intriguing approach is that Tougias contrasts the human efforts and motivations with the perceptions of Claws herself: "Claws is furious that her effort to crush the fisherman’s head has been thwarted. But the boat is now backing away, and there is nothing she can do except glide back down to the depths." 

As the perspectives of Mayor Ruth Snackle (an arrogant woman who, in this case, doesn't know the truth), a rude, frightened lobsterman (Bacon, who has been hired to perform an impossible investigation that leads him to move from wanting fame to wanting out), and others dovetail, the story becomes a winning exploration of special interests, fear, and survival tactics that assume many different forms. 

Claws will attract middle grade readers looking for mysteries and involving extraordinary creatures. This group also receives an important environmental message that is woven into the drama to bring the story to life. 

The real winning value of Claws lies not just in its depiction of a sea monster and looming disaster, but the depictions of determined, proactive pre-teens who receive important lessons about politics, environment, and following the truth against all odds. 

Libraries that cater to leisure readers with high-interest stories that hold important growth messages will find Claws a winner. 

Claws

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The Dogs Who Play Baseball
Thomas Louis Carroll
Almanor & Loraque Press
9781736633939             $3.99 ebook/$10.99 Paper
Website: https://dogswhoplaybaseball.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Dogs-Who-Play-Baseball/dp/1736633937 

The Dogs Who Play Baseball is a whimsical story of how a group of Bronx children teach their dogs to play baseball. It's especially recommended reading for middle graders who love both the sport and dogs, and provides a fun exploration that outlines an inviting cast of characters. 

While, on the surface, The Dogs Who Play Baseball is a tale about animals and people, it's also a story about facing adversity, creative problem-solving, and cooperative ventures and thinking. 

Under the trappings of a sports/dog feature, therefore, lies the beating heart of a positive experience that shows how ordinary children create an extraordinary atmosphere to defy the odds. 

Thomas Louis Carroll's tale delves into not just playing games, but managing teams. He also includes girls and boys as effective, proactive, strong players and team members, which is another satisfying feature of the story. 

"Are you going to play by the rule book or not?" 

As the kids learn how and when to challenge rules and how to create a winning environment, young readers will relish the approaches to playing and winning which keep the story lively and engaging. 

Middle graders with a special interest in baseball and dogs will be lured into reading a positive, action-filled story of cooperation and success. The lessons The Dogs Who Play Baseball provides go beyond the baseball field to address life challenges and how to creatively solve problems in a manner that creates positive results for all. 

These focuses make for a winning story that will delight young readers and adults seeking more than a tale about winning and losing, but a social inspection that works on different levels. 

The Dogs Who Play Baseball

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Elijah Goes to Cleveland
Mark Darden
Buckeye Muscle Media, LLC
9781736703007             $17.99
www.buckeyemuscle.com 

Elijah Goes to Cleveland presents a boy's discovery of Cleveland, Ohio, and is the first in a series that will involve him visiting different cities across the U.S. 

Elijah is visiting his grandparents when he decides to attend a concert. In order to obtain a free ticket, he has to embark on a scavenger hunt to find members of the band at Cleveland's various landmarks. 

Mark Darden presents a scenario in which the entire family participates in the hunt, adding fun insights into family connections and shared experiences which receive delightful illustration by Anh Bui. 

As Elijah and his grandparents trek around the city using their smart phone to locate places and solve clues, young readers will appreciate both the geography lesson and the image of a family working together to achieve a goal. 

An engaged grandparent who is depicted as being active and intelligent rather than old and infirm is another refreshing difference that sets Elijah Goes to Cleveland apart from typical picture book stories of family interactions. 

Whether Elijah Goes to Cleveland is chosen as a read-aloud by parents looking for stories of families of color, as a geography lesson about Cleveland's history, or as an example of multi-generational experiences, it is certain to reach a diverse audience of picture book readers who will appreciate its adventure and lively characters. 

Elijah Goes to Cleveland

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Gotham Kitty
Ann Greyson
Independently Published
978-0578705064            $13.99
Website: https://annsgreyson.com/GothamKitty.html 
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Gotham-Kitty-Ann-Greyson/dp/0578705060/ 

Gotham Kitty opens with an interspecies confrontation on an alien planet as a Catusapien captured by the insect alien Brozians escapes before the ship sets down on Earth for refueling and supplies. 

Human Allison Banes is in East Africa, working on her doctorate degree in zoology, when she comes upon what looks like a sleeping kitty, brings the little alien into her home, and unwittingly unleashes a force that involves an ancient curse and a threat to the Bantu tribe. 

As earthling and alien each struggle with unfamiliar conditions and threats, 11-year-old African girl Cassidy Mkama finds herself involved in a fine blend of horror and sci-fi that will especially appeal to middle grades who like unexpected action and cats. 

Can a little alien stranded on earth prove the catalyst for defeating an ancient threat? Fans of paranormal fiction will relish the growth of Kitty as she perceives her new world, finds a place in it, and uncovers a strength unusual for the females of her species. 

Gotham Kitty also excels in a sense of family and community as Kitty is introduced to the Chagga people, whose prophecy helps events and mysteries become more understandable. 

As Cassidy, Laila, and others confront the Evil Shadowy Figure, Allison's rescue and protection of Gotham Kitty is perhaps the only thing keeping complete disaster at bay. 

The blend of sci-fi and paranormal elements raise the book's appeal to a wider audience. Despite its youthful characters, the story should reach into adult circles with its satisfying twists and turns and unusual premises. 

Whimsical, involving, and filled with action, Gotham Kitty is recommended for a wide age range, who will find the mix of sci-fi and paranormal action inviting and original. 

Gotham Kitty

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Grandma Lou's Wonderfully Weird Christmas Dinner
Linda LaRocque
Bowker
978-1736833711            $9.85 Paper/.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Grandma-Wonderfully-Weird-Christmas-Dinner/dp/1736833715 

Grandma Lou's Wonderfully Weird Christmas Dinner is a holiday story with a difference. It tells of a determined grandmother who decides that, rather than being alone on Christmas Day, she'll invite some friends to join her. Even if they are a little odd. 

Beginning with the first-person vantage point of nine-year-old Earnestine, who lies abed with chicken pox the week before Christmas and sees her holiday fun vanishing, Grandma Lou's Wonderfully Weird Christmas Dinner evolves over a father's intention to entertain his grieving child with an extraordinary true story. 

Her father always spent Christmas with his mother, at her house. One year, after he's married, he decides to spend the holiday with his wife's family instead. 

What's a Grandma to do about spoiled holiday traditions? 

She decides to call an old friend who likely will also be alone, and invites him over. One thing leads to another, and Gil's caregiver Tom is also invited. The celebration keeps expanding as wide as hearts and the Christmas spirit can go. 

Readers receive an important message about celebrations, invitations, traditions, and widening one's circle to include others as Earnestine absorbs her father's lovely story of a grandmother who is proactive about making certain that her holiday is the best ever. 

From helping the homeless to solving holiday dilemmas in a way that brings the real Christmas spirit home for a home-cooked meal for all, Linda LaRocque creates a moving story that invites all ages to imbibe. 

Its many messages about giving, creative problem-solving, changing traditions, and turning disappointment into a positive experience will be ones adults will especially welcome introducing to a young listener's world, while independent readers will appreciate the detail of one zany Christmas dinner that comes to unexpected life. 

No collection strong in children's family and holiday stories should be without this unusual portrait of a Christmas conundrum that turns into a celebration to remember. 

Grandma Lou's Wonderfully Weird Christmas Dinner

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Hale: The Rise of the Griffins
J.K. Noble
Morgan James Publishing
978-1-63195-555-6                $18.95 Paper/$.99 ebook
www.MorganJamesPublishing.com 

Hale: The Rise of the Griffins is the perfect fantasy of choice for readers with short attention spans. Why? It's not because J.K. Noble chooses a diminutive format, but because the adventure is presented as four interconnected short works, each excellent adventures packed with both metaphor and action. 

Noble is particularly adept at placing readers in the center of Hale's magical experiences: "At that moment, Hale notices a cool wave of air slowly floating down from above. It feels as though tiny particles of dust are pouring over his head. And yet, he sees there is nothing there at all. His feet feel an odd magnetic pull, connecting him to the earth. But once this wave rushes over him, his body lifts off the ground completely. A celestial and invigorating feeling courses through him. Under this inexplicable light, he feels a connection with the universe, and he can see everything—as if everything unexplainable suddenly makes perfect sense." 

The structure and fine descriptions aren't all that set Hale apart from most fantasies for young adults. Equally notable is an attention to destiny, dysfunctional family relationships, the epic struggle of good and bad choices conducted on the field of personal realizations, and characters who struggle with their Griffin identities, immortality, and other choices. 

Noble also injects different dialogues into the piece. This may stymie some readers, but succeeds in a degree of authenticity that bows to character diversity: "Garet curses. The stranger turns. But Garet is too drunk to care and leaves, rambling, “What does a person ’ave to do fahr a ’alf-decent dose o’ potion so dey won’t ’ave to see death ’anging around?” He storms back toward Kala’s apartment, zigzagging along the sidewalk. “All the souls she’s collected, danks to me. All of ’em, and I’m still seeing dese wretched things!” He continues, “And where the ’ell is dat green man? Whatever da ’ell ’is name was!” 

As Hale moves between Griffin and human forms, an invitation for him to enter a place where "Hale and I will be the family we once were" threatens his life. 

Mature themes of manipulation, choices and consequences, and loss and redemption are woven into the action, providing satisfying food for thought while supporting an overall fantasy adventure that is vividly portrayed.

Readers seeking more than a formula fantasy story who look for stories of transformation, courage, conflict, and survival will find all these elements and more in Hale: The Rise of the Griffins. It's a story which will appeal to all YA fantasy fans, especially those who will find these interconnected adventures thoroughly engrossing. 

Hale: The Rise of the Griffins

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It's Time to Say Goodnight
Dr. S. Amna Husain, MD.
Mascot Books
9781645437833             $14.95
www.mascotbooks.com 

With so many picture books on the market that provide bedtime stories for read-aloud parents, one might wonder at the perspective and need for yet another in It's Time to Say Goodnight. 

But, between the gentle rhyme which presents a cadence and reflections that are slow-moving and relaxing and Ana Sebastián's lovely, colorful drawings that capture a range of animals preparing for bedtime, this sleep-encouraging story deserves a spot in any bedtime collection for the very young. 

As the day draws to a close, each animal prepares for bedtime in a different manner. 

Young puppies, bears, owls, and others all receive different kinds of directions from their parents on how to enter sleep, and kids will appreciate the warm observations of how different parents encourage this process. 

With its varied and warm depictions of "feeling loved, warm, and tight," kids and parents will appreciate the calming atmosphere of love that weaves into these stories and the experience of telling them. Sleep becomes an accessible goal under the calming influence of a story that embraces all kinds of parent/child support imagery. 

It's Time to Say Goodnight

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The Lion in Your Heart
R.C. Chizhov
Blissful Conch LLC
978-1-7379526-0-2
Paperback: $11.99; ebook: $4.99; Hardcover: $19.99
Website: www.rcchizhov.com
Ordering:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1737952602/ 

Picture book readers and adults looking to teach the very young about fears and how to conquer them will find The Lion in Your Heart a winning story about tapping into inner strengths. 

Dennis has moved to a new house and is afraid to sleep alone. His mother tries to explain that there's a fierce lion of survival and courage who lives in his heart, but Dennis doesn't see matters this way, and questions that concept. 

Anil Yap's lovely drawings illustrate the conundrums young Dennis faces with an overactive nighttime imagination, a new environment, and a loving mother who responds to her young child's fear with wisdom and lessons on how to confront the unknown. 

Especially thought-provoking is the focus on the fear of new experiences and how to overcome them while accepting that it's okay to feel afraid. 

Beautiful drawings, a bedtime story with an important message for approaching life's changes, and a lesson in what courage really means makes for a picture book story that appeals on many different levels; but especially to read-aloud parents seeking to prepare a child for a new situation. 

The Lion in Your Heart

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Maxwell
Jeremy C. Gredone
Mascot Books
978-1-68401-701-0         $19.95
www.mascotbooks.com 

Maxwell's picture book story opens on the first day of school, when a perfect spider web appears on the side mirror of the family car. When the car gains speed, an angry spider appears, only to find further challenge with a freeway ride under the watchful eyes of the humans who both move along in their daily routine and observe Maxwell's reactions to the road. 

As colorful drawings by D. Sherene Offutt capture the spider's dilemmas and the family's reactions, the spider tale comes to life. 

The family comes to believe that Maxwell's perseverance makes him no ordinary spider...a fact proven by extraordinary circumstances the next day. 

Maxwell presents a whimsical fantasy story that imparts lessons about adaptation, courage, and determination. 

Kids will enjoy the fantasy superhero visions the young characters develop over Maxwell's abilities and the spread of a legend that just keeps getting more fantastic. 

Nothing lasts forever...but, can Maxwell live on in the minds of those around him? He can, and does...albeit in an unusual manner that concludes with a surprise twist over exactly what made Maxwell so amazing to the humans who became part of his life. 

Jeremy C. Gredone excels in creating a fun and thought-provoking book that addresses all kinds of themes, from building legends and courage to handling the impermanence of life. Its warm, whimsical story invites picture book readers and read-aloud parents to thoroughly enjoy. 

Maxwell

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Ms. Goshsquash
Lola Coleman
DartFrog Books
9781953910837             $12.99 Paper/$4.99 ebook
Publisher: www.dartfrogbooks.com
Ordering:
https://www.amazon.com/Ms-Goshsquash-Lola-Coleman-ebook/dp/B09HCX6HPN 

Ms. Goshsquash is a little farmer lady who owns a yak and has the uncanny ability to know "just what to do" with bad children. 

Three mischievous children who skip home from school one day face the "Goshsquash rule" when they pass by her farm and listen to her off-pitch song about bad children before each is dealt with in a magical manner. 

Billy Bush, however is the "baddest of all." Unshaken by Ms. Goshsquash's powers and what happened to his peers, Billy maintains his courage as he views what really is going on with his friends as a result of Ms. Goshsquash's smart lessons. 

Tilda and Roscoe have been forced to see the consequences of their actions. Will Billy be able to learn from their experiences? And, what will happen when they return to the real world? 

Lola Coleman presents an intriguing story in which a bad witch also assumes the role of a good teacher. 

Read-aloud parents of this picture book story will appreciate both the lilting rhyme and the opportunity to transmit to young listeners important lessons about the effects of their behaviors on those around them. 

With its dash of magic and astute hand to describing recognition and recovery processes, Ms. Goshsquash blends a hard lesson with a fun read that adults can use to both entertain and educate the very young. 

Ms. Goshsquash

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Munchimonster Zero-Waste Sustainable Eco-Fun
C. Purin
Independently Published
979-8623256430            $7.75 Paper/$2.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Munchimonster-Zero-Waste-Sustainable-Eco-Fun-Charlotte/dp/B085RQN73H 

Munchimonster Zero-Waste Sustainable Eco-Fun is a delightful picture book exploration of the concepts of zero waste and environmental responsibility. It provides the very young with a basic primer that adults can use to introduce concepts of green living and recycling at an earlier age than most children's books. 

The appeal comes through the character of Munchimonster, who defines the concept of zero waste, explores why everyone should be interested in creating a healthy environment, and draws important connections between nature and human affairs. 

These connections are reinforced by facts and pages that invite kids to actively participate through coloring. This is the perfect format for parents looking to teach kids through interactive processes. 

All this is presented in full-color pages that are packed with attention-getting drawings that move from fantasy creatures to realities such as compost. The action-oriented, brightly colored panels will attract and maintain young reader attention with a fun focus. 

Other art projects promote the idea of sustainability, such as a bag that can hold a water canteen for multiple uses (rather than the usual one-use plastic bottle), providing practical tools that reinforce the notion that even the youngest child is capable of making informed, sustainable choices. 

From cloth bags that can be used many times to watering a home garden at day's end to save water or making organic gardening a hobby, kids receive a book that goes beyond outlining facts about recycling and ecology. 

Its blend of "can do" choices, revised approaches to living, and knowledge educates picture book readers about options they can choose to help change the world for the better. 

This emphasis on individual empowerment and better choices, presented in a fun format that will appeal to the very young, goes beyond picture books that explore the issues in a less interactive manner. The result is a title that should be on the bookshelves and in the hands of any adult seeking to involve a young child in assuming early responsibility for the stewardship of the planet. 

Munchimonster, who fosters understanding, is also featured in other titles in the series which tackle different subjects. Adults and kids who find Zero Waste an attractive, positive package will want to look for the other series titles. 

Munchimonster Zero-Waste Sustainable Eco-Fun

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Pretty Deadly
Kelsey Josund
Dark Stroke Books
979-8483552086            $7.99 Paper/$3.99 ebook
www.darkstroke.com 

Thrillers written for YA audiences are few and far between, but it's impossible to categorize the nonstop action of Pretty Deadly as anything but a genre read for teens. Its depiction of petty crime, society events, and revenge will reach mature teen to adult audiences with a vivid story that tells of parallel plots and nefarious schemes that involve Cinna and con man/best friend Johann in a competition to quash the social event of the year. 

Kelsey Josund creates atmospheric descriptions throughout to bring the backdrop to life: "Fog rolled down over the hill that housed the graveyard, not thick yet but promising to become denser as the night deepened. Perfect for sneaking, if that had been what he wanted to do, but not necessary for his purposes." 

Johann finds himself unnerved by Cinna's astute abilities and perceptions. He even harbors a bit of terror over her intentions towards him, as well. Cinna is the "girl of his dreams and nightmares" who knows his weaknesses and vulnerabilities, and is in a position to exploit them. 

Mature teens receive a story that is as vivid in its interpersonal inspections as it is in its action and social and political commentary. 

The story evolves into a plot that embraces a dead duchess and a burned mansion, and the elements of intrigue meld nicely with the tale of princes, soldiers, an assumed identity, and a plot that has Cinna wondering what her alter ego Elena would do. 

When a prince rescues Cinna, Cinderella comes to mind...but with a distinct criminal backdrop that keeps readers thinking about unexpected developments and emotional connections. 

The result blends romance, intrigue, and action in a delightful story that will build thriller enthusiasts from YA audiences unused to the experience, while attracting adult readers with a special blend of action that revolves around royalty, heists, and a relationship doomed to explode. 

Pretty Deadly

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Rocky's Christmas Journey
Kim Dwyer, Ph.D.
Independently Published
978-1-7373253-3-8         $12.95 Paper/$9.99 ebook
www.drkimdwyer.com 

When Baby Owl outgrows his nest in Rocky's Christmas Journey, his dilemma prompts him to take flight away from his comfort zone and parents to find a new home. 

He appears to discover the perfect nap spot, but when a strange forest noise awakens him in the daylight, he finds a dangerous threat to his forest home. What can a young owl do to save the day, even if he has moved from Baby Owl to Brave Owl? 

Brave Owl's new nest is very warm and the world is very cold. So he goes back to sleep. And when he awakens, his world has changed. 

What's a Baby/Brave Owl to do? 

Kim Dwyer's story is simply delightful, spiced with exquisite, colorful drawings by Moran Reudor. It's based on a true story of a little owl who was found in the Rockefeller Christmas tree, which makes it an even more compelling. 

The holiday season and decorations come alive under Dwyer's hand in a story based on a real discovery. A concluding section of owl facts and a guide for caregivers on how to interpret this story and discuss it with young picture book readers and listeners completes its value not just for the Christmas season, but for year-round lessons. 

The blend of Christmas experience, the gift of giving and care, and the little owl's observation of his changing world is a warm story that both captures the holiday spirit and provides important lessons about conservation and moving away from safe, familiar environments. 

Rocky's Christmas Journey

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Rosco Run. Rosco Fun.
Steven C. Thedford
New World Press Inc.
9780975973035             $14.99 Hardcover/$4.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Rosco-Run-Fun-Steven-Thedford/dp/0975973037 

Rosco Run. Rosco Fun. is a simple story that young dog lovers and their read-aloud parents will relish. It's filled with action-packed words and simple lines of detail and describes dog Rosco's skips, flips, sips, and dips as Rosco traverses his neighborhood and becomes involved with its delights and people. 

As he lounges by (and in) the pool, eats hot dogs, roller skates, and generally enjoys a good life of mixed activity and rest, picture book readers will enjoy the bright, large-size color illustrations by Patrick Carlson that bring Rosco's world to life. 

It's nice to see a story that juxtaposes leisure and fun activity, teaching the very young about the value of both approaches to daily living. 

Parents will welcome the positive, uplifting world of Rosco and his happy form of interacting with life in a balanced way, and can use Rosco Run. Rosco Fun. as a read-aloud introduction on how to live life to its fullest, whether playing or relaxing. 

Rosco Run. Rosco Fun.

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Somewhere Different Now
Donna Peizer
Atmosphere Press
978-1639880775            $18.99
www.atmospherepress.com 

Somewhere Different Now is Annie Cahill's three-part story, opening four years after the end of World War II. 

Her family has moved out of the city to a new suburb and teenager Annie feels isolated, alienated, and out of sorts with her parents. 

Her astute examinations of the social and historical influences that affect her world are provided from the vantage point of hindsight and blossoming maturity: "I don't mean to sound all Pollyannish or suggest that trouble did not visit me from time to time, because it did. I'm only saying that the environment created by the circumstances of that unique historical period was a perfect fit for me and allowed me to blossom in ways I did not experience at school or behind the closed doors of my often-chaotic family life." 

Resisting her mother's attempts to turn her into a young lady despite her tomboyish, outdoorsy personality, Annie chooses a different path. It's easy to flee privilege and angst when you're young, and so she takes off, prompted by a fight and a dream that portend a different kind of future. 

An abandoned cave seems the perfect isolated place to heal, but it's not long before Annie finds herself facing an unusual visitor: black girl Clydeen Hollifield, who is fleeing the authorities. 

Her voice and experiences dovetail nicely with Annie's trauma, offering a contrast of their lives and the racial milieu of their times. 

Clydeen's complex story of family and authorities is narrated in a voice that brings her experiences to life: "My mama, she called Beth Hollifield. Her real name Bethany, but everybody call her Beth. My daddy, he was James Hollifield. My mama call me Baby, and she tol' me the story of my birth 'bout a million times. How she lift me up naked to the full moon and whispered my name to me, not Baby, mind you, but my real name, Clydeen. Is it a true story or jus' her imaginins? I don't know, but I like the story anyhow. It makes me feel like there was a time she loved me best." 

As the two disparate girls uncover secrets, consider their next moves, and find themselves locked in an odd relationship and struggle against those who would control them, an uncertain friendship develops. This is further tested by the arrival of another stranger: a former WWII resistance fighter. 

Donna Peizer brings many elements and scenarios to life in her story. Some might say that the complexity of evolving social issues against the post-war recovery injects almost too many subjects into one story; but Somewhere Different Now represents a dance of social and political developments that is well done and perfectly orchestrated. 

The juxtaposition of evolving racial issues of the times; the two girls' different voices, backgrounds, and experiences of opportunity and angst; and the added value of a different political perspective imparted by artistic dreamer Ulie (who disappeared during the war) and his mother Eva (who longs for his return) makes for an enlightening tale. 

With so many character stories involved, Peizer identifies the different, changing perspectives in chapter headings to eliminate any possibility of confusion. 

The result is a thought-provoking contrast between dreams, disparate realities, and the experiences of characters who all grow beyond their foundations, thanks to their interactions with one another. 

Teens will find Somewhere Different Now quite a different exploration of the post-World War II milieu, and an intriguing probe into the social and racial issues of a recovering country and the individuals within it who struggle with their own destinies. 

Somewhere Different Now

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Taint
Janet Kelley
Atmosphere Press
978-1639880065            $17.99
www.atmospherepress.com 

In Taint, Rebecca's day has come. She is ready to write her love story—a "necessary fiction" that returns to the days of high school, when her senior year coincided with the explosion of terrorism during 9/11 and the rape of her best friend in a small town in Kansas (which only Rebecca witnessed). 

It was also a time when Rebecca loved Luke. 

This is his story. 

From the start, Taint presents the scenario of impending doom and powerful response. As the sole witness to an atrocity which didn't happen to her, Rebecca is charged with both keeping a secret for the sake of her friend and navigating the milieu of high school in which the rapist plays a prominent public role. 

Rebecca is a savvy teen who approaches her world with a solid sense of survival tactics: "By twelfth grade, however, idealism goes underground as one of “unspeakables.” I am smart enough to know that I want to look dumb. I know that I know just enough about politics, art, religious ecstasy, et cetera to look dumb. So I say nothing at all about any of these things that could trick me up into looking like a “stupid teenager.” 

She also is determined to seek justice on a level that taps into a personal well of courage, while remaining circumspect for the sake of her friend. 

This dual challenge leads her to find a chilling way to exact revenge, and prompts teen readers to consider the moral, ethical, and social conundrums of rape and terrorism's effects on not just victims, but everyone who loves them. 

From her friend's evolving feelings about the experience to Rebecca's determination to "keep her mouth sealed. For good" against all odds and pressures, Taint provides a thoroughly thought-provoking read for teens that questions the foundations of sexual abuse, friendship, loyalty, and justice. 

The adult themes of this story make it recommended for mature teens who will find in Taint a powerful narrative that will lead them to reflect on issues, both social and sexual, that injects terrorism into daily life. 

Its hard-hitting story should be in any collection seeking to address these topics for mature audiences. 

Taint

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The Undiscovered Descendants
Jo Visuri
Pohjola Press
978-1-7377639-0-1                        $13.99
Author website: https://www.jovisuri.com
Ordering: www.amazon.com 

Once upon a time, long ago, four clans located in remote regions of the planet joined forces to defeat a threat to humanity. They were gifted special abilities to win their fight...traits that set them apart from normal humans, and which were passed along to their descendants, who kept apart from humans. 

Fast forward in time to Auor Island. Here, seemingly ordinary girl Elin Bodil becomes simultaneously involved with a new neighbor and a motorcycle-riding stranger. 

A powerful prologue draws readers into the story to reveal the aftermath of what is to come: "My family was safe. How I longed to be enjoying myself with the rest of them, but I knew I was different...I hoped I’d see them again soon, but for now, it would have to be silence. I had no choice. It was my fault after all—I had to go. Some would argue that where I was now going was impossible or imagined—a fantasy—and until a few months ago, I would’ve agreed with them. To be found and invited to join was unexpected. Learning their secrets was beyond my wildest imaginings. Landing in the middle of a brewing conflict was never part of the plan." 

This both sets the stage and opens Elin's first-person narration of events as the first chapter explores the new neighbor's arrival and the changes he introduces to her life. 

As readers pursue her story, supernatural elements emerge to add intrigue and danger. Elin and her new friends attempt to juggle regular lives (school dances, other friendships, and family life) with an emerging truth about the Clan and its latest threat. 

Jo Visuri does an outstanding job of juxtaposing fantasy and real-world concerns as the tension and action escalate. 

Her ability to portray both worlds creates a read which is involving as Elin faces school life without formerly trusted friends (they are attending a new school on the mainland) and finds herself forced to rely on new, untested relationships with Tristan and those whose psyches and intentions remain obtuse. 

Another solid device for depicting the concerns of all sides lies in shifting viewpoints which change from Elin to Aedan and Tristan. 

Teen fantasy readers who want a story about new and evolving relationships, changing life purposes and perspectives, and threats to family and community connections will find The Undiscovered Descendants an excellent, satisfying story. 

It takes the time to depict home and small town/island life, creating a firm foundation for exploring the events that threaten change. This, in turn, crafts the perfect scenario for considering just how and why these young people become so invested in outcomes that challenge their worlds and individual lives. 

The Undiscovered Descendants is highly recommended for teen fantasy readers who look for more than action and adventure in their stories. The community, family life, and growth opportunities presented to this disparate circle of new friends reflects a bond that makes for a compelling, solid read. 

The Undiscovered Descendants

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Where Dragonwoofs Sleep and the Fading Creeps
A.J. Massey
Independently Published
978-1980944393            $9.99 Paper/$3.99 ebook
www.dragonwoofs.com   

Where Dragonwoofs Sleep and the Fading Creeps reaches advanced elementary through middle school readers with a fantasy in which an ordinary boy awakens to find himself in an extraordinary world. 

Thirteen-year-old Ben had no inkling that he was destined for something more than an regular life. When he awakens, one night, into a land that seems to be another dream, he is introduced to the fading magical world of Meridia and is charged with a mission: to undertake a journey to save this magical realm. 

Why should an average Earth boy be conscripted into service or eager to save a different world? Because his successful confrontation with The Fading that threatens them will also change his life. 

A.J. Massey opens the story with a series of confrontations highly reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland, where Ben's puzzled questions are met with elusive responses injected with whimsical humor: “This weed refuses to ask the right questions in order to receive the right answers.” Ben sighed. “What is the right question to receive the right answer?”
“Pertaining to what?”
Ben growled before speaking slowly and deliberately. “What is the right question to receive the right answer to find the shelter?”
The faerie spun in the air. “Ah, of course, the right question to receive the right answer to find the shelter would be for this weed to ask if it can follow us to the shelter.”
“Can I follow you to the shelter?”
The faerie flew away from Ben and deeper into the forest. “Yes, why did this weed not ask us this before?”
 

As Ben joins forces with Queen Regent Avery, Marcus, and elf Tam, they undertake an arduous foray pursued by Sovereign and his generals, who have a vested interest in seeing that the Fading continues to consume the land. 

Fantasy readers will appreciate the whimsical interplays between characters, the sense of humor Massey injects into the story for comic relief, and the interactions between friends who also explore their changing relationships with one another. 

Marcus, for example, can't understand why his best friend Anna would prefer to pursue a relationship with a boy who is abusive, rather than moving from friendship to something more, with him. 

From goblin drinking contests to getting the right answers in one world that allows them to change another, the story moves between sleep realm adventures and real-world conundrums in a satisfyingly smooth manner. 

Unexpected twists and turns keep teens engaged and wondering about the outcome of an epic journey that keeps both friends and readers on their toes. 

While Where Dragonwoofs Sleep and the Fading Creeps is an excellent choice for fantasy leisure readers, it also holds enough literary humor and wordplay to ideally attract educators interested in exploring themes of language and humor, and who look for contemporary reads beyond Alice in Wonderland for such examples.

Where Dragonwoofs Sleep and the Fading Creeps

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