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Donovan's Bookshelf

December 2022 Review Issue


Table Of Contents

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


Fantasy & Sci Fi

Island Eight
M.Z. Medenciy
Atmosphere Press
978-1-63988-534-3         $24.99
www.atmospherepress.com 

Island Eight is a sci-fi story of a tyrannical king, a woman who works as an entertainer seeking peace in her world, and circumstances which threaten to duplicate the cataclysmic choices that nearly ended the world long before Sophia's time. 

As Book 1 of the Ataraxia series, Island Eight both sets the stage for the war to come and introduces a series of characters that arrived at an uncertain peace after the legacy of murder and death introduced in the story's prologue. 

Sophia and her husband Gabriel are entertainers working in the largely peaceful small town of Salinas when their lives change. The town is a bastion of positive invitation in the world, which attracts a large creative group of residents: "Salinas was very welcoming, they didn’t expect its members to believe a singular belief, and didn’t force its people to live a certain way. All they asked of you was to contribute to the town and not cause harm to one another. People would come from all corners to be enthralled by the sights, sounds, and sensations of Salinas." 

The King and his castle goons are also attracted to Salinas, tapping it for increasingly regular entertainment for their pleasure, even as they are up to no good. 

Sophia is no fool, but she has chosen to maintain peace in her life over the coming adversity: "...she knew staying off the King’s radar was the only way to ensure happiness. At least she could fool herself into believing things were okay. They say ignorance is bliss and Sophia was perfectly content living like that to achieve her quiet life." 

Eventually, though, the struggle lands on one's doorstep. In this case, Sophia is forced to forego her happiness and contentment when the winds of war land on her doorstep to whisk her into the center of conflict, taking her far from home and everything she loves about her life. 

M.Z. Medenciy creates a realistic and compelling character in Sophia, portraying both the social and political whirlwinds that take her away from everything familiar and following how her latent talents for entertaining and perseverance translate to a powerful ability to weather these changes to assume a position of power in the world. 

This portrait of a young woman who steps up in unprecedented ways encourages intriguing discussions of choice and opportunity, the violations of women, and what evolves when the very different worlds of fantastic creatures and human ambition collide. 

Sophia's character powers the story, but Gabriel and others exhibit equally forceful traits that draw readers into the simmering hearts and brewing action of a world gone frighteningly awry. 

The action is nicely paced between emotional and physical confrontations and realizations about underlying truths and motivations on the parts of all the characters, who find themselves immersed in both a life-changing struggle and a battle for freedom. 

The result is a vivid fantasy story that works well on psychological and action-packed levels. Libraries will find it an appealing addition to fantasy collections strong in world-changing prospects and events that reach into young women's lives to change their motivations and perspectives about the future and their place in it: "We are creating a new path; we are going to fight for the Green and the survival of life here in a way no one has in the past." 

Island Eight

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Jophiel’s Secret
Johanna Frank
Marrow Publishing
978-1-7777317-6-2                $5.99 ebook
Website:
www.johannafrankauthor.com
Ordering:
https://www.amazon.com/Jophiels-Secret-Lifeline-Fantasy-Book-ebook/dp/B0B6DGR5QQ 

Jophiel’s Secret is the second book in the Lifeline fantasy series, but serves as a standalone read for newcomers that requires neither prior familiarity nor interest in becoming involved in an entire series in order to appreciate the strengths of this story. 

It tells of angel Jophiel, who falls to earth and is born as Joppha. Joppha's disappearance results in a struggle between two forces (Kingdom Authoritarians and the Rebel), with Joppha's immortality the crux of the issue. 

The Kingdom holds many pleasures and possibilities, but as Joppha's fate becomes entwined with the Kingdom's business and strife, a host of characters find their worlds colliding in an arena that embraces dark forests, imprisonment, and transformation. 

One note to the story lies in the strength of Johanna Frank's descriptions, which toe the line between a jaunty contemporary tone and a world-building fantasy. She embeds her story with the atmosphere of a world that comes to life through various eyes and actions: 

"Matthew ducked his head forward, tunneled his way through slush and waved his way through the mosquito cloud. He had entered the dark forest. Trudging several more steps, his arms were out wide to feel the way through trunks of trees, some brittle, some slimy. All with an eerie lust for the living yet hanging onto a mother called death. Still spring, budding growth hadn’t overgrown yet, and Matthew wondered, does anything green even grow in here? Ugh. He shivered and affirmed quietly that he was a fresh, open-air kinda guy. This was not his scene." 

This juxtaposition between contemporary tone and extraordinary setting is unusual in a fantasy that is directed by the desire to regain home and the forces set on preventing that effort for various reasons. 

Joppha/Jophiel's growing up, coming of age, and influences on the wider world makes for an engrossing tale that moves beyond the usual trappings of vying forces and into a milieu that embraces both spiritual and psychological growth. 

The characters are well done, from Pipiera's dilemma to the moments that define transition points in relationships: "At one point, Aivy had to console Pipiera, reminding her that weeping on Earth may last for a night, sometimes even a season, but will inevitably be followed by joy. There were appointed times for every matter, and she assured her that she hadn’t left her family and friends to be alone." 

The result is a compelling fantasy about revised connections, hope, and transformation that contains a rollicking good read about good and bad intentions and life impacts, but expands its fantasy scope with moving family interconnections. 

Libraries looking for fantasy stand-alone stories that can appeal to a wide age range will find Jophiel’s Secret a solid pick; especially since it can stand alone as well as dovetailing with its series. 

Jophiel’s Secret

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Republic Under Siege: Threat from Within
Michael J. Brooks
Independently Published
9781737929345             $9.99 ebook
www.authormbrooks.com 

The second book in the sci-fi series Wars of the New Humanity combines elements of thriller, social inspection, and sci-fi to produce a riveting, refreshingly original story. It tells of humanity posed on the brink of war in a battle between an Eden-like society and a dystopian world of government workers who live in poverty and servitude. 

Republic Under Siege: Threat from Within considers the specter of a civil war between these already-divided worlds as seen through the experiences of nineteen-year-old Akane Sugimori, an "immigrant" between two worlds of which she is a part. 

There are the gunfights and battles one expects from a book about siege, but it's important to note that the main conflict takes place not during war, but in its simmering aftermath. 

Here, rebellion, oppression, and new opportunities assume a different guise as Akane considers her unprecedented opportunity to throw off the yoke of oppression and realize her dreams of living a vastly revised life. 

However, adversity isn't always easy to overcome. The immigrant brings with her life experiences, perspectives, and influences that hold the ability to change her future through past experience. And so Akane encounters much prejudice because of her immigrant status, many new obstacles that stem from conflicts within as well as leftovers of struggles in society around her, and becomes involved in a search for a killer that leads her to question her own background and goals. 

From a grisly vetting process into the activist group RISE to new friendships, lights against the darkness, and a host of characters who each contribute to Akane's growth process, Michael J. Brooks crafts a fine story of struggle. The tale comes from the perspectives of realistic young adult characters who engage with each other and internally to envision and realize new outcomes from adversity and social inequality. 

Rage and hate play as central a role in the story as budding romances and character growth, creating a humanistic examination narrated from different perspectives as immigrants, haves, and have-nots clash. 

Illustrator Ann's drawings of Akane brings her to life as Brooks creates a story packed with moment-by-moment reactions to pain, surprising twists and turns, and journeys towards healing and revised destinies. 

Libraries seeking solid sci-fi replete with social and psychological inspections that move from the aftermath of world-changing war into the motives and experiences of young people who would forge new lives and worlds will find the social inspections in Republic Under Siege: Threat from Within compelling. It will attract a wide age range, from young adult to adult readers. 

Ideally, book clubs will also consider Republic Under Siege: Threat from Within for its many enlightening moments about the kernels of social change as individuals experience healing, transformation, loss, and novel opportunities. 

Republic Under Siege: Threat from Within

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Requiem for a Queen
Kaylin Mcfarren
Creative Edge Publishing LLC
9798434809993             $13.95 Paper/$3.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/REQUIEM-QUEEN-Gehenna-Kaylin-McFarren/dp/B0BBJTR8BD 

The third book in the Gehenna series, Requiem for a Queen, expands the occult dystopian world presented in the previous books in the series, and is especially recommended for prior fans who can anticipate another story of eroticism, supernatural influences, and horror and suspense. 

Kaylin Mcfarren's ability to traverse all these subjects with a dexterity that brings readers into newly evolving conflicts is evident in this continuation of the saga of newly-crowned Queen of Hell Samara Daemonium and her powers as a half-angel, half-demon. 

From the opening scenes that depict an unusual friendship between a Shapeshifter and a Changeling to Lucinda's determination to gain control of her father's throne by kidnapping the heir who might replace her, Mcfarren creates a series of interlocking lives. Each life opens to reveal pieces of a puzzle already well-steeped in the prior series titles' events. 

Samara's struggle for survival forces her into an unholy relationship with Lucifer and places her in the middle of conflicts that rock preset notions of these worlds. This leads her to confront a closely held secret, to reconsider her origins and purposes between two disparate worlds, and to walk a fine line between self-preservation and bigger-picture thinking. 

Mcfarren's ability to add just the right doses of complexity, tension, and character evolution to her story results in a fine study in contrasts and changing purposes as each character finds their preset notions changed by circumstances beyond their control. 

Expect the unexpected as a series of tests evolve, whether it's events directing Samara's search for her son, which prove shockingly enlightening, or in her survival of a witches' inquiry that provides her with keys to her future choices: “Trust your instincts and intuition, Samara. They are far stronger and more powerful than you might believe.” 

The result is a gripping fantasy best absorbed by prior fans of the intriguing Gehenna series. It straddles the lines between fantasy, horror, and paranormal occult fiction while providing a rollicking good read steeped in strong character development and evolutionary processes. 

Libraries looking for something different will welcome all these books as examples of superior characterization, fine tension, and action that rely as much on psychological transformation as it does revised worldviews and paradigms. 

Requiem for a Queen

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 Literature

The Best I Can Do 
John Branning 
Pusillanimous Books 
978-0-9970773-9-1                        $14.95 Paper/$4.99 ebook
Website: www.JohnBranning.com 
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Best-I-Can-Do-ebook/dp/B0BH33FBXR 

The Best I Can Do: A Panoply of Humorous Essays and Light Verse is a lighthearted presentation of satirical writing that does justice to the underlying script, talents, and ideals of humorous expression. 

Prepare to be entertained; whether by black and white visual photos of snafus and ironies of life, verses, or essays. The attention to detail even extends to the hilarious self-portrait of the author that precedes the written words, the acknowledgement that includes "the cats that own us," and the perfunctory quote that is accompanied by a wry side note from the author: "Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face." - Victor Hugo
If that’s true, then please apply sunscreen before reading any further."

Its whimsical table of contents even includes such chapter headings as "To Sleep, Perchance to Snore" to the self-effacing chapter "Pooh Pooh Pulitzers" which opens with the observation that "I’ve just completed a quick scan of the 2019 Pulitzer Prize winners and did not notice my name so immortalized. Bummer. There are fourteen journalism categories and I didn’t even make it to the finalist stage in any of them. Of course, the fact that I’m not a journalist may have played a part there. My chances were perhaps better under “Letters, Drama & Music,” which includes a number of brackets that are right in my wheelhouse:
Fiction: When my wife comes home from work and asks me what I’ve been up to all day, I spin elaborate fictions to rival the greatest found in literature.
Drama: Once I admit how I actually spent my day, drama ensues.
History: The pathological need to camouflage and embellish my daily routine goes back decades."
 

John Branning's special blend of satire is remarkably astute and always hilarious. It gives much cause for thought and laughter, whether it arrives in essay form or in free verse.  

Subjects are as wide-ranging as husband/wife relationships, bathroom innovations, and ironic commentaries on life experiences, platitudes, and reporters. 

The result is side-splitting from start to finish and delivers what it promises: a wry inspection of the satirical form as it relates to modern life and relationships within it, whether internal or external. 

The Best I Can Do is very highly recommended for any collection strong in satirical writings and humor. It's by far the most hilarious read undertaken in 2022. If not 2019, 2020, and 2021. 

The Best I Can Do 

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Ghost House
Sara Connell
Muse Literary
9781958714034
$24.99 Hardcover/$15.99 Paper/$.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Ghost-House-Sara-Connell/dp/1958714038 

Ghost House blends occult fiction with literary twists and turns, overlaying its short stories with a sense of psychological depth and feminist inspection. This makes for a delightful collection of diverse perspectives on ghosts and haunted lives. 

From childhood, Sara Connell has been enthralled by ghosts and the occult. Her early passion for haunts almost got her banned from the sleepover party circuit, as her embellishments and storytelling prowess captured vivid horror scenes that chilled her peers. 

Thankfully, she never 'grew out' of this fascination for the spiritual realm and its haunting possibilities. Thus, Ghost House represents not just a lifelong pursuit, but a literary collection honed with the trappings of creative horror embellishments and tempered by adult perspectives on traumas that haunt and heal at the same time. 

Not every story in this collection features the conventional ghost. One of Connell's talents is to tackle the traditional image of the specter and its haunting capabilities to expand the notion of otherworldly encounters. 

The collection opens with the title story 'Ghost House' and the delightful prospect of a new home where the husband buyer sees opportunity and his wife senses adversity: 

“The thing about it is,” Caitlin’s husband whispered in her ear, “the sale of the Powell piece alone would cover the down payment. I could renovate this place and double our investment.”
“The thing about it is,” Caitlin wanted to reply, “a ghost house is a terrible idea.”
 

Few buyers are purposely looking for a ghost home. This couple's choice represents not just a bad decision, but good intentions gone awry. Mostly because the ghost does not like Caitlin. 

Each story harbors and evolves a different definition of and sense of a ghostly encounter. Each provides readers with a spooky experience laced with a thought-provoking psychologist twist that turns the staid story or anticipated ending upside down. 

The result is a powerful literary work that offers the delightful juxtaposition of ghosts and unexpected insights and reflections. 

Libraries that choose Ghost House for its promise of occult entertainment will find the collection evolves beyond the usual supernatural focus. It offers many satisfying points of discussion that book clubs will want to consider, whether they be focused on literature, supernatural fiction, or women's writings, experiences, and issues. 

Ghost House

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Melody in Exile
S.T. Brant
Atmosphere Press
978-1639884988            $16.99
www.atmospherepress.com 

Melody in Exile's special brand of poetry pays tribute to the intersection between literary and spiritual reflection, and is recommended reading for audiences who look for such rare entwinings of two often-disparate subjects. 

It opens with "The Soul," a consideration of darkness, color, the "cosmology of you" and "...the new melody made when a song/lands in the sea." 

The perspectives presented in this poetry gathering aren't just those of the author, but represent a chorus of insights, from Adam and Eve to timeless love connections that traverse time, space, and nature: "Her windy song collides my heart. It dusts; it seeds the universe:/Adam up from dust." 

Each poem represents a microcosm of world perspectives, visions of love and life, and the presence of literary and spiritual revelations that wind through experiences and observations: "Adam, Eve, light’s embassies, and I/Talked our visions, our limits. In Eden I was happy but for the/loose bee in my heart."

With these selected quotes, which but graze the surface of the metaphysical and metaphorical prowess demonstrated by S.T. Brant, readers gain a sense of the depth of examination promised and delivered in free verse explorations. 

Libraries seeking contemporary poetry collections that sing and ring with thought-provoking links between history, spiritual, and emotional forays into the world will find Melody in Exile's lyrical, philosophical examinations a compelling representation of modern contemporary free verse poetry at its strongest. 

Melody in Exile

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 Biography & Autobiography

The Apparition
Tricia Stafford with Annie Stafford
Atmosphere Press
978-1-63988-601-2         $17.99
www.atmospherepress.com 

The Apparition: A Mother-Daughter Reckoning with Madness and a Brief Study on Hearing Voices chronicles a mental health journey undertaken by the mother/daughter authors of this book when Tricia's then-seven-year-old daughter began suffering bouts of crippling anxiety that mirrored her mother's struggles with the condition. 

Annie's struggles with OCD and depression and her mother's concurrent rising anxiety were further challenged when, at age twelve, Annie began hearing voices. Readers receive an intriguing story of mental illnesses and family interactions that skirted the edge of madness. 

Readers who anticipate the usual progression of mental illness and the struggle to find resolutions to problems will be surprised at the turn the story takes, making the label of 'mental illness' questionable. 

The writers become involved in the Hearing Voices Movement that goes beyond conventional psychiatric thinking and labels. This requires a revamp of the entire diagnosis and prognosis progression as the writers use their experiences to explore this movement and its potential for healing and growth. 

The prologue sets the stage for what this story will and won't embrace: 

"There are no government conspiracy ramblings, no messianic babblings to family and strangers, no sudden decampments in the dead of night or extended flights of psychosis, but there are other departures from the benchmarks of sanity. This is, instead, a rather hushed tale of a mother and daughter’s private agonies. In fact, I never imagined a day I would speak of these things, never wanted to burden my children with memories of their mother’s terrible anguish or flaunt the severity of my daughter’s own trials, but today I elect a different course." 

This cautions that the contents of The Apparition will prove something out of the ordinary for even the most avid of mental health memoir followers. 

Mother and daughter employ descriptions and insights not to be found in other mental health memoirs: "Her ability to throw herself into performance art was a joyfully outgoing way to distract herself from doom and gloom, but her powerful anxiety eventually won out, dousing that glorious youthful effervescence. Anxiety thwarted most of Annie’s ambitions." 

Most intriguing of all (which sets this memoir apart from most other psychological explorations) is the exploration and details about the Hearing Voices Movement and those therapists and individuals who harbor a different perspective about mental distress and growth: 

"Some voice hearers experience psychosis as part of what is called a psychospiritual crisis or “spiritual emergency,” which can be prompted by a wide variety of physical or emotional causes. Psychotherapist Christina Grof and her husband and psychiatrist Stanilov Grof coined the term spiritual emergency to convey both the sudden appearance of the crisis and the emerging opportunity to ascend to a higher level of spiritual awareness and psychological health. According to the Grofs, many of the conditions diagnosed as psychosis are not “manifestations of an unknown pathological process” but the “result of a spontaneous movement in the psyche that engages deep dynamics of the unconscious and has healing and transformative potential.” 

The result is a powerful growth-oriented testimony not just to the challenges of mental distress and diversions, but the possibilities that lie within them for not just resolution, but evolution. 

Readers who would gain a different perspective on the problems, solutions, and ultimate revelations of survival and life will find The Apparition a powerful reckoning which goes far beyond the usual mental health story to venture into uncommon territory. 

Libraries will find The Apparition a satisfying adjunct to the usual mental health memoir or family story, while book clubs interested in stories of mental health will find it holds much fodder for discussion. 

The Apparition

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Feathers at My Feet
Barbara Pearson
Indigo River Publishing
978-1-954676-30-5                $16.95
Website: https://indigoriverpublishing.com/books/feathers-at-my-feet/
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Feathers-At-Feet-Barbara-Pearson/dp/1954676301 

Feathers at My Feet: A Memoir of Enduring Friendship belongs in libraries strong in women's literature, biographies, and artist relationships. It describes the meeting and evolution of a lifelong friendship between art teacher Barbara Pearson and fellow teacher and artist Phyllis Bosco, whose drive and passion led her to be both an influential Florida artist and an activist. 

Serendipity may have brought Phyllis and Barbara together, but it was mutual shared interests and growth that sparked a friendship that not only endured, but changed them both. 

The foundations of this relationship and, in particular, the growth process it created with accompanying new revelations and opportunities constitute the heart of Feathers at my Feet. 

Their encounter portended magic from the start: "...somehow, I had crossed a threshold from my ordinary life into something spectacular." 

As readers follow Barbara into the evolving relationship which grows, results in a shared house (complete with a resident ghost), then dissolves again, the swings of women's friendships and connections are displayed in a memoir that includes insights into the Florida art scene, activist pursuits, and a tragedy that changes everything. 

Their story represents a road trip through many worlds and shared growth experiences that spark transformations as the world ebbs and flows around them and time passes. 

Readers will find their story nearly impossible to put down, painted with the loving hand of recollection and connection steeped in cherished memories and adventures that conclude with no regrets. 

Libraries that look for standout literature in the fields of artistic and women's biographies should place Feathers at My Feet at the top of their acquisition lists. Not only will it attract a wide audience, but its subjects of women's friendships and shared connections makes it choice for book club discussion groups interested in themes ranging from women's relationships to the process of not just surviving, but thriving amid life's adversity and challenges. 

Feathers at My Feet

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I Sang That: A Memoir from Hollywood
Sally Stevens
Atmosphere Press
978-1-63988-551-0         $18.99
www.atmospherepress.com 

I Sang That: A Memoir from Hollywood isn't just another starlet's exploration of the industry, but a music-oriented probe of some sixty years of Hollywood film scores, television music, sound recordings, commercials, and concerts. 

Sally Stevens was a vocalist from the 1960s onward, working with such famous personalities as Nat King Cole, Burt Bacharach, and others. In reviewing her early industry experiences as a teen, she mentions how she entered into a world that supported her dreams and vocal efforts: "...somehow along the way I stumbled into working successfully in the music business as a singer, vocal contractor, and lyricist for film and TV scoring, sound recordings, concerts, and commercials—with and for some of the best people in the business—for the next sixty years." 

From auditions and tours to industry changes over the years, anyone interested in the back-stage history of film production and the evolving Hollywood milieu will find this memoir especially inviting, with its historical review of transition points that affected participants and audiences alike: 

"Today, several things have happened that have resulted in dramatic changes in our industry. First, technology --- which has allowed for voice-over commercials and singer tracks to be done from home studios to instrumental tracks sent from a music house or a producer. Those can be done as auditions or as finals – but there is no person or office involved to send along a contract or confirm what the rate should be, or even specify that it must be on a union contract. For some reason, advertisers seem to have become terribly intimidated by the idea of dealing with the union. So they offer “buyouts” – sometimes at figures which exceed the cost they would incur if they did do the spot on a union contract. It is a somewhat complicated pay structure, because the fees depend a great deal on what the airplay ends up being, and sometimes that is not known at the time the spot is recorded. Maybe there needs to be a simpler system worked out. And with new media --what streams currently on internet, etc. – it’s almost like the wild west out there." 

These kinds of insider observations are invaluable, and part of what makes I Sang That so unique. The broad time frame of decades spent in this changing world translates to important insights into the workings and evolution of Hollywood as a whole. This will prove especially compelling to readers seeking a broader perspective than most memoirs and analyses can offer. 

The result is a powerful survey of the vast changes that affected Stevens and fellow artists in Hollywood, detailing these transitions through a music-centric focus that follows the changing sounds of the industry. 

Libraries seeking additions to music history collections which are thought-provokingly revealing will find I Sang That a lively, informative introspection peppered with black and white photos throughout. 

I Sang That: A Memoir from Hollywood

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Once There Was a Child
Darlene Pscheidell Kwarta
Atmosphere Press
978-1-63988-540-4         $12.99
www.atmospherepress.com 

Once There Was a Child is a memoir of a teacher and a child that opens with a child's death and the special challenges faced by working with severely handicapped, abused, and dying children. Inspired by the Helen Keller story, Darlene Pscheidell Kwarta sought to work with and change the lives of "forgotten children" who struggled with emotional and physical trauma. 

Readers who enjoy stories about aspiring teachers succeeding against all odds will relish Kwart's memoir for its poignant portraits of needy students and the efforts she makes to bring them new possibilities in life. 

These challenges are outlined in specific scenarios that move the heart, educating readers about the special situations that develop from working with special needs kids. One example is a field trip that poses some unusual problems: 

"Group three kids were hysterical when they saw the escalator and yelled and signed, “Stairs are moving, stairs are moving”! David and Joey looked at the fast-moving stairs and stared at me like I was crazy. Both had had no training for stepping on the first step without falling all the way down. “No problem, gentlemen, we’ll take the elevator,” I said.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” It seems that most of them had seen movies where the cable breaks, the elevator drops, and the people plunge to their deaths."
 

These experiences offer unexpected moments of comic relief as well as important insights into not just the teacher's efforts, but the child's thoughts and fears: 

“What’s wrong, Joey?” I asked.
He signed, “Animals—not breathing—dead?”
“Well, they used to be alive, but they died and were stuffed so we can see them in a museum.”
“Who killed them?” he sobbed.
“I don’t know. Maybe they died because they were very, very old. Hey look, there’s a zebra. Pretty cool huh?” I signed.
Soon most of the kids were crying or asking to find a policeman so they could report the crime and find the killer."

Readers who anticipate a sobering, morose story of tragedy and trauma will find, midway through Once There Was a Child, an unexpected result: hope and humor join in to reinforce understanding. 

As Kwarta moves through these disparate young lives, many insights about teaching and learning, creative problem-solving on the fly, and adapting to unusual circumstances come to life to both entertain and educate readers. 

At the end of the day, Kwarta has made a difference not only in young lives, but by publishing an engrossing account of working with youth who hold every bit as much potential as any of their able-bodied peers. 

Libraries looking for personal, lively accounts of teaching special needs children that embraces the realities of the job with an unusual combination of humor and enlightenment will find Once There Was a Child a fine addition to collections that have seen popular patron attention from works by Torey Haden and others whose teaching efforts are nothing short of extraordinary. 

Once There Was a Child

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Mystery & Thrillers

Bollywood P.I.: California Dreaming
Priya Khajuria
Joyful Life Mastery

978-1-990669-13-2
         $16.99 Paper/$4.99 ebook
www.bollywoodpi.com 

Mystery readers who look for stories that embrace mysteries, misfits, and Indian-American culture will find Bollywood P.I.: California Dreaming an enlightening, fun foray into a health clinic worker's life. 

Jita Patel is a clinic worker by day, a potential bride that her mother works to make a suitable match for, and a wanna-be P.I. whose first case drops into her lap with a cousin's disappearance, landing her a missing persons case replete with emotional baggage and close connections. 

As she is joined by a cast of odd fellow misfits who have reason to pursue the truth themselves, Jita finds herself involved in much more than a missing relative as she unearths a strange crime operation that undercuts the peace and purposes of a California lifestyle. 

Jita is not your usual woman looking for love in right and wrong places. She's a smart, proactive, determined personality who seeks the truth—even if it is disguised under layers of adversity and criminal activity; and even if it threatens her own concepts of the future. 

Solid action tempered by psychological depth and a fun, sassy nature that swings full circle to embrace readers and perps alike make Bollywood P.I.: California Dreaming a compelling story, but what really stands out is the blend of humor, inspiration, and explorations of Indian culture. These elements are thoroughly steeped in and reflected by a heroine so absorbing that even readers with little prior knowledge of Indian culture will be motivated to learn more. 

Themes of racism, social expectation both in her family and the wider community at large, and dreams tempered by danger emerge, while the action-packed story lures from its opening lines: "I leapt backwards and fell to the ground, rolling down Vinod’s driveway. The car backed into the road and headed towards me with a screech, the sun flashing ominously off the windshield." 

Priya Khajuria juggles all these seemingly-disparate themes with an attention to detail and fun that creates a compelling story as Jita confronts not just danger, but romance, presenting unusual reactions to both: 

“So, what do you think about that drink?” he asked.
This is what I thought about that drink:

Naughty Jita: Woohoo! It’s about time! Let’s go, chop chop!
Nice Jita: I’m not ready.
Naughty Jita: Why not? He’s yummy and there’s an attraction.
Nice Jita: Slow down, I don’t know him at all.
Naughty Jita: Asti de Tabarnac! At this rate, you’ll be buried with your chastity pants on."
 

Bollywood P.I.: California Dreaming's spicy, proactive female character is thoroughly engaging and likeable. 

Libraries looking for P.I. stories that stand out from the crowd with their vivid characters, action-packed scenes, and juxtaposition of adventure and cultural revelations will find Bollywood P.I.: California Dreaming outstanding, as will the book clubs that choose it over others as they discuss Indian culture, women's choices, and mystery and romance problem-solving. 

Bollywood P.I.: California Dreaming

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Cosmic Trap
Matt Cost
Encircle Publications
978-1645994251                    $17.99
Website: www.mattcost.net
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Cosmic-Trap-Wolfe-Essex-Mystery/dp/1645994252 

Cosmic Trap explores a UAP (Unexplained Aerial Phenomena) experience, the concurrent mystery of a missing woman who may be connected to this sighting, and the involvement of Seagull Aviation, a governmental defense contractor. 

When local agents Clay Wolfe and Baylee Baker are tapped to investigate these dual puzzles, they find not only unexplained connections between them, but equally inexplicable human threats. Targeted by assassins, they come to realize that every person who has witnessed a UAP has vanished. 

The story opens with a lobsterman witnessing what appears to be a translucent aerial lobster trap. When he tells his story at the bar, predictable scoffing ensues: 

“I know what I saw. You can all fuck off.” Warren tossed back his beer, got up, and walked off.
“I’ll put it on your tab,” the bartender called to his disappearing back.
“Best have him pay now before the aliens whisk him away,” another onlooker added with a chuckle.
“Pluck him from his boat with one huge lobster claw and take him back down under the ocean to make a stew of him,” greasy hair said.
Warren went down the stairs followed by raucous laughter at his expense."
 

Clay just so happens to be in the bar when this story is told. It's unusual to find a professional investigator throwing back whiskeys at the local watering hole, but there is much about Cosmic Trap that lends it an aura of more realistic believability than most mysteries. 

Baylee, his business partner and possible romantic interest, also becomes involved. The realistic dilemma of the dynamics between them add to and enhance the story as both find their lives on the line and their concern over their latest case (and each other) growing. 

Matt Cost's prior mysteries  Wolfe Trap, Mind Trap, and Mouse Trap introduced Clay's P.I. skills, and this standalone follow-up adds further tension and deeper understanding as Clay and Baylee become involved in yet another dangerous puzzle. 

The draw of a typical mystery lies in unfolding the layers of a puzzle. The true lure of a superior mystery lies in an equal attention to understanding the layers of relationships that unfold in response to adversity, and the choices and actions of the characters. 

Cosmic Trap creates the dynamics for a series of personal, interpersonal, and social revelations. These entwine with the mystery component to create a wonderful tension based on characters who exhibit realistic flaws as well as compelling attributes. 

From conspiracy theories and misplaced files to attacks that seem random (but which Clay knows are somehow connected), readers receive a rollicking good read that careens through situations that are truly unexpected and challenging. 

Libraries looking for mysteries that are solidly cemented in realistic scenarios and characters who live and breathe to problem-solve in creative new ways will find Cosmic Trap serves equally well whether purchased in conjunction or after Wolfe Trap, Mind Trap, and Mouse Trap, or as a stand-alone story. Either way, the tale shines and proves entertaining, intriguing, and vividly compelling from start to finish. 

Cosmic Trap

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Ghost Hunter: The Hollow Men
Peter J. White
Independently Published
979-8847577519            $14.03 Paper/$2.99 ebook
https://peterjwhite.weebly.com/ 

Ghost Hunter: The Hollow Men blends a novel of suspense with a mystery and occult overlay that will attract a wider audience than these genres usually invite. Its presentation of ex-special forces soldier Max Sinclair (whose latest charge involves seeking justice for ghosts) creates a gripping account that moves through Max's visions of the dead, perceptions of righteousness, and quest for redemption—both for his ghostly visitors and himself. 

Max's entry into a bar after a motorcycle ride opens the story with a touch of something different as he surveys the scene and realizes that something odd stands out: "What the hell is it with dead women and red? Do women attracted to danger and bad men like red? Did their men dress them before they killed them?" 

Max doesn't just see spooks. He gives the creeps to those around him by his ability to acknowledge what others do not, introducing possibilities others don't want to see. 

As his investigations and search for truth turn up horrible contemporary disasters and immerse him in a quest to set free the dead who have returned, readers come to realize that Max's motivation is more than quelling uninvited visions. 

He needs to also quash the accompanying evil that threatens to absorb his own heart and mind. 

Ghost Hunter: The Hollow Men is the first novel in a projected series about the visionary vigilante, opening with a bang of solid action and intrigue that moves far from formula writing and into arenas of the unexpected. 

The characters are nicely done. Max is a completely compelling protagonist whose concerns and strengths are constantly tested by forces both human and supernatural, beyond his control, and the story's tension is nicely paced and developed. 

The result will prove of special appeal to occult fiction readers who normally don't choose mysteries, as well as mystery readers who have been appreciating the budding new genre of paranormal mystery writing. 

Peter J. White and his Ghost Hunter: The Hollow Men should be at the top of that list and profiled on library book recommendation lists as a standout. 

Ghost Hunter: The Hollow Men

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Guilty
Susan Fleet
Music & Mayhem Press
978-1-7321301-3-5         $15.00 Paper/$2.99 ebook
Website: www.susanfleet.com
Ordering: https://mybook.to/Guilty-thriller 

Fans of Susan Fleet's prior Frank Renzi crime thrillers will welcome the latest addition to the series, Guilty, which tells of a sadistic serial killer specializing in kidnapping and murdering women who are unfaithful to their husbands. 

From its opening lines, Guilty captures the essence of a man who metes out his own special brand of warped justice: "He couldn't decide what he liked best. The delicious anticipation or the magnificent feeling of power. He was in control and she wasn't. A bit like watching a movie for the second or third time." 

Homicide Detective Frank Renzi finds clues scarce in his desperate search for the killer that is terrorizing New Orleans. All he has to go on is photographs sent by the killer to loved ones of his deceased victims. Were they taken before or after the murders? Because the latest photo brag to land on his desk is of his boss's daughter, saving her becomes the last desperate push by the police to rescue one of their own against increasingly impossible odds. 

Guilty is about more than a murder mystery and investigation. Ultimately, it considers matters of fidelity and honor, both by the victims and the criminal mastermind who has appointed himself judge and jury over their choices and actions. 

Fleet does an excellent job of capturing the myriad dynamics of all kinds of personalities as they become entwined in the killings. 

It turns out that the New Orleans murders weren't the perp's first ones, but add to a pattern of "Guilty photographs" that mark his modus operandi in other places. This makes Renzi's job even more complex as he unravels the clues to follow the killer's path and purposes. 

Fleet crafts her story in a manner designed to appeal to both past Renzi readers and newcomers to his New Orleans world. 

The cat-and-mouse game is exceptionally well done, taking time to portray the psychology motivating all characters. The New Orleans backdrop comes steeped in local culture that brings the events to life, while tension is exquisitely honed and nicely developed: "He edged forward. Still no sounds. Flickering light coming through an open doorway to his left. Silently, he inched toward the doorway, arms extended, his finger on the trigger. No one visible from this angle. He chanced a quick peek around the doorjamb. Saw no one, alive or dead. The flickering light came from a big-screen television set opposite a sofa, the sound muted." 

Guilty is an excellent addition to the Frank Renzi crime series, yet stands nicely alone as a fine police procedural that comes with the added value of a moral and ethical quandary. 

Libraries looking for suspenseful police procedurals that go above and beyond in portraying both sides of the story will find Guilty a fine acquisition. 

Guilty

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He Deserved to Die
Anna Ruth Worten-Fritz
Fulton Books, Inc.
9781638608776             $13.95 Paper/$9.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Deserved-Die-Anna-Ruth-Worten-Fritz/dp/1638608776 

He Deserved to Die blends racial inspection with a mystery designed to capture young adult interest, with its eye-catching cover attracting initial interest through an engaging photo and a title not usually directed to this age group. 

Mature teens who choose this book receive an immediate graphic portrait of a morning killing in a driveway which comes with the victim's thought that "Someone finally got the moxy to follow through with one of the many threats I've received over the years." 

Indicating (on Amazon) that this book is for teens and young adults does the story a disfavor, in that its broader inspections of murder, racism, and neighborhood connections and disconnects would best be absorbed by mature teen into adult audiences. These readers will especially appreciate Anna Ruth Worten-Fritz's attention to dovetailing a whodunit with broader inspections of life. 

The juxtaposition between the interactions of adults and young adults, friends and neighbors and newcomers, and different segments of society and belief systems is presented in such a way that the story assumes the special form of a police procedural as events play out before, during, and after the murder. 

A deadly game that turns into a nightmare to implicate neighborhood residents creates a different kind of plot and story line that young adults typically don't receive. 

As adults guide young adult readers through the detective work that surrounds evidence, motivation, and entangled lives, the task of identifying the perp and understanding circumstances of irony and mystery join together with clues to keep young audiences engaged and wondering until the end. 

Worten-Fritz's survey of witnesses, victims, preconceptions, and hatred should ideally garner attention and lively discussions from mature young adult book club and reader groups. 

Adults who choose to lead such inspections, and libraries that include He Deserved to Die for its blend of detective work and social inspection, will find its higher-level thinking a plus. 

He Deserved to Die

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Nature's Bite
Mark Anthony Powers

Hawksbill Press
978-1737032946            $16.99 Paper/$6.99 ebook

www.markanthonypowers.com  

In Nature's Bite, Dr. Phineas Mann is no ordinary physician, but is assigned to investigate a novel asthma drug treatment developed by the pharmaceutical corporation SynMedical. It's a drug too many will die for in more ways than one, as Phineas and fellow doctor Marie Porter find out the hard way. 

Deeply wound into the story are the political struggles and conflicts of a Republican president in his final year in office, the climate change warming that is triggering increases in asthma and other medical issues, and the special forces that have led the FBI to Dr. Mann's doorstep. 

In many ways, Phineas is just a country doctor. He's operated away from the political quagmire that has overtaken the country and cultivates a rich home life with wife Iris, a foster beagle, and the more laid-back job a 70-year-old physician should be enjoying as a teacher supervising interns and residents. 

The last thing he should be doing at this point in his life is tackling a medical conundrum that holds its roots in politics, climate crisis, and subterfuge. 

But, thankfully for readers, he does. And Mark Anthony Powers's attention to details of personal and political milieus carries readers into the story with a vigor and attraction that mystery genre formula writing productions too often lack. 

Phineas may be a senior citizen now, but he's clearly not ready to hang up his medical expertise or investigative skills. Both are demonstrated in a story replete with exquisite action, solid attention to the details and conundrums of a personal lifestyle that butts heads with an edict to investigate a new drug, and the ethical and moral issues which arise as he uncovers new truths that place him in uncomfortable positions both personally and professionally. 

Powers has created a medical mystery that goes above and beyond the usual medical dilemma to add a special focus and flavor surrounding the ironies and inconsistencies of politics. 

Its special blend of satirical reflection and heart-pounding action makes Nature's Bite not just a cut above the ordinary for mystery libraries seeking medical thrillers, but worthy of recommendation to book club readers. This audience will find much food for thought and discussion, providing opportunities to contrast its world-changing themes with other genre approaches to medical suspense writing. 

Nature's Bite

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Particles in the Air
Jenna Podjasek, MD
Bancroft Press
978-1-61088-538-6                $25.00
https://www.amazon.com/Particles-Air-Mallory-Medical-Thriller/dp/1610885376 

Readers of medical thrillers who look for powerful female protagonists will find Particles in the Air the strong story of Dr. Mallory Hayes, a CDC investigator who tackles the sudden spread of a puzzling disease after a tsunami hits the coast of Southern California. 

Mallory's discovery of a strange new virus and its properties are only the beginning of the story, because soon she is tasked with understanding not just its incarnation, but its origins. And these involve a strange series of uncommon associations between scientists and madmen which portend doom to the world if the virus is not contained. 

Dr. Jenna Podjasek employs medical knowledge, processes, and her knowledge of disease progression to create a winning combination of authoritative real-world knowledge and fictional drama. 

Medical facts interspersed with the plot create a realistic backdrop that define and educate readers about the parameters of the problem: "Bartonella causes a rare type of local bacterial infection associated with lymph node swelling. It is known in the medical community as “Cat Scratch Disease” and is usually treated easily with antibiotics. In com­parison to patients with a normal, functioning immune system, immuno­deficient patients exposed to certain strains of the bacteria experience a more widespread, potentially serious infection." 

Pair this with an attention to creating strong, authoritative characters and women in positions of power who must translate their problem-solving abilities to an unprecedented medical threat, for a gripping story of subterfuge, intrigue, and drama that holds twists and turns many won't see coming. 

One of the special strengths of Particles in the Air lies in its concurrent subplots of a professional woman considering a relationship in the midst of what evolves to be a terrorist threat. 

As the nation unites, so does her heart. New possibilities expand plot and person to create a vivid, memorable read backed by a professional immunologist's consideration of disease and health processes and possibilities. 

Libraries looking for medical thrillers with powerful social and psychological backdrops will find Particles in the Air an outstanding choice. 

Particles in the Air

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A Portion of Malice
Lloyd Jeffries
Buckminster Publishing
979-8-9855269-0-5                $2.99 ebook
Website: www.lloydjeffries.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/gp/r.html?C=2Z24ENUUAEWUK&K=DSMJXZ5Z919B&M=urn:rtn:msg:202209251633099fea2bffa5bc4cebad1ae3675510p0na&R=KQU2OID8NI88&T=C&U=http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BG8ZPY7D? 

Book 1 of the new Ages of Malice series, A Portion of Malice, gives thinking thriller readers a run for their money and a discourse on possibilities as it surveys a dark mystery, a secret society, and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Emery Merrick, who is just about to commit suicide when he is drawn into a situation that injects magic into his world. 

Think a Dan Brown (The Da Vinci Code) novel, but with a foray into suspense that creates the back story of "a simple man mixed up in things about which he should never know." 

Emery's journey into apocalypse, redemption, and beyond brings readers into a tightly constructed story packed with satisfying twists and turns with an attention to detail and discovery that turns religion on end (even though it isn't a religious novel per se) and revamps history itself. 

While Emery's introduction sets the stage for the novel's multifaceted approach, the opening scene is set in Jerusalem at the time of Christ, when events between Cain and Christ create a scenario of anguish, redemption, and visions of a bloodthirsty god that exacts a terrible price for salvation. 

The portion of malice which is the subject of this story and the underlying foundation of the series begins here, evolving into a first-person journey beginning in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, where the first-person protagonist confronts "the memories of the one guy in recorded history whose sins are so vast they can’t be forgiven." 

As contemplations of Gods, vampires, and insanity cross the narrator's mind, readers are drawn into a scenario spiced by events of the past and dark portents of the future. 

Is humanity on its way out, and can one man change its destructive trajectory? 

Lloyd Jeffries creates a special blend of political and paranormal thriller which will delight even seasoned suspense readers with its unexpected twists and turns, which appear throughout the story as surprising, haunting potentials. 

His ability to firmly cement past and present events with future danger, his attention to crafting realistic characters and dilemmas which hold world-changing possibilities beyond their individual concerns and lives, and his facility for injecting spiritual contemplation throughout ("I think about the implications of Cain as God, of Abel, of predestination, of omniscience, and of all Cain has revealed.") results in a story that grabs attention and doesn't let go. 

It's difficult to sustain a uniform sense of tension and delightful surprise with so many elements intersecting, but Jeffries dances through these disparate special interests and lives like a ballet dancer, juxtaposing logical thoughts with impossible scenarios. 

The result is a thought-provoking adventure that offers a foray into supernatural territory and pits humanity against apocalyptic history and forces that would destroy it. 

Thriller and paranormal fiction readers looking for action-packed scenes that are surprisingly thought-provoking in their outcomes will find A Portion of Malice simply outstanding. 

Libraries who choose it for their thriller collections will want to recommend it not just to the usual thriller audience, but to book club discussion groups interested in powerful fictional journeys into philosophical, spiritual, and political territory. 

A Portion of Malice

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Tell Anyone You Want That I Was Here
Gordon MacKinney
Trailmark Media
979-8985736823                 $14.99
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BMDC67TD?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860           

"In the newspaper business, it's better to be annoying than forgettable." 

Nikki Hightower is determined to make an impression to land the job of features reporter at the Chicago Tribune, moving up from being a crime reporter. The lunch date which is part of this interview seems to portend her success, which she's about to cement by making an unforgettable impression.

However, when offered the opportunity, Nikki realizes it's a catch-22, as the crusty newspaperman serves her an edict: "I want one idea that you're willing to bet your career on." 

The events that unfold are more than Nikki bets her career on. She ups the ante by betting her life. 

Readers of suspense and thriller stories who look for plots powered by a proactive young woman's relationship with her father, loss, and investigation into circumstances which test her reporter's tenacity will find Tell Anyone You Want That I Was Here a study in psychological suspense and intrigue. The story firmly rests on Nikki's opposing emotions as her life careens away from its set course and goals, thrusting her into mercurial, dangerous waters. 

As she moves away from success and back to the questions that lie in the small town of Willigsville and in her past, Nikki ventures into territory at once familiar and alien as she tackles "perfectly flawed" people to arrive at buried truths that shake her world and its convictions.

As an ex-military woman, Nikki harbors the regimented response to adversity that keeps her courage and initiative high. As a controversial reporter, she's honed a sharp eye to uncovering uncomfortable and hidden truths, exposing them to the public eye with a finesse that led to her success in the newspaper world. 

As a daughter, she's now tasked with moving outside her comfort zone and into crime scenes that involve dangerous risks and life-threatening encounters. 

Readers receive a constant barrage of satisfyingly unexpected twists as the story evolves.  Gordon MacKinney excels in crafting just the right degree of tension, paired with psychological inspections, to keep readers immersed in a changing mystery and deeply involved in the quagmire Nikki keeps sinking into as she pursues different goals and difficult answers. 

The psychological connections between Nikki and other characters bolster the action to keep readers thoroughly engrossed in dilemmas that range from professional ethical and moral challenges to personal heartache. 

As Sheriff Joe and others become part of the equation (and, sometimes, the problem), readers receive an engrossing story that spins a fine yarn of intrigue and new possibilities. 

Libraries that look for powerfully-written thrillers which excel in both suspense and psychological connections will find Tell Anyone You Want That I Was Here a solid read that explores the revelations shaping an aspiring reporter's life. 

Tell Anyone You Want That I Was Here

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Umbilical
Jane Kay
Atmosphere Press
978-1639885312            $18.99
www.atmospherepress.com 

Umbilical opens in modern-day Namibia, where a small chartered plane's crash involves an undocumented baby and a nun hiding the child. 

Thirty years is a long time to percolate the mystery surrounding this event, but it ripples forward to enfold future generations in a surprising manner, and that is one of the hallmarks of strength of Jane Kay's Umbilical. 

Seasoned mystery readers will quickly come to find that Umbilical is not your tradition whodunit. It's a literary suspense story of actions, consequences, and inheritance that drives a powerful series of interactions and revelations between seemingly disparate characters that are somehow linked by a singular event that cannot be readily explained. 

As the ripples through time continue to unfold, readers are treated to a suspenseful story that embraces love, rage, and circumstances which reveal each character's simmering years of secrets: "Ella breathed fast, anger boiling up from the deep places where she’d stored it for decades. How she detested his entitled authoritarian manner, which made him the only one who was above reproach and everyone else somehow less worthy and therefore fair game for judgements and criticisms purely because they weren’t born the mighty Jack Moore. She felt as if she was about to choke on her anger." 

Kay's attention to contrasting cultural and social differences as the story unfolds creates an especially thought-provoking milieu. “African sentiments are not Western sentiments...” it is cautioned as special interests and cultural influences clash. 

The result is a mystery steeped in Southern Africa which embraces family angst, generations of behaviors and codes of ethics, and choices that lead to attempts to make peace with the past in order to move ahead in the present. 

Readers and libraries looking for suspenseful mysteries that supersede genre definitions will find Umbilical as powerful in its story of revelation as it is in its exploration of close-held secrets and answers to ongoing shame and questions. 

Umbilical

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The Whispering Woman
Trish MacEnulty
Prism Light Press
978-1-7375751-7-7         $17.99 Paper/$4.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Whispering-Women-Delafield-Malloy-Investigation/dp/1737575175 

The Whispering Woman pairs the investigative activities of Louisa Delafield and Ellen Malloy, two young women who never saw themselves as investigators, much less connected to one another by circumstances beyond their control. 

Trish MacEnulty presents a satisfyingly original take on the mystery and murder thriller genre from the start in creating historical fiction set in New York's Gilded Age and tackling the concurrent themes of class, gender, and economic status. These work alongside puzzling events that reach out to grasp the story's main characters and their readers alike. 

The turn of the century world of 1901 opens with a headline reporting the murder of an ex-pillar of society (now financially bankrupt) whose body is discovered in a hotel room. 

The scene quickly moves to Louisa's consultation with a lawyer who informs her that the family's inheritance money has been exhausted. Louisa readily admits that she hasn't been paying attention ("Too busy with work, she had told herself, but the real reason was that she didn’t want to face the truth. She much preferred the illusion that their small well of money would magically refill itself the way it seemed to do in all the wealthy families."). 

Nor has she been paying attention to the fact that her station in life has been dipping steadily, and that the Delafields are now poor. Marriage, the usual solution to maintaining one's wealth, is not an option because her father's actions have tarnished the family name, as well. 

Given all this, the relationship that evolves between Louisa and Ellen, who comes from a different social class herself, is unexpected and unusual, fraught with insights each faces as conundrums force them to work together under extraordinary circumstances. 

MacEnulty's ability to contrast these disparate personalities and their experiences to bring forth the underlying strengths and attitudes of each character is one facet that sets this historical mystery apart from many others. 

The social, political, and investigative story makes for thoroughly engrossing reading, powered by two equally capable young women who find their lives changed by their association, actions, and their consequences. 

Also especially thought-provoking is the fact that other opportunities belay the usual mystery's focus on non-investigators who are somehow intrinsically drawn to the life of a P.I. In this case, the women are reluctant participants who also have other choices, as in Louisa's contemplation of her other options: "It seemed that her readers enjoyed hearing about the seamier side of life. She supposed she could find more topics like that, and the raise had improved their financial situation somewhat. She should be satisfied. There was no need to go chasing after doctors and abductors." 

The result offers more of a flavor of history and psychology than most stories about women sleuths, injecting realistic and thought-provoking insights about not just their investigative prowess, but the kinds of options they face in re-envisioning their lives. 

The Whispering Woman is described as a "Delafield & Malloy Investigation," which also defines not a newfound career path so much as a course of action. It will attract beyond the usual genre of women investigators with its special focus on social status and the struggles turn-of-the-century women faced, and is highly recommended for libraries seeking exceptional acquisitions in not just mysteries, but women's literature. 

The Whispering Woman

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White Wolf
Cary Allen Stone
Independently Published

979-8843277468            $9.99 Paper/$.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/WHITE-WOLF-Cary-Allen-Stone/dp/B0B7QR5CC4 

White Wolf is a political thriller that pits a SEAL team against forces that would take over the U.S. government. More is at stake than a singular terrorist operation—democracy itself is teetering on the edge of civil war. 

Sound familiar? White Wolf mirrors the atmosphere, concerns, and clashing forces of modern times in America, embedding the political component with action-packed scenarios that will feel eerily familiar as forces on both sides square off. 

"The White House was the symbol of the power and majesty of America." It also represents the promise of freedom—but not its definition, which is also under attack by forces that would change this definition of the notion of "freedom for all." 

From a president who would return "by any means" to the office to create 'Thorneland' to abolish the Constitution, Congress, and all symbols of a democracy to accusations of a stolen election which features dangerous undercurrents, White Wolf represents a thriller that has roots in real possibility. 

And that's what makes it so powerful. That, and the attention of Cary Allen Stone to incorporating present-day events into fictional backdrops that then extrapolate a future seething with confrontation, power plays, and unusual twists from different directions. 

Both liberal and conservative readers will find White Wolf scorchingly action-packed and hard to put down. It contrasts the diverse perspectives of all sides concerned with not just democratic processes, but their own special interests. 

The assaults and battles on American soil are reminiscent of events in war-torn nations around the world, but they're taking place here, in an arena challenged not just by modern visions and interests, but past precedent and ideals. 

Through these vivid scenes, readers receive a barely-disguised fictional survey that prompts them to think further about bigger pictures, underlying forces at work, and the motivations and actions of individuals who affect and direct the course of a much-revised nation. 

The depiction of the actions and conundrums of the Delta Team that finds itself tasked with not only saving the President, but the nation, makes for a particularly involving set of scenarios that simmer with vitality and social and political examination. 

Libraries and readers seeking thrillers that mirror modern events but take an extra step into futuristic confrontations will find White Wolf a thoroughly engrossing scenario of a future America in which nobody is safe.   Not even the President. 

White Wolf

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Yesterday's Over
Becky Flade
Tirgearr Publishing
ASIN: ‎B0BFXJJ67C              $1.49 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BFXJJ67C  

Yesterday's Over is the third book in the romantic suspense Philly Heat series. It explores the evolving passion and intrigue surrounding two very different individuals: Assistant Chief Medical Examiner Trudy Beasley and Forensic anthropologist Benjamin Roberts, who are drawn together when bones are unearthed under a row house after an explosion. 

Their related jobs are linked by disparate approaches to problem solving. Trudy relies on gut instinct as much as her investigative and legal savvy, while Ben views the puzzle quite differently. 

It feels unlikely that these two will wind up in love as well as professionally entwined, but opposites sometimes attract, especially when cemented by a growing dilemma that tests both their personal attraction to one another and their professional mettles. 

The story opens with the aftermath of the explosion. Trudy is at the helm in a morgue, determined to employ her skills to unearth answers from smoky remains: "She couldn’t bring back the homes they lost, the lives destroyed, the memories buried under cindered rubble, but this she could do and would without complaint." 

Her job is to find impossible answers. In fact, death is her job (as is stated in the opening lines of her story). Her task is also to maintain professional distance. But Ben's entry into the case and his inquiries place Trudy in a hard position both personally and professionally as events unfold to not just embrace them both, but threaten their perceptions and relationship. 

Becky Flade's ability to craft a story that reflects romance and intrigue alike demonstrates a prowess at depicting both. Strong, compelling characters demonstrate their abilities and their vulnerabilities as death and adversity marks their passage through past and present conflicts. 

Her dialogues are particularly astute, contrasting the emotions and interactions between these main characters with often-passionate encounters that reflect their individuality as much as their evolving connections: 

"I didn’t mean it when I said thank you for the new sofa. I can choose and buy my furniture. I’ve been doing those things for myself my whole adult life before meeting you. I don’t want to be coddled. I’m a woman. A grown-ass woman.”
“I see that. Believe me.”
“Everybody keeps checking in on me. Like you, being polite, using soft tones like I’m a skittish kitten hiding in a wheel well. Alonzo, Buzz, Kylee, Lexi, Mike, even Sadie and Ellie. No one wants to tell me what’s going on with the investigation. I’m the one who said from the beginning this was a big deal. You would’ve been completely content studying your bones, writing a report, and calling it a day. Hey, can’t upset the hysterical female. I’m not hysterical. I’m pissed. And I feel bad for your damn cat.” She wiped the tears from her face. “I’m not crying because I’m upset. I’m crying because I’m furious.”
 

Flade utilizes just the right blend of tension and emotional connection to give her characters authentic, strong, realistic responses to their pleasures as well as their challenges. 

The result is a suspenseful romantic story that operates on more than one level. Yesterday's Over will especially delight readers who look for stories of already-powerful women who evolve not because of male attraction, but in conjunction with what life throws at them. 

Libraries seeking stories of romance and intrigue will find Yesterday's Over stands nicely apart from the series with its Philly-steeped atmosphere and portrait of investigators who must solve the puzzles of yesterday in order to move ahead into their futures, both as individuals and professionals, and with one another. 

Yesterday's Over

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Novels

All is Fair
Michael Kenneth Smith
Independently Published
‎979-8353656456            $14.99
https://www.amazon.com/All-Fair-Michael-Kenneth-Smith/dp/B0BGSV51V1 

All is Fair opens in Poland in 1938, setting the stage for the history and experiences affecting trainee fighter pilot Jan Orlinski, who witnesses the invasion of his country by German forces in 1939. He finds himself far from both his home and his love when he is shot down in England and captured by Germans. 

From Jon's initial passion to become a fighter pilot and his training to his graduation as an airman, his blossoming relationship with Sophie, and the interjection of war which changes everything, Michael Kenneth Smith creates a moving, memorable account of World War II which personalizes the times and military experiences through Jon's eyes and his growth as both a pilot and an individual. 

Whether actively fighting or in captivity (twice!), Jon maintains his sense of purpose, person, and survival instincts which serve him well under many changing conditions. 

Jon's encounter with all manner of people and ethnic backgrounds introduces him to various situations and perspectives which hone his own ethical and moral outlook on life and its inhabitants: “We are very much alike, you and I,” the little man continued. “You are wanted by the German police, and I soon will be too. You see, I am a Jew. Any day will come a knock on the door from the Gestapo. They will take me and my wife away, never to be seen again.” 

As Jon struggles to survive his concentration camp experience and envisions a normal life in a world that has been ravaged and changed by war, readers gain a more personal perspective of life during these times than most stories offer. Strong characterization and an attention to details of place and communities bring these milieus to life in a manner most military fiction can't match. 

While its focus on military engagements and war make it highly recommended for libraries strong in military historical fiction, All is Fair's concurrent examination of not just survival and conflict, but matters of the heart open this world to non-military-fiction readers, as well. 

This audience will gain a full-faceted perspective of the war's effects on all kinds of people and ethic groups, and will better understand the European arena that changed, on so many levels, from the war's experiences and participants. 

All is Fair

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The American Outsider
Homa Pourasgari
Linbrook Press
978-0-9779780-3-8
Hardcover: $22, Trade paperback: $15.95, ebook: $7.59
http://www.theamericanoutsider.com 

The American Outsider is a novel about Tessa Walker, a forty-year-old vet who has long been concerned about animal welfare. 

Her charge to help animals was instigated by her witnessing the slaughter of dolphins when she was sixteen, but lately that incident has been replaying in her mind, sparked by modern events that portend the same violence. And so she journeys to Japan on a mission of activism to prevent something she was helpless to stymie as a teenager. 

Tessa is passionate about her calling, even as others try to dissuade her from her purpose. She still suffers from panic attacks and nightmares from that long-ago experience, carrying the scars of it into her adult life as new visions of slaughter buffet her world. Events in Japan lend to this future possibility, supercharging her determination to become a more effective protector of animals: "She covered her ears to block out the cries of dolphins. In her head, she saw images of Japanese fishermen driving them into a cove to slaughter them. She heard their screams when she woke up; she heard their screams when she went to bed." 

As readers explore Tessa's vivid nightmares and rationale for injecting herself into another country's culture and affairs, the novel spins a compelling voice of protest and change during which one woman learns she can make a difference—but only if she takes a big step into unknown waters. 

In some ways, Tessa has been preparing for this moment all her life. In others, she is making moves to become even more active, because the protests she's a part of are no longer changing reality: "...not much had changed in Taiji to the chagrin of activists around the world. All their demonstrations had not produced the result they had hoped for." 

Readers interested in novels about political awakening, animal welfare issues, international relationships in general, and Japanese culture in particular will relish Tessa's journey as she steps into a role she'd never imagined being in. 

Libraries that look for stories replete in examples of activism and involvement will find The American Outsider as well-steeped in Japanese-American relationships and perceptions as it is about evolving animal welfare issues. The result is a vibrant story highly recommended for its review of obsessions, relationships, and struggles with panic attacks and love. 

The American Outsider

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Aren & Élise
Ettenig Sayam
Writer’s Branding
978-1-63945-541-6   
$TBA  Hardcover/$TBA Paperback/$TBA ebook
Website: https://ettenigsayam.com
Ordering: www.amazon.com 

Aren & Élise retells the biblical story of Abraham and Sarah using quite different contemporary, older figures. It revolves around single, fifty-year-old New England teacher Élise Douchet and widowed sixty-two-year-old engineer Aren Karajian, who meet under unexpected circumstances to evolve an equally startling relationship in their later years. 

Relatively few novels address the subject of romance and relationship-building outside of youth, but Ettenig Sayam crafts a thought-provoking story of the kinds of questions that arise over later-life commitment and relationships. 

As readers follow Aren and Élise's journey and the anticipations and concepts that are rooted not in the naiveté of youth, but the presumptions and experiences of older age, they will find many revelations come into play as the two contemplate a surprising twist to their lives. 

One of the most compelling aspects of this story lies in its ability to grasp the thought-processes of the mature mind as it considers new opportunities: "I’m not trying to poison you against him. It’s just that you have high expectations of people, and I just want to warn you that not everyone can live up to your ideals. It doesn’t mean they’re bad or that they’re trying to harm you. Just open your heart and be ready to forgive—if this guy deserves it.” 

These two adults already have forged relationships, experienced love, and then moved on into life as singles. Their friendships, family, and influences are much more studied and aged than those of typical younger lovers, and thus their reactions are much more seasoned, influenced as much by experience as they are by spontaneous reactions. 

As the evolving couple faces another unprecedented twist that should theoretically not be possible later in life, readers receive a foray into maturity, new realizations, and decisions that belay the wisdom of years and move into realm of spiritual enlightenment. 

Ettenig Sayam embraces all these growth elements with a fine attention to exploring the prospects of growing old together as a couple faces many late-in-life transition points. 

Libraries and readers seeking novels replete in discovery and growth will find a lovely portrait of both in Aren & Élise, a study in love and life lessons that arrive come at any age. 

Aren & Élise

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The Dove is Dead
John Uttley
Independently Published
9798847657624      $10.38 Paper/$3.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Dove-Dead-Unholy-Trilogy/dp/B0BGQNLB85 

The Dove is Dead tackles a late-in-life crisis experienced by two men, Bob Swarbrick and Richard Shackleton, who are in their seventies and on the cusp of the greatest change in their lives. These contrast with the reflections of younger Amy, who also is on the cusp of very different realizations. 

Readers who choose this concluding book in The Unholy Trinity, which presents the social history of the working and lower middle class in Britain, might think themselves at a disadvantage for not reading the book's predecessors. But one of the pleasures in this title is that one can enter it without prior knowledge and still receive a rich foray into the lives and shifting perspectives of three generations of a close family. 

The story opens from the perspective of a college girl Amy Shackleton: “You can be woke and still be sensible,” I’d say. “It’s all about being alive to the wrongs of the past, which isn’t everything in history.” And then I’d add as a joke, “But that includes everything that’s happened in the West since the industrial revolution started.” No, nobody ever laughed. I’ve never wanted to rebel against my upbringing in a big way though. It had been good. More than anything, I’d hate to be seen as a poor little rich girl, when I know that what I should feel is both privileged and grateful." 

This contemporary observation dovetails nicely with the prior novels, presenting a recap that easily educates newcomers with a quick outline of characters and history. It opens the story of an family that experiences turbulence, love, and changing social conditions that test their values and perspectives. 

As scenes evolve in movie-like staccato play, readers receive thought-provoking insights into family relationships and ideals that teeter on the cusp of social and psychological evolution: "...this was the time of the Black Lives Matter campaign, which I strongly felt that the whole of Britain should take to heart. It was one of the things I disagreed with Dad on, who saw it as just one initiative among many that had taken place during his life." 

Although British politics are part of the discussions that evolve between adults and the next generation, there is no requirement that readers be familiar with or understand the nuances or history of any of these events. The smooth reflections incorporate these facets as needed to create a thoroughly engaging, understandable milieu. 

Readers who enjoy stories of generational attitudes, social change, and how relationships are tested and shift under the quicksand of political and social struggle will particularly appreciate John Uttley's attention to creating dialogues that clarify and change hearts and minds: "In the outside world, there was a terrible murder of a young woman walking home in London. I was so angry about it, telling Dad that all men were rapists at heart. I was surprised that he didn’t totally disagree. “I don’t think you can ever change all men for good, however much you educate them. We try to make it better, but the devil will always be in the mix.” That wasn’t an acceptable answer to me." 

Through solidly-constructed, believable protagonists are tempered by the first-person opinions and observations of Amy, readers gain insights into both the later years of thinking processes that are tempered by time and experience and the ideals and illusions of youth. 

As faith, community, life, and death touch Amy's world, readers are drawn to the interactions between individuals who embrace different facets of change in disparate manners, growing to appreciate their loved ones all the more for the impermanence of life itself: "I looked at Mum and Dad and realised how much they meant to me. They wouldn’t be with me forever." 

The result may be a fitting end for prior readers of The Unholy Trinity, but will prove an exceptional beginning for new readers dropped into this pursuit of meaning and purpose from life, politics, relationships, and growing older. 

Libraries interested in fiction that embraces a powerful sense of place, faith, and family will find The Dove is Dead a thought-provoking contrast between generations as British society shifts. Its insights about truth, identity, hope, and family legacy will linger in the mind long after the story's conclusion. 

The Dove is Dead

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Ginger Star
Diana McDonough
Independently Published
978-1-7337319-1-1                $19.99
www.dianamcdonough.com 

Ginger Star opens in Ghana in 1719, where Amari and Kwasi are enjoying a friendly hunting competition when they run into a Fante warrior who works with the slave ships, capturing souls for servitude. 

Their capture and journey to Jamaica is fraught with battles between ships and crews. Their introduction to various forms of privilege and prejudice will keep readers thinking about the incarnations of both as the story unfolds against the backdrop of pirates, settlers, and those who consider other human beings as fodder for trade and abuse. 

While Amari and Kwasi open the story, a host of other characters are introduced to add a full-bodied flavor to the tale from different perspectives. 

Cabin boy Ronnie Shepherd and Marshall Fergusson of Ramble House Plantation are juxtaposed against Adria's life of advantage in Jamaica and the secret she harbors against all odds. The hopes, dreams, and heirs to the Ginger Star plantation intersect on various social and cultural levels to evoke change in not just one other, but the world around them. 

Diana McDonough crafts a novel replete in Jamaican history, the atmosphere of the piracy that swirls around disparate lives and changes them, and the follies of men and women. 

Guilt and the reality of closely-held secrets that will ultimately prove impossible to keep dog Amari's increasing involvement with the Maroons, a tribe of escaped slaves and Taino Indians. The Maroon’s type warfare threatens not just freedom and the status quo of plantation life, but the fabric of colonial society whose expectations and perceptions keeps the story riveting and multifaceted. 

Ginger Star's story of prejudice, redemption, time and love is highly recommended for libraries interested in thought-provoking tales of the Caribbean and lives that evolve into new possibilities. 

Ginger Star is a story of struggle, strife, and the rejuvenation of a stowaway’s life who finds a home and hope against all odds. Ginger Star is the powerful story of grief, courage, and optimism.  

Ginger Star

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Hospital!
Kyle Bradford Jones
Black Rose Writing
978-1-68513-090-9         $17.95 Paper/$4.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Hospital-Medical-Satire-Unhealthy-Proportions/dp/1685130909 

Hospital!: A Medical Satire of Unhealthy Proportions opens with a pointed chapter title ("Dr. Camus is a Jerk") that displays satirical and metaphorical strength from its opening sentence: "When Dr. Camus powered down the hallway of The Peloton Forward Crescendo Care Amicus Health Priority Catalyst Wellness Code Blue Memorial Hospital of Her Motherly Excellence (slogan: “We are a hospital”), the tail of his rumpled white doctor’s coat trailed behind him like the cape of an angry nineteenth-century magician." 

With one vivid scene, Kyle Bradford Jones displays a prowess at capturing both the ironies of long-winded medical center titles that attempt to include metadata for Internet search engines to find and the persona of a doctor who may be a jerk—but is possibly a magical one. 

The scorn and superiority he emits is succinctly described not just by his countenance, but by probes of an attitude which is typical of too many doctors: "Camus didn’t just want you to know how much he despised you. It had to be joined with the absolute certainty that he was better than you in every way, even though he was a man of few genuine talents." 

The insights into the political, social, and psychological structure of the medical community come to light throughout this book. It's a satire of medical humor sure to attract anyone who has either worked in or interacted with medical personnel. 

Jones adopts a delightful tone as he reviews a host of medical conundrums, adding his own voice as 'observer' to these matters to spice the exposé: “The problem is that the hospital simply can’t afford typical intensive anger management therapy for you,” Rosencrantz the CEO said as he put his custom-made Sutor Mantellassi-shoed feet on the mammoth, imported-mahogany desk that consumed less than one-sixteenth of his office. [Narrator’s aside: In case you don’t understand what the previous sentence says about this character, it means that he wore very expensive clothes, had a large, exquisite desk, and had an enormous office. I mean, come on, do I have to spell out everything? Really? Do you know how hard it is to be a narrator?!]" 

From the esteemed doctor's downfall and reappearance as a new man to a psychiatric patient's escape and the escapades which follow an attempted hypnotism by the Amazing Ralph to change undesirable behaviors, Jones creates a romp through a world both believable and extraordinarily ironic. 

Readers looking for solid examples of contemporary satire, as well as those more than lightly experienced with the hospital system and the doctors who operate on inflated egos, fantasy, and self-important perceptions, will find Hospital!: A Medical Satire of Unhealthy Proportions offers non-stop laughter alongside thought-provoking inspections. 

Libraries looking for modern satirical novels that take an extra step into entertainment value will find Hospital!: A Medical Satire of Unhealthy Proportions a unique and fun choice. 

Hospital!

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The Journey of Karoline Olsen
Ann Hanigan Kotz
BookPress Publishing
978-1-947305-51-9         $24.95 Hardcover/$7.95 ebook
www.bookpresspublishing.com 

The Journey of Karoline Olsen is a novel about an extraordinary undertaking made by a woman whose husband dies in 1905, prompting her to bring his body on a long journey via wagon as she recalls their marriage and move from Norway. 

At this point, it should be noted that Karoline Olsen's fictional journey is based on the author's family stories and experiences. This lends the account an aura of authenticity created by the author's personal connection to her story. It should be read as fiction, but this foundation lends to an immersive experience that comes to life for Karoline's readers. 

From the beginning, one of the striking notes of this story is the sense of time's slow passage which is reflected in journeys by wagon across prairies and wilderness. Descriptions of these processes are solidified by insights into the trials produced by even the simple process of bringing a body home for burial: "The frozen blocks were packed around the body, which was wrapped in a heavy canvas tarp to keep it from deteriorating until she could put him into the ground. Karoline had traveled more than two weeks to make the trip from Soldier to Cedar Falls to retrieve him. Now, she needed make the journey home." 

From solo trips cross-state to acts of kindness and support which enable Karoline to achieve her goals, Ann Hanigan Kotz cultivates a personal perspective to the character's actions that embraces her thoughts and experiences about love, marriage, and survival: "Making her way home, carrying her husband’s body, Karoline had nothing but time to think about her husband, her marriage, her life. The last time she had seen him, just as he was walking away from her to start his trip, he had broken her heart for the final time. There had been no words since then. And there would never be words again." 

As her life unfolds, Kotz is especially attentive to creating passages that describe Karoline's expanding world both within and outside her marriage: "Their conversations always started with something less personal but then evolved into their questions about men and marriage as well as their own pains and scars as wives and mothers." 

Whether speaking of the process of an immigrant journeying to a new country and home, making friends, raising family, or surviving marriage and death, Kotz captures this world of changing lives. She profiles Karoline's cleverness in trying to protect daughter Betsi's reputation and life as well as the progression of 22 years of Karoline's often-stormy marriage to Kristopher. 

Kotz winds history, love, and survival issues into a thoroughly moving story that will especially appeal to women who look for history-based novels that come alive with the quickening of both relationships and survival tactics. The result is a story that winds through early 1900s America and the trajectory of a woman's heart. 

Libraries looking for solid representations of these lives and their struggles, whether from choices and circumstances or changing interpersonal relationships tested by the rigors of new worlds and opportunities, will find The Journey of Karoline Olsen a compelling recommendation. 

The Journey of Karoline Olsen

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Just City
Olga Tymofiyeva
Independently Published
979-8-3507-0178-4   
             $10.00
Website: www.olga-tymofiyeva.com/just-city
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BLJ3X1QZ?ref_=pe_3052080_276849420 

Just City is a novella that teens, new adults, and adults can all enjoy. 21-year-old Nathan dreams of creating a successful start-up company; but to do this, he needs money. 

The lure of such draws him into a scientific experiment involving a virtual reality game in which he can literally see the world through another person's eyes and experiences. It all feels like easy money until Nathan discovers the downside to the game, and the reality of its impact. 

As Nathan navigates both his dream of pitching a successful idea to New Entrepreneur Incubator, the most prestigious incubator of start-ups in the San Francisco Bay Area, and the nightmare of the cost of making money to do so, readers will find his world all too familiar and frightening.  

For a young man, both his goals and ideals are lofty: "I imagine myself moving my body by pulling invisible strings to accomplish things, driven by my willpower. I can do anything I want if only I put my mind to it. I reflect on my school successes and how my life has been a solid game so far and will be even better soon. I feel the power. I imagine being recognized at parties as one of the “top 10 entrepreneurs under the age of 25” and feel an adrenaline rush." 

The adrenaline rush he anticipates from being a quick and early success is mitigated by that he experiences from becoming immersed in technology that is clearly over his head. And in it.

 Olga Tymofiyeva tackles many intriguing, powerful social, philosophical, and psychological issues through the eyes and experiences of young Nathan. 

Between family belief systems and his determination to earn his own money to seed his dream to the values that have driven and formed his young life which are duly tested in Just City, readers of all ages receive an inspection which is more thought-provoking than most: "The joy of seeing someone in need being helped was profound. I wished all defective, lonely toys could be found, helped, and cared for. I thought I would have done the same as that girl. My biggest inner wish was to help those who were lonely. Somewhere along the way, that desire was suppressed by the thought that not everyone deserves help. But the memories of the joy from reading that book always stayed with me." 

This special brand of higher-level thinking is atypical in novels directed towards this age group, but seeing the world through Nathan's eyes and ideals creates a compelling story whose draw lies not in technological challenges, but matters of the heart and soul. 

Readers who choose Just City and libraries that decide to stock it will find the story replete in situations which can spark many different questions and debates among book clubs and reading groups, from the nature of reality, love, and experience to the intersection between science and belief which is challenged by Nathan's venture into unfamiliar territory. 

Conversations with his wise grandmother are particularly enlightening and represent inter-generational insights and dialogues that encourage young readers to think about their own relationships with adults and the adult world around them: 

“Grandma, I used to have a set of principles but then… I changed my mind. Is it a sign of weakness?” I ask.
“Nathan, just as in science, changing your mind if your knowledge is updated is not a bad thing, but a very good, very important thing. This is what being grown up means to me.”
 

Libraries that choose Just City for patrons of all ages should also place it on their recommendation lists for book clubs interested in debates about many facets of choosing and pursuing adult dreams. 

“Is the point to say that even though we choose our actions all the time, the ‘chooser’ hasn’t chosen themselves?" 

The point is that Just City's compelling exploration is not just suitable for a broad audience of thinkers young and adult, but is very highly recommended as a spark point of debate and higher-level thinking. 

Just City

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The Key to Circus-Mom Highway
Allyson Rice
The Total Human Publications
‎978-0982185544           
$17.99 Paper/$9.99 ebook/$19.99 Audiobook
https://www.amazon.com/Key-Circus-Mom-Highway-Allyson-Rice/dp/0982185545 

Imagine being forced to confront and interact with an estranged sister over a family inheritance and a newly-found brother. The Key to Circus-Mom Highway presents a road trip prompted by a posthumous edict by a birth mother to renew broken family connections. 

Sisters Jesse Chasen and Jennifer McMahon find themselves embarking on a prearranged journey across America to touch base with their mother's friends. The conflicted interactions between these disparate individuals who have been thrown together for the sake of finding a lost key to the past makes for an engrossing story. It contains shades of Kerouac's On the Road, but brings the adventure home with interpersonal revelations about family and life connections. 

As the trio encounter a series of odd characters who each played a part in their mother's life, they unravel answers to questions they didn't even know they had. These answers, in turn, affect both their individual psyches and their relationships to one another and the world. 

Allyson Rice creates a rollicking good read that is filled with humor, wry life observations, and odd family interrelationships as these shared experiences evolve. She is especially astute at presenting contrasts in perspective and perception within these encounters. 

Each of her three characters experience life-altering circumstances and changes that prompt growth as well as angst. Their adventures are as much psychic as they are physical reminders that lives can dovetail and entwine in unexpected ways, especially if one can walk out of one's routine and into new areas of experience and realization. 

The result is a fictional portrait of sibling drama and life events which excels in the unexpected, teaches (by way of example) how disparate personalities can come together; and offers thought-provoking scenes of disconnection and connection. 

This will attract not just libraries seeking good leisure reads about sibling relationships, but book discussion groups focused on family trauma and drama. 

The Key to Circus-Mom Highway

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The Lighthouse
Karin Ciholas
Atmosphere Press
978-1639885930            $19.99
www.atmospherepress.com 

The Lighthouse is a historical novel and Book 1 in The Cyrenian series, and is set in first-century Egypt, which resides under Roman rule. 

Physician Simon's life as a Jew is increasingly tenuous in this world; but when his sister is kidnapped, Simon embarks on a journey into the slave markets in Alexandria and to Jerusalem to find her. 

Ironically, he is tapped by Roman soldiers to carry a crossbeam for a stranger even as he feels the swell of vengeance rise in him. Determined to track down her kidnapper Meidias and exact justice for his family and people, the good physician finds himself at odds not only with society, but his own edict to heal others—not kill them. 

His personal journey becomes political as the tides of the first pogrom against the Jewish people in Alexandria rise to place him and his choices in the cusp of world-changing events. 

If The Lighthouse seems unusually well-steeped in a sense of place, that's because Karin Ciholas embarked on a journey to the countries she depicts (Italy and the Middle East) to bring them to life. 

Of course, she couldn't travel back in time—that must be left to the imagination. But, backed by solid research into historical fact and insights into social and political currents of the times, Ciholas creates a vivid, memorable story powered as much by strong characters as by the forces that influenced this world's directions. 

Her descriptions are memorable and hard-hitting, embracing not just Simon's perspective, but the men and women who circle around him in various ways: 

"Aurelia moved quietly in order not to disturb the sleeping Claudia. Claudia was five years younger than Aurelia. Her dark lashes rested on her cheeks still red from crying, and in her hand she clutched an amulet on a silk ribbon. When Aurelia bent to look at the amulet, Claudia turned and moaned softly in her sleep. The amulet depicted the face of Juno, goddess-wife of Jupiter. Bitterly, Aurelia shook her head and thought that all prayers to her had truly been in vain." 

Whether she writes of love, death, or travesty, Ciholas creates a memorable saga that rests firmly on the hearts and minds of a diverse group of people moved by changing social and political influences. 

The beacon served up in The Lighthouse is highly recommended reading for any historical fiction library seeking powerful, memorable explorations of friends, enemies, and the forces that twist the two together. 

The Lighthouse

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Man Wanted in Cheyenne
Richard C. McPherson
Unleash Press
979-8-9862743-5-5                $17.99
www.unleashcreatives.net/shop  

Readers looking for Western novels with the flair of literature against a Nevada backdrop will find Man Wanted in Cheyenne more than a cut above the ordinary Western production. 

Jake enjoys movies almost as much as he enjoys his solitude. So when a Hollywood production team plans on using the ranch he's employed at, Jake is open to "teaching them cowboying" and participating in their filming efforts. 

What he was not expecting was the intrusion and changes this effort would bring to his formerly-peaceful life, which has evolved slowly in the fifteen years since his beloved Sarah died. It feels more than ironic that the movie actor which Sarah idolized is coming to the ranch to be part of this new production. It's also more than incongruous that Jake's observations of the characters participating in and directing this effort often place him at odds with those who would bully him to take charge of and change his little piece of heaven. 

As the movie crew's actions lead to disaster, Jake faces further challenges, from health threats that could devastate the cattle herd and new relationships with the small but growing bison breeding community to journeys to New York, Montana, and places far from the ranch he once called home. 

Richard C. McPherson juxtaposes filming efforts with this Western backdrop of a cowboy set adrift. These add to the realistic feel of the plot as events evolve to change Jake's life: "Jake knew this scene was shot on the studio lot, like most of the first half hour. There had been glimpses of the Circle J, what Rob called establishing shots. They’re supposed to give a true sense of the setting, not just the way a place looks, but the way it creates a world with its own reality. So far, he had only seen the ranch in frustrating glimpses, like a ghost flitting past him, gone before he could focus on the details." 

The author's research into cattle and bison also inject educational notes into the tale as Jake's world expands to embrace new ideas and environmental lessons about living in the modern West. 

The result is a full-flavored contemporary Western novel that takes the usual specter of the lone ranch hand cowboy and moves it in unexpected directions. Jake navigates unfamiliar terrain. Readers will find themselves avidly following him wherever he goes. 

Libraries looking for appealing Western stories that place the cowboy in the position of reinventing his life in a changing modern world will find Man Wanted in Cheyenne an intriguingly different story that employs the usual backdrops of the West, but with a satisfyingly original eye to introducing contemporary issues affecting the land and those who live on and manage it. 

Man Wanted in Cheyenne

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The Pulse
Owen Garratt
Runding Pelham Publishing
978-1-7777810-3-3                $16.99
https://OwenGarratt.com 

The Pulse is disaster fiction at its best, and opens with the author's caution that if violence, cursing, and death are disturbing to readers, they should look elsewhere. Then, again—what disaster novel doesn't incorporate some or all of these elements? 

The second cautionary note is that medical procedures performed "on the fly" by characters are not to be imitated. Owen Garratt's special brand of humor is evident from these introductory notes: "This is not a “How to” book. The author sweated himself to a husk to make it realistic, but that doesn’t mean you’d have the same results if you tried to pull this stuff off. You’re not Jack Broderick." 

And, with these opening notes, the reader enters a world that opens with the first-person narrator's experience of a plane crash which is anything but normal, also presented with a humorous overtone of ironic inspection. 

Jack has just survived the plane crash. But the opening salvo of adversity has just begun, because the power is out and so are the human traits of tolerance and civility. 

As Jack navigates an extraordinary world made unfamiliar in the blink of an eye, readers follow him through a strange new world as infected by wry wit as it is new survival challenges. 

Many miles from his family and facing a world afire, Jack faces changes in his own heart and relationships as he navigates unfamiliar territory and struggles to survive many new situations: "She wasn’t flirtatious or coquettish. Maybe a little coquettish, as in shy, but not erotic or cheap. No teasing or tantalizing. It came from a place of nurturing, of taking care of someone. It was thoughtful. It was appreciative. It was kind. And it had a vibe like a Japanese tea ceremony." 

Garratt's ability to wind ironic humor into his end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it scenario sets The Pulse apart from other disaster novels. Its special brand of apocalypse comes with intriguing side notes as Jack contemplates walking across the ravaged nation to return home to his family, facing assailants and possible new connections in the process. 

The result is far more realistic than most genre reads because its attention to adversity pairs nicely with moments of comic and personal relief in which Jack employs his various strengths to not just survive, but move forward. 

It matters not that his family is estranged and separated. His motivation to find them against all odds becomes one of the driving forces of a strange new life that is just getting started here, in Book One of the series. 

Libraries seeing patron interest in apocalyptic books will find The Pulse of particular interest, with its juxtaposition of survival and reflections on the cost of that effort: 

"The only thing worse than questions with no answers is the times when there are answers. The cost of the answer is, most often, unbearable. And because it is unbearable, it is unheeded." 

The Pulse

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Tales of Political Infidels: Trump's Lickspittles and Lackeys
Rainer Link
Bowker
979-8218064921            $13.95 Paper/$5.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Tales-Political-Infidels-Lickspittles-Lackeys/dp/B0BDNZZZNF 

Tales of Political Infidels: Trump's Lickspittles and Lackeys may sound like nonfiction, but its satirical novel of absurdity eschews many of the trappings of political reporting in favor of identifying the ironies and inconsistencies of the Trump phenomenon. 

Its focus is on how people are duped, reality manipulated, and insanity propagated in populations that remain acquiescent about a special form of exploitation that comes from higher-up ineptitude and control. 

Yes, Trump's presidency is at the heart of the title; but the extrapolations which evolve are both fictional in circumstance and thought-provoking. Whimsical events identify underlying truths and ironies in the Trump administration. 

The narrator's tales of these years pinpoint these obsessions and fallacies with unerring wry wit. Scenarios develop as Copper, The Whistler, Dave, and others intersect with the narrator to add their two cents to the story of how outcasts and heroes become part of the public eye—and the political game. 

The atmosphere and formation of Trumpian Washington DC comes to life in a collection of stories that dovetail disparate interests and romp into a degenerate world of facts and fancies that mirrors events of real history—but in an oddly twisted way that forces readers to inspect their own motivations, perceptions, and ideals.

The result excels in political inspection and satirical re-creations of these years. The novel is highly recommended for libraries seeking a literary overview of political ironies and inconsistencies inherent in the Trump years.  

Tales of Political Infidels:  Trump's Lickspittles and Lackeys

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The Two-Headed Lady at the End of the World
Mark Miller
Montage Press
978-1-957010-22-9         $17.95
https://www.amazon.com/Two-Headed-Lady-End-World-Thousand/dp/1957010223 

The Two-Headed Lady at the End of the World blends romance with ribald adventure and humor in a novel that promises to attract a wide range of readers to its unusual escapades and odd characters. 

Think conjoined twins who exhibit unusual traits beyond their physical connection, who present an intriguing skill set and connection from the novel's opening lines: 

"Miranda Morgan recognized the verdant meadows and dark lines of pine towering over either side of the interstate as her hometown. The image surfed a wave of electrochemical current down her optic nerve and into the occipital lobe of her brain, where it sloshed around and registered as the savory smell of her mother's biscuits and gravy. She always saw the world as scents and had given up trying to explain it. For instance, the cab driver looked like aftershave and beef farts. But she also knew that if asked, she would say, “He looks like a greasy, sun-burnt lizard named Darryl.” It was easier that way. Amanda, her sister, conjoined with her since puberty, slept on her shoulder, her breath rhythmically pushing across her neck. She considered how comforting it was to always have her closest confidant at her ear. It was also annoying. Amanda smelled the world as sights. Their synesthesia was an odd by-product of “the incident.” 

Their connection was not forged at birth, but was created by a government snafu involving a particle collider project hidden underneath the family farm. The Morgan twins are on the path to adulthood, facing romantic attractions complicated both by their physical connection and their separate outlooks on life and men. 

Mark Miller also injects end-of-the-world drama into this story, which comes with unexpected differences. One example is two men ensconced underground in a survival bunker for 30 years who discover attraction for one another and reasons for not seeking a return to civilization. This is paired with a newly sentient CPU who, lonely for love, seeks a romantic connection with a fax machine at the Pentagon. Singularity never looked like this before. Nor has love. 

As events evolve, these disparate characters assume the flavor of Dr. Strangelove mixed with a heady rush of hormones that returns a high-octane romance on steroids. 

Expect the unexpected, because that's one delightful strength of The Two-Headed Lady at the End of the World. It ultimately examines the end of worlds, the beginnings of new worlds, and the promise and rush of romance under extraordinary conditions. A heady injection of social inspection with references to cis-gendered white male privilege, American patriotism gone awry, and a shockingly definitive conclusion ices the cake of both fun and serious social and political analysis. 

Libraries and readers looking for a mix of romance, sci-fi, and relationship-evolving characters (and machines) will find The Two-Headed Lady at the End of the World's creative blend of humor and conundrums to be involving, unique, and satisfyingly unexpected. 

The Two-Headed Lady at the End of the World

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The Unmooring
Ken Fireman
Black Rose Writing
978-1-68513-058-9         $24.94 Paper, $7.99 Kindle
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Unmooring-Ken-Fireman-ebook/dp/B0B7SQF12K  
Publisher: https://www.blackrosewriting.com/historicaladventure/theunmooring 

The Unmooring is a novel of political and historical fiction that examines a war within a war during the Vietnam era. It's a conflict that literally comes home to roost as the McMaster family finds the battlegrounds of dissent in their own home with the traditional divide between elder wisdom and youth's impulses becoming one of revised notions of conviction, ideals, and strength. 

Michael McMaster is young and glowing with enthusiasm, as the story opens. He has worked on John F. Kennedy's campaign and seen the young man become president, he holds a taste for adventure and new possibilities, and he's increasingly convinced that the attitudes and political involvements of his staid parents are too conservative. 

His taste for life leads him to become involved in civil rights and a relationship with a young black actress, and he becomes a journalist as passionate about truth as he is about the world around him. 

As Vietnam politics further change his family connections and challenge relationships new and old, Michael finds himself on the front lines of a battle he never saw coming—one that reaches into not just his relationship with his parents, but his new home and world. 

More so than most stories about the 1960s, Ken Fireman's The Unmooring captures the ideals, promise, energy, and tumultuous social, political, and psychological transformations of the times. 

This is evident in passionate passages that capture Michael's moves from civilian to Army life and back, and the nature of a milieu which continues to prompt massive life changes. 

Of particular note are the descriptions of racial divide and changing relationships between civilians, military men, and those who operate in auxiliary positions as the social conflict in America rises, such as this passage about the National Guardsmen sent to Detroit during the 1967 unrest:  

"Every one was white. Some were Vietnam vets, but at least half had done their overseas Army duty in Korea or Germany and had never seen combat. They were suburban or small-town guys who worked at civilian jobs during the week and gathered on weekends to fulfill their Guard obligation. When Detroit erupted, they were taking part in an annual drill in rural Camp Grayling, hundreds of miles from inner-city Detroit in physical distance and light years away in social experience. Between Michael’s Army service and his time in Vietnam, he had an idea of what military professionalism looked like—and these guys looked nothing like it." 

More so than most books about these times, Fireman's book adds a depth of social inspection that expands the feel and nature of the characters and the perceptions that buffet their world. 

The result is a powerful novel of social and political transformation.

Ideally, The Unmooring will be chosen not just by libraries interested in political fiction about the 1960s era, but by book clubs discussing the unique dovetailing of civil rights and social issues that prompted extraordinary behaviors and responses from the American public during these times, dividing generations and evolving a revised set of values that resonated over the decades to come. 

The Unmooring

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What’s Not Lost
Valerie Taylor 
Aspetuck Publishing 
979-8-9865995-0-2         $16.95 Print/$9.95 ebook
valerietaylorauthor.com 

What’s Not Lost is a novel that adds to Valerie Taylor's "What's Not' series with a focus on romance and women's lives. 

Here, the first-person cat Topher sets the scene with a reflection on mother Kassie O’Callaghan, his adoption, and the life they live together. 

Kassie is a widow, newly engaged, yet still searching for life's meaning. Her world is seemingly coming together with her engagement, expanding career moves, and a solidifying home life when she discovers that her fiancé's ex-girlfriend is pregnant. 

All her plans and her newfound stability in the world fall from her shoulders and Kassie makes the only logical choice: to run away from her fiancé and Boston for a new life in Paris, where a job beckons. 

Even though Paris is known as the city of love, Kassie doesn't expect to find additional connections and romance in that town. But the lure of wine, a sexy Greek man, and the process of recovering from the past while cultivating a newfound independence leads her into matters of the heart that she had never fully contemplated before. 

As she and Topher embark on self-imposed challenges and find they are unable to truly give up on past possibilities even as they are influenced by the lure of a new future, readers come along for a wild ride. It careens through not just romance, but the obstacles posed by Lexi and Sarah, two women who are both her nemesis and impetus for change, and the ultimate redefinition of happiness itself. 

It's important to note that What’s Not Lost is not just a novel about love. It's a story of growth, acceptance, and evolution that embraces the idea of moving towards revised visions of life as well as moving away from past reactions and perceptions. 

In the end, the act of defining what has not been lost proves just as important as realizing what has vanished. 

Libraries looking for contemporary women's fiction that's as centered on growth as it is on love's changing currents will find What’s Not Lost an inviting, thought-provoking read. It should ideally receive attention from women's book club readers, who will find plenty of entertainment value alongside numerous topics of debate. 

What’s Not Lost

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When We Lost Touch
Susan Kraus
Flint Hills Publishing 
978-1953583369           
$16.99 Paperback; $2.99 Kindle
www.susankraus.com  

Since the advent of COVID, many books have attempted to capture the sense and experience of the pandemic years. Few hold the power and ability to immerse the reader in this experience as strongly as When We Lost Touch, a novel that comes from the perspective of therapist Grace McDonald, who returns home from a cruise to find life vastly changed. 

Zoom and online meetings have replaced college and in-person encounters. Life is locked down. Grace's best friend Katrina has contracted COVID, but isn't recovering. Nobody knows why, nobody knows what will happen, and life is at a standstill. 

The fact that Grace is a therapist helps reinforce the vast psychological changes buffeting the world during this pandemic, adding to a story that serves as both a history of these times and a reflection of the experiences of those living through them. 

Through the pandemic creates the overlay of a revised life, life goes on. Issues of prejudice and racism, social discord, psychological trauma, and the ethics of narcissistic, self-serving actions are profiled against this pandemic backdrop to lend a sense of evolutionary process to the characters' lives. 

Susan Kraus doesn't shy away from political inspection, either. The policies and decisions of the Trump administration and the perceptions and interpretations of these political choices by the general public are included as a myriad of characters confront COVID on many different levels. 

More so than most novels about these times, When We Lost Touch captures the chaotic nature of fast-paced events that take over ordinary lives. 

Historical context notes are injected throughout to lend a sense of reality to the timeline of events in the story. This helps ground the experiences and changes that occur over the years, serving as good reminders of the novel's foundations in real experiences and lives. 

The insights from various characters as they await a cure, a solution, and the return of their old lives are particularly well written: 

“What are your ages again?” Grace asked. “And what are the breakdowns by age for the tiers?” She was trying to back away from going down the Trump rabbit hole. Or was it Trump quicksand? It was a harsh moment when they did the numbers. For some it would be a few months. For Kayla, the youngest in the group, it could be as late as summer. They knew that every damn day until then, any one of them could get infected, suffer, and even die while protection was almost within reach, almost, just around the corner. Like drowning when you could see the Coast Guard coming. Just not soon enough." 

The result is an authoritative fictional documentary of the COVID years that will both resonate with those living them now and educate future readers about the psychological, political, and social turmoil the pandemic introduced into nearly every facet of life around the world.

Libraries looking for potent fictional representations of these times need look no further than When We Lost Touch for a powerful saga grounded in the reality of shifting lives. 

When We Lost Touch

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Reviewer's Choice

The Celeste Experiment
Omar Imady
Villa Magna Publishing, LLC
978-1-940178-59-2                $9.99 ebook
www.villamagnapublishing.com 

When Michael Sargeant's wife Celeste is diagnosed with terminal cancer, they embark on a world-wide healing journey to beat the odds. The Celeste Experiment chronicles both endings and new beginnings and opens with a literary reference to the art of documenting this process: 

“Who,” he responds contemptuously, “would be in the least interested in reading words written down by me?” A white heterosexual male living in one of the decaying urban voids of the third millennium. 

A woman with a vendetta and the history of oppression weighting her decisions, a man with everything and nothing left to lose, and an experiment that poses ethical dilemmas as much as it promises redemption are only a few of the themes contributing to the strength of The Celeste Experiment, which delves into spiritual, psychological, and historical "juxtapositions of splendour and decay." 

Readers who look for magical realism tempered by literary allusion and devices will find a powerful tale of fierce, undying love in this story. Omar Imady captures not just present-day passions but historic approaches to life, repression, and opportunity as Michael forges ahead with his mission and involves Hamida Begum in a human experiment that holds as much promise as it does danger. 

The Celeste Experiment opens as a love story, evolving into a suspense piece and, finally, into an examination of how the pursuit of love and life can drive a good man to make bad decisions. 

The disparities between the opulence of Paris and Michael's world and Hamida's encounters with poverty are well-done and wrenching: "...it was not the contrast between the glaring wealth of the city they’d travelled through and her home, but between the skyline and the streets." 

The social, psychological, political, and ethical conundrums woven into The Celeste Experiment drives a story as laced with thought-provoking passages of time and intention as it is with literary reflection and metaphorical examination. 

Imady's novel is not a light journey. It's a heartfelt inspection of spiritual enlightenment, love, and signals of revelation and intention that introduce Michael and Hamida to new possibilities both within their disparate lives and outside of them. 

Readers and libraries seeking reflective literary works that delve into matters of love connection and spiritual exploration will find The Celeste Experiment a powerfully-rendered saga in which various characters participate in a storm of discovery that sweeps through the story to change everything. 

The Celeste Experiment's hard-hitting plot and the intersection of Michael and Hamida's lives will linger in the mind long after the reading. 

The Celeste Experiment

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Conversations Across America
Kari Loya
XK Productions, LLC
979-8-9861258-1-7                $29.95
www.xkproductions.com 

"Where did you start? Wow! VA?! Just the two of you? Did you fight a lot?" 

Conversations Across America: A Father and Son, Alzheimer's, and 300 Conversations Along the TransAmerica Bike Trail that Capture the Soul of America follows a father/son cycling journey undertaken in 2015 by a 75-year-old father with early-stage Alzheimer's and his adult son. 

It's remarkable not just for the physical effort, but for the mental revelations that accompanied and affected their relationship as the miles and time passed. The effort afforded father and son both a long goodbye and new observations of 2015 America through conversations with ordinary Americans from all walks of life. 

Three decades of a shared dream culminated in an experience that broadened the lives of both participants, leading them into new territory both in their relationship and in their perception of a changing nation. 

Their epic adventure will attract a wider audience than the usual father/son memoir, Alzheimer's reader, or cyclist adventure bookworm. 

Packed with photos of the two cyclists as their journey evolved, as well as the individuals they encountered and write about, readers ride through the concurrent transitions of different parts of the American psyche and the interactions and efforts of father and son as they connect with one another and those around them. 

This concurrent gift of revelation both personal and social examination makes for a journey like few others: a testimony to love, perseverance, understanding, and experience that captures the real reason for undertaking a road trip—to live life at its fullest, experience surprises, and ultimately cultivate deeper understanding. 

The quotes, visual reinforcement, and opportunity to visit, via this book, the byroads of America and taste the values and beliefs of a disparate population make for an immersive experience highly recommended for audiences beyond the usual memoir reader alone. 

Ideally, Conversations Across America will be chosen by book clubs interested in discussing a variety of topics, from early-stage Alzheimer's to worldviews and emotional connections from all walks of life. 

Its conversations capture the purposes and perspectives of ordinary Americans and how they live their lives with gusto. 

Conversations Across America

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Dancing in Their Light
Debbie Chinn
Strange Fate Publications
9780578355993             $30.00
www.debbiechinn.com 

Dancing in Their Light: A Daughter's Unfinished Memoir chronicles the as-yet-unconcluded life of a daughter of Chinese immigrants who was born and raised on Long Island, New York. 

Her family's successful restaurant was a family effort as the House of Mah Jong proved both her playground and her training arena, leading her to perform as a Polynesian dancer through her teen years as she evolved dreams and goals which moved far from the successful nightclub/restaurant world. 

Under another hand, Dancing in Their Light might have ended at this point, with furthering her parents' dream; but Debbie Chinn had other goals, and eventually become the CEO of a non-profit arts group. 

Her family's journey that led her to this point is chronicled in a memoir that celebrates her heritage through history and explorations of the expanded Mah Jong family circle. Black and white and color photos of family and the restaurant/nightclub business liberally pepper the story to add visual attraction to her chronicle. 

Along the way, readers also absorb circumstances of Chinese and American interactions, cultures, and perceptions that lend the memoir the added value of a cultural education as the family's fascination with Hawaii translates to an endeavor most Chinese immigrant families did not undertake. 

While the blossoming restaurant business takes center role in this story, of equal interest is her family's background history and transformations as they moved between and within very different cultures, assimilating some of the best of both to present new opportunities to their inner circle and the community around them. 

In a nutshell, Dancing in Their Light is about how values, experiences, and perceptions translate between generations to affect and change outcomes and birth a legendary cultural icon. 

Whether readers come to the story for its Chinese roots and heritage; its restaurant business insights; or for the evolution of a young woman who followed family tradition in following an unexpected path, Dancing in Their Light will reach a wide audience of followers with its engrossing juxtapositions of past, present, and future worlds. 

Ideally, it will find a place not only in libraries strong in business and Chinese family memoirs, but in book club discussion circles looking for titles about immigrant experience, Chinese family history, and a daughter's lessons that led her to her own successes. 

Inspirational and enlightening, Dancing in Their Light is a memoir that is hard to put down. 

Dancing in Their Light

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Dear Joey: Letters From Prison
Michael A. DiVicino
Independently Published
9798437376690             $9.99 Paper/$4.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Dear-Joey-Letters-Prison-Book/dp/B09WZMBLL2 

Book 1 of Dear Joey: Letters From Prison recounts the experiences of inmates in the prison system, and comes from a fellow inmate who turned his life around while in New Folsom Prison, then decided to help others. 

Dear Joey gathers evidence of this effort, compiling letters written by inmates who describe their experiences and the events that landed them in state prison. 

In an ideal world, Dear Joey would be assigned reading in middle and high school classes studying social issues, justice systems, and creative writing. It can be featured as examples of all three of these topics, as the compilation chronicles the gritty consequences of crime, being caught, and doing time. 

Descriptions go above and beyond the norm, providing insights into how each inmate fell into a life of crime and landed in prison. They chronicle the missed opportunities created by these choices, informing readers of all ages about the impact of criminal behavior and the choices and circumstances that evolved these choices. 

The candid revelations are exceptionally hard-hitting: "When you read this letter all you can think is this isn't me. This guy is just some loser in and out of jail but I shared all the bad stuff first on purpose so I could show you all the things I lost in the end." 

But for chance, circumstance, and choice, the narrators of these letters could too easily be the young readers of this collection. 

The result is a passionate set of diverse stories that explain not just how the writers got to this point, but what they lost in doing so, and which moves could have prevented them from being in prison. 

Any library collection strong in accounts of social issues, prison experience, youth conflicts over gangs, drugs, or life direction, and the consequences of bad choices needs Dear Joey to hold up a mirror of possibilities. 

Its hard-hitting revelations provide the important message that many a young adult reader could ultimately become a letter-writer from prison, themselves, and reinforces the message of making better choices in life no matter what one's influences, abuses, or struggles. 

Dear Joey: Letters From Prison

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Dirty Dealing
Jeffrey Allan Grosso
Permuted Press
978-1-63758-297-8         $28.00 Hardcover/$9.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Dirty-Dealing-Miramax_Waging-Weinstein-Screenplay/dp/1637582978 

Dirty Dealing: Grosso v. Miramax―Waging War with Harvey Weinstein, and the Screenplay that Changed Hollywood explores screenwriting and copyright law via a memoir that chronicles Jeffrey Allan Grosso's landmark suit he waged against the Hollywood giant Miramax. In it, he accused the company of stealing his screenplay, using it as a foundation for a best-selling movie which gave him no credit for the idea. 

Grosso unfolds a case that is tinged with the flare and drama of fiction, but is all the more compelling for its solid roots in reality. 

The twists and turns of cat-and-mouse games between creative artists and industry influencers are captivating as they wind through courtroom proceedings and issues that embrace social, political, financial, and ethical concerns. 

The variety of subjects Grosso tackles within the scope of his lawsuit will spark lively debate among any performing arts or creative writing groups that make Dealing a subject of discussion. 

In true David vs. Goliath form, Grosso tackled the impossible by taking on not just one company, but the entire Hollywood system.  

Anyone interested in issues of creative rights, writing protection, and Hollywood production needs to place Dirty Dealing at the top of their reading list. It combines a memoir with industry insights and contrasts legal processes with poker-like precision.  

Readers receive a passionate account that pulls no punches right from the start: "...I believe that, without my Shell Game script, there never would have been a Rounders or any of the dozens of poker movies and shows that limped along in its wake. And if you’ll give me half a chance, I promise that I can prove it to you well beyond any reasonable doubt." 

Readers might anticipate that the meat of the title lies in a series of legal moves; but actually, the event's aftermath is just as chilling and riveting as the way it plays out. It presents a bigger-picture survey of corruption and greed that embraces subjects well beyond Hollywood culture and experiences. This is why Dirty Dealing should move beyond performing arts audiences and into the hands and minds of the general reader interested in corporate shenanigans and graft. 

Dirty Dealing

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Extraterrestrial Alien Visitations and Other Unworldly Phenomena
Thomas Sawyer
Living History Publishing House
978-1-7327371-9-8         $11.11
https://www.amazon.com/Extraterrestrial Alien Visitations and Other Unworldly Phenomena/dp/1732737193 

Thomas Sawyer began investigating aliens in the 1950s when, after doing a two-year stint in the military in the UK, he returned to school at UC Berkeley; there to experience a late-night encounter at a diner. Thus began his belief in alien visitations and the decades-long research that would expand concepts of alien visitations and clarify otherwise-inexplicable phenomena. 

In Extraterrestrial Alien Visitations And Other Unworldly Phenomena, Sawyer explains the feeling that he was being contacted by these aliens, visiting Berkeley's "Observatory Hill” at a little past midnight to follow a compulsion that led to further communiqués. 

As he discovers that his friend Frank and others have had similar experiences, his worldview expands about the realities of aliens and their influence on human affairs—represented here in a discussion of phenomena that broadens to embrace the notion of a guardian angel and other influences on the course of his life. 

Sawyer blends autobiography with these close encounters, juxtaposing foreign posting experiences with incidents of "unexpected happenings." This is not what one might expect from a military man's life, and provides a satisfying contrast in experience from those who adopt more staid approaches to UFOs and life experiences.

Throughout his domestic and foreign military assignments, Sawyer explored military and civilian experiences. Given the latest news about military documentation of UFO experiences, those who question some of the conclusions will find this military man's experiences especially enlightening, and much more thought-provoking than "official" studies. 

Speaking of this, it should be noted that, stylistically, Sawyer employs quote marks liberally, and with words readers might not ordinarily associate with needing such punctuation: "My wife and I soon relocated to the “West Coast.” (Our “relocation” had nothing to do with the “Death Threats,” but rather with a preferred “change of scenery” and “lifestyle.”) We subsequently retired in the “Southwestern Region” of the United States." 

While this often gives pause for thought, the meat of the book—a CIA agent's close encounters with alien thoughts and guidance—provides a satisfying alternative to the typical military take on UFOs, aliens, and extraordinary phenomenon. The otherworldly encounters that result in Sawyer's revised mindset about the world will appeal to readers of extraterrestrial events, who will find the combination of a CIA agent's experiences and a memoir about his life to be engaging on many levels.  

Readers of extraterrestrial nonfiction will find much to like in this survey of close encounters that shows how otherworldly encounters have been documented, but continue to stymie logical investigative processes. 

Extraterrestrial Alien Visitations and Other Unworldly Phenomena

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Halo around the Moon
Matt Ritter
Pacific Street Publishing
9780999896051      $24.99
Ordering Link: https://pacificstreetpublishing.com/shop/halo-around-the-moon
Amazon Link: https://www.amazon.com/Halo-Around-Moon-Matt-Ritter/dp/0999896059 

Halo around the Moon may sound like sci-fi, but it's a novel that blends a murder mystery with a wider-ranging story of nature, history, and the bizarre circumstances connecting two disparate men's lives. 

The first thing to note about Matt Ritter's story is that it comes steeped in atmosphere and absorbing description from the start. This gives it a literary flavor that will elevate its appeal beyond genre readers to attract audiences looking for solid contemporary literature: "The mutilated bodies of dead trees smell nothing like the mutilated bodies of dead humans. When a tree is torn apart and begins to rot, the air fills with the melancholy perfume of molasses and soil—the tangy smells of an old violin or a wet forest. By comparison, the human body is a disgusting thing. In the days shortly after death, the atrocious odors of a lifetime of accumulated sulfur and nitrogen bubble out in morbid flatulence." 

A gruesome murder connects Professor Marcus and detective Jack to events which move quickly beyond either's area of expertise, embracing facets of life and death that challenge each character's trajectory and beliefs. 

Ritter's ability to place science and observation at the heart of this story lends it an attractive atmosphere of discovery, whether it's probing history, circumstantial interactions, science, or psychology. 

As other characters swirl their lives and special interests around the professor and detective, readers receive a compelling series of social and scientific examinations that tangles history with old family secrets against a Los Angeles backdrop, resulting in thought-provoking passages and intriguing developments. 

Perhaps the greatest strength of Ritter's novel lies in its mercurial aspect, which doesn't conform strictly to the usual murder mystery progression, but adds elements of other disciplines to both heighten tension and educate readers in areas they won't be expecting. 

The result is a powerful story which has the uncommon ability to reach out to mystery, novel, historical, and scientific literary readers alike. 

Libraries seeking exceptional works for their collections which defy either pat categorization or light entertainment value alone will find Halo around the Moon a top-notch acquisition. 

Halo around the Moon

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How Can I Take My Life Back From My Phone?
C.J.S. Hayward
C.J.S. Hayward Publications

979-8354818877        
$19.99 Hardcover/$11.99 Paper/$2.99 Kindle

https://cjshayward.com/phone/ 

"We have created a situation where it is possible for ordinary people to casually and without malice kill innocent lives. If we return to the three ethical questions, namely how ships can avoid bumping into each other, how they can internally stay shipshape, and what destination they are meant to reach, we are seeing terrible collisions that sink ships because unrestrained and trusting use of cell phones has devastated what little was left of their being shipshape." 

How Can I Take My Life Back From My Phone? A Guidebook for Orthodox and Others is about pursuing life outside of technology. It is highly recommended reading for any modern person who would link theological thinking to the dilemmas of managing modern devices that both distract and offer a form of engagement that's often the antithesis of spiritual reflection. 

What do ethical and religious questions have to do with technological use? They translate more reasoned purpose into device usage, creating a dialogue that stems from Hayward's exploration of “What kind of guidance would someone like St. John Chrysostom offer in using technology, if our technology were around in his day?” 

From philosophical and historical citation and reflection to guidelines for employing technology in a more positive, purposeful manner that doesn't put it in the driver's seat of decision-making, Hayward provides a thought-provoking discourse that will especially lend to book club and discussion group pursuit. 

Chapters tackle everything from Internet porn to missed connections and the altered states of mind and soul created by addiction to all kinds of screens: "He asked me if I had ever observed that an hour after seeing a movie, I felt depressed. I had not made any connection of that sort, even if now it seems predictable from the pleasure-pain syndrome. Now I very rarely see movies, precisely because the special effects and other such tweaks are stronger than I am accustomed to seeing; they go like a stiff drink to the head of the teetotaler. The little pleasures of life are lost on someone used to a rising standard of special effects, and the little pleasures of life are more wholesome than special effects." 

C.S.J. Hayward has produced many a thought-provoking work, but How Can I Take My Life Back From My Phone? may arguably be one of his best. 

This is because he links a modern social, psychological, and spiritual issue to guidelines on how better to take charge of that technological lure that too often creates in its user an emotional and spiritual void. 

These topics wind neatly into Biblical passages, analytical reflections on the Scriptures, and notes and footnoted references to a wide range of religious thinking that contrasts nicely with the ethical and spiritual topics under consideration. 

Hayward also adds autobiographical notes into the inspection. This personalizes his citations and the experiences of loosening technology's allure and distractions. 

The result is both a how-to guide and a spiritual work of Christian Orthodoxy which holds the rare power to reach beyond Orthodox audiences alone and into the general public. This topic should hold widespread interest, and ideally will be debated and discussed among many circles. 

Christian libraries, in particular, will find How Can I Take My Life Back From My Phone? a thought-provoking reflection and a "must have" addition. 

How Can I Take My Life Back From My Phone?

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Inspired, Not Retired
Dr. Burl Randolph Jr., DM

MyWingman, LLC
‎978-1087904665
$21.00 Paper/$17.46 Audio/$3.99 Kindle

https://www.amazon.com/Inspired-Not-Retired-Leadership-Lessons/dp/B09RQ6DC3D 

The audio version of Inspired, Not Retired provides a flavor the written word misses: the sound of emphasis and clarity which embeds written word with its own drama for an inspirational listening experience. 

"Retirement is in the eyes of the beholder." 

Narrator Jerome Ware opens this survey on leadership and life meaning with Dr. Randolph's admonition that the traditional view of what constitutes retirement may be skewed. 

It's not so much about quitting as about re-envisioning the type of work and life purpose that serves as an inspiration to one's remaining years and influences those around us. Few have embraced this idea more heartily than retired colonel Dr. Randolph, whose vision of retirement as putting his feet up and turning off his cell phone proved quite different, in reality. 

His experiences involved a foray into leadership that would pass from father to son and between not one, but several generations. 

Dr. Randolph realized he was "...just not built to relax. Nor was I ready for retirement." The reality was that, married to a working wife with two teenage sons to raise, he was merely entering into another phase of life where he would have the freedom to more readily choose and direct his path and life work. Thankfully for listeners interested in leadership subjects, he chose the motivational guide route. 

Thus, this audio (which also appears in paperback and ebook formats), which considers the challenges of retirement, leadership, a father's influences on his son, and lessons learned "in the oddest ways." 

Part memoir, part examination of leadership, and thoroughly backed by Dr. Randolph's changing experience and vision of retirement years, this audio would be the perfect retirement gift for that hard-to-please retiree who enters into this new phase of life with little vision of what his future will look like. 

Between selflessness, preparedness, and hard work (which feels like a startling contrast in a retirement guide; but which actually reflects part of the preparedness component when it comes to recreating one's later years), Dr. Randolph pursues a revised vision of retirement and injects his father's life lessons into his discourse. 

Subjects of respect, pride, obedience and responsibility may seem reflective of military training (indeed, they are), but they apply in surprising ways to views of retirement and life choices. 

Motivational listeners who look for listening that enlightens, pushes, and admits readers into the wellsprings of the author's own life influences will find Inspired, Not Retired a compelling lesson in contrasts between leadership assets and becoming a role model in a child's life. 

While it might initially be chosen by those looking to retire, Inspired, Not Retired is not so much about how to relax, as how to become an effective leader and mentor in life. 

This message will reach motivational listeners in all walks of life; from business people to those who would be positive role models for others. 

The audio version lends emphasis and quiet power to Dr. Randolph's story, making Inspired, Not Retired a top recommendation for libraries interested in motivational listening for a broad audience. 

Inspired, Not Retired

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Living the Practice: The Way of Love
Rohini Ralby
Bancroft Press
978-1-61088-576-8         $17.95 Paper/$9.95 ebook
www.bancroftpress.com 

Living the Practice, Volume One: The Way of Love, comes from a writer, artist, and spiritual teacher who dismantled her worldly life in 1975 to find what she calls “the bottom line of existence.” 

Rohini Ralby learned spiritual practice one-on-one from her Guru, Swami Muktananda Paramahamsa (informally known as Baba), of whom she was a close personal disciple until his passing in 1982. In this book, the first of two volumes (the second is to be published in 2023, also by Bancroft Books), Ralby takes the unusual and effective approach of using multiple media to convey for readers what it means, in practical terms, to pursue spiritual practice. Readers will encounter not only essays but also poems and paintings, all of which serve to communicate what Ralby wants to share: the experience of a living, authentic spirituality. 

The intentions of this book are nicely summarized in the introduction that gives readers both background history and a sense of what The Way of Love has to offer: "The Guru turns the ignition key, and is also the one who adds fuel as needed and guides you—the student driver—in what direction to go and what hazards to avoid. Baba continues to do this for me. This book and its sequel will convey much of what Baba taught me, and continues to teach me, about breaking the mirror of delusion and re-cognizing the true Self." 

While Ralby’s first book with Bancroft Press, Walking Home with Baba: The Heart of Spiritual Practice (2012) included more biographical as well as instructive elements, Living the Practice is, as its title suggests, pointedly about the continuing work of spiritual practice itself. This first volume covers the guru-disciple relationship and the special circumstances which foster spiritual awakening, transformation, and deeper connectedness. 

Ralby provides a clear conceptual framework for spiritual practice, but, importantly, goes beyond concepts to convey the actual process of developing both discrimination and non-attachment. She also provides tools she has developed to facilitate readers’ understanding of how their own unacknowledged attachments and illusions actually operate in their lives.

These discussions revolve around important fundamentals, such as that revealed and discussed here: 

"Ultimately, we have to surrender our shrunken self; no one else, no matter how powerful and loving, can do that for us. The Guru will guide us, God will guide us, but in the end we have to remove the final veil by conscious, active surrender to God, the Self of All. We must break the cup and merge back into the ocean. Our individuality that was formed with the Fall has to be consciously let go." 

What emerges is a powerful exploration of not just Ralby's own spiritual awakening and influences, but also the teachings that led her from being a disciple to serving as a guru herself; and to writing books about how we as individuals can work to clear away the “obstacles” within us that keep us from being who we truly are (for Ralby, the one Self of All). 

This powerfully-rendered account provides readers with a clear and panoramic entry onto the path of spiritual practice. Its exploration of the guru-disciple relationship, as well as the actual methods and tools of practice, creates a guide that can speak to different kinds of seekers. It also interrogates the notions of self and enlightenment that tend to hold sway in the current spiritual marketplace. 

Spiritual libraries looking for powerful presentations of these journeys will welcome the voice of experience and advice that makes The Way of Love both accessible and enlightening. 

Living the Practice: The Way of Love

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The Man Who Screams at Nightfall and Other Stories
Rush Leaming
Bridgewood

978-0999745670            $12.99 Paper/$4.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Man-Screams-Nightfall-other-stories/dp/0999745670 

The Man Who Screams at Nightfall and Other Stories presents interconnected short stories of travel, self-discovery, and mental illness. Rush Leaming explains, in his introduction, that these stories originated as independent short writings produced during the 1990s to early 2000s. Only when he looked back at their sum result did he realize that they actually served as a cathartic examination of self-discovery, mental illness, and life. 

Think Herman Hesse's classic Siddhartha, if it appeared as a series of interconnected life inspections in short stories that followed a mental journey. That's the flavor of this collection, which piques reader minds and hearts with powerful inspections. At this point, it is appropriate to caution that some of these inspections arrive with graphic violence and angst. This is not a collection for the faint-hearted, but a flowing river of examination that prompts anguish and understanding alike. 

Take the opening title story "The Man Who Screams At Nightfall." The story takes place in Zaire, where the first-person narrator daily passes local fix-it man Kachamba.

“Bring me something to fix,” he said.
I said I couldn’t think of anything I had at the moment that was broken."
 

By day, Kachamba fixes things. At night, he attacks himself, screaming with the effort. The vivid portrait of a man who both repairs others and finds a way to heal himself is striking: 

"Spinning, swirling, shouting, and screaming—Kachamba’s face, so calm and happy as I had seen it earlier that day, was now knotted and twisted like a grotesque carnival mask, like some gargoyle sprung from the lowest depths of hell. The glow of the fire cut fierce shadows and gorges in his face, adding to the haunting vision that I saw.
For a long while, Pumbu and I hid behind the honeysuckle bushes and watched Kachamba shriek and wail and try to push back the night, until suddenly, all at once, he just stopped. Suddenly, he just stood still and quiet and stared at the sky. I followed his gaze and saw another shooting star."
 

As the narrator tries to reconcile these dual visions of a placid man with a knack for fixing life with the insanity of the beast spinning before the night fire, screaming, readers receive a vivid saga of the dichotomy of a gentle soul who is also a madman. 

As the tales evolve, so do world travels and life connections. "Agora Dogs," for example, is a story of life, love, and death that takes place in Greece. Is the narrator just a romantic loser, or a murderer? The story provides evocative visions of growth and change that mirror those tales that come before and after, following the narrator on world journeys and matters of the heart. 

The result is a short story collection that excels in its sense of literary psychological growth and discovery. 

Libraries looking for interconnected short stories that represent life journeys and revelations will find The Man Who Screams at Nightfall and Other Stories an appealing acquisition that promises much fodder for discussion to book club readers interested in fictional blends of psychological and social revelation. 

The Man Who Screams at Nightfall and Other Stories

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No Plaid Suits: How Not to Have a Boring, Normal Life
Amrita Rose
Atmosphere Press
9781639885886             $16.99 Paper
www.atmospherepress.com 

Self-help readers interested in inspirational accounts of growth and leading a vivid life will find No Plaid Suits: How Not to Have a Boring, Normal Life a lesson in possibility that embraces the thought and process of living one's best life. 

Its combination of joyful reflection and admonitions for honing out-of-the-box creative thinking and action represents a refreshing breeze of originality as Amrita Rose encourages readers to walk a more holistic pathway towards realizing their true selves no matter what the reaction to their choices and appearances. 

As chapters review the processes of becoming independent and self-directed, the directions will appeal to all levels of reader; but especially young adults establishing themselves in the world with many 'firsts'. These range from opening a bank account to understanding the difference between a career versus a job, and choosing healthy eating choices. 

If No Plaid Suits were to be given as a high school graduation gift, it could not find a timelier or better home. Those on the cusp of adulthood who seek or require guidance on the process of avoiding common pitfalls and growing into their best selves and lives will receive a combination of practical advice and psychological growth-oriented insights on how best to navigate life. 

This essay collection on developing personal resilience and life perspective may stem from Amrita Rose's own experiences, but it ultimately imparts a wide range of life lessons that will save new adults from re-inventing the wheel, allowing them to move forward more quickly into their own lives. 

Ideally, No Plaid Suits will also reach adults who feel stuck or who look for refresher courses on life purpose. While this audience may skip the introductions on how to venture into adulthood, there remains plenty of food for thought on how to best lead and develop an unstoppable course in one's life. 

Libraries looking for self-help books that go beyond giving advice to encourage readers to step into their individual needs and talents will find No Plaid Suits lends to book club discussion as well as individual enlightenment; especially for new adults on the cusp of leaving the nest. 

No Plaid Suits: How Not to Have a Boring, Normal Life

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Objective Prosperity
Roger D. Blackwell and Roger A. Bailey
Rothstein Publishing
978-1-944480-77-6                $31.99 Paper/$21.99 ebook
www.rothsteinpublishing.com 

Objective Prosperity: How Behavioral Economics Can Improve Outcomes for You, Your Business, and Your Nation is a study in contrasts between wealth management processes and business and individual pursuits of prosperity. 

It poses some hard questions that encourage readers to analyze not just their business and wealth objectives, but the wellsprings of their perception of and drive towards prosperity and success. 

This book comes with a caution. It will make even the determined or successful businessperson think about wealth and strategy in new ways that can also be uncomfortable. Those on track to achievement rarely take the time to consider the underlying meaning and influences of that word's definition, but Objective Prosperity doesn't just encourage this extra layer of thought—it demands this of its readers. 

The analysis embraces the notion of prosperity for everyone rather than just a few, supporting this vision with a series of real-world examples that receive enlightenment through research studies, analysis, and models of the kinds of business activities that lead to and redefine success. 

During this process, Blackwell and Bailey provide insights that support these revised business and personal visions of achievement: "The way to think of your product is the total utility of the bundle of attributes designed to solve a problem. The more pressing a problem, the greater the opportunity to sell a product solving that problem. Your product must scratch where people itch! To prosper as an entrepreneur, you must truly deliver the utility from solving their problem and do it repeatedly and consistently. That is why some people (both entrepreneurs and their employees) prosper – because their products continue to sell, grow revenues, and expand segments served. Selling a product is not the same as fulfilling a need." 

The studies of individuals and businesses acknowledge that the process of attaining success is not equally available to all. Many contrasts are provided to illustrate diverse paths to prosperity: "The reality is that even people born poor, values such as knowledge and discipline in their life can help them rise from the bottom to the top. Of course, this requires the opportunity to acquire knowledge, which data clearly shows is not equally accessible to all people at birth. While this is certainly something to discuss as a barrier to prosperity, it is worth noting that there are sometimes ways to overcome these barriers. Reading books from local libraries was the way out of poverty for famed neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson as he describes in several of his books including Gifted Hands. Moreover, not everyone has the desire to attend a university to obtain the knowledge from a university degree, but there are many other paths to prosperity." 

By now, it should be evident that Objective Prosperity operates on different levels: as a personal examination of the strategies and values involved in defining and reaching for prosperity; as a business consideration of consumer needs and how growth and success may be obtained by matching products and services to their visions; and as a social analysis that considers issues of equality, poverty, wage equity, and more associated issues. 

Objective Prosperity is not intended to provide a set of simple answers. It lays the foundation for individual reader analysis no matter what path they walk in life, improving the reader's critical thinking capabilities by expanding the limits and definition of prosperity in all kinds of situations. 

Business libraries looking for wealth strategy and entrepreneurial advice books will find so much more in Objective Prosperity. Its vision of defining and analyzing the elements that constitute success needs to be part of a range of book club discussion groups, whether they are focused on business, personal achievement, or social inspection. 

Objective Prosperity

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Patients in Peril
Gregg Coodley
Atmosphere Press
978-1-63988-626-5                $18.99
www.atmospherepress.com 

Once upon a time, the family doctor was the central force in medical treatment. 'Specialists' were only for very specific ailments, and the family physician was a bigger gateway to medical care than anything we experience today in America. 

Patients in Peril: The Demise of Primary Care in America pinpoints the history and peril of healthcare changes which have increasingly picked apart the role of the traditional family physician. It's a study that needs to be in the hands of anyone interested in modern healthcare, whether they are doctors or patients. 

The demise of the primary care physician is evident not just in the current services provided (or not), but in the majority of medical school graduates who choose specialization over generalization. 

Primary care is becoming an industry shortage and a rarity as primary care physicians retire and are replaced not by new generations of doctors, but by medical processing centers designed to reduce cost, eliminate wasteful approaches, and devote a minimum of or limited amount of time to the patient. 

Gregg Coodley charts the history of this trend, identifying economic, social, political, and medical influences on its incarnation and, more importantly, investigating the problems created by the demise of the primary care doctor in America. 

When insurers take over doctoring, real healthcare wanes—including the compassion of the physician for his patients, home visits, and ultimately the quality of care. Replacing and second-guessing physicians are administrative processes that tax healthcare efforts instead of enhancing or improving them. 

As Coodley tackles the subjects of prior authorizations, medical training dysfunction, the rise of fee-for-service arrangements, and the disparities created between physician and patient by systems put in place to oversee both, readers gain a solid insight into the problem, its history, and, in conclusion, some possible solutions. 

The latter is not the focus of this book. Its attention to the details of how this demise happened and is incarnated in modern medical services and patient/physician relationships provides an invaluable look at a bigger picture of problems than most realize. This makes Patients in Peril a top recommendation for health libraries, whether in public library or medical school settings. 

Ideally, Patients in Peril will be assigned reading to medical school students and would-be healthcare professionals in present and future generations. Its food for thought should ideally spark debates, discussions, and active changes and considerations beyond individual enlightenment. 

Patients in Peril

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Questioning Spirituality
Eldon Taylor, PhD
O-Books
978-1-80341-301-3         £13.99 || $17.95
https://www.johnhuntpublishing.com/o-books/our-books/questioning-spirituality 

Considerations of faith and science and the connections and disparities between them form the foundation of Questioning Spirituality: Is It Irrational to Believe in God?, which ideally should be made part of any secular or religious discussion group on the subject. 

Eldon Taylor provides an astute, thought-provoking consideration of the question that embraces tenets on both sides as he probes the different ways in which spirituality is questioned, and the foundations of belief. 

Anyone who struggles with such questions will find much food for thought in this book, which surveys two contrasting views of the world and the points at which they intersect. 

It matters not whether the reader is a believer or an agnostic. Questioning Spirituality's method of analysis offers the opportunity to consider (or reconsider) the foundations which can support or deny religious convictions. Chapters range from considerations of free will and indoctrination processes to examining notions of truth, belief, and ways of living. 

Quotes from other thinkers (both religious and secular) support many of this book's contentions: "It would seem that many believers are intentionally alienated from reasoning about their beliefs by some of their leaders. In the words of the sixteenth-century German priest Martin Luther, “Whoever wants to be a Christian should tear the eyes out of his reason.” Or in the words of St. Ignatius Loyola, “We should always be disposed to believe that which appears to us to be white is really black, if the hierarchy of the church so decides.” Religious insistence on abandoning reason is possibly the number-one cause of religious rebellion. It’s akin to insisting on magical beings whether they are creatures such as the Easter Bunny or the Unicorn. By arguing that reason has no place in our enquiry, religion disqualifies itself from the world of the rational. That said, not all spiritual systems or practices share the denial of reason. Even among the more classical systems such as Judaism, Catholicism, Buddhism, and more, there are those who ignore the edict insisting on the denial of rational processes. For these people, there is a more mystical meaning to the so-called literal teachings found in their doctrinal literature." 

These passages offer related food for thought and the opportunity to reflect on the back-and-forth dialogue between believers and non-believers. 

By presenting both sides of various arguments, Eldon Taylor cultivates bigger-picture thinking about the diverse issues involved in defining the spiritual domain and the rationality of its possibilities. 

Taylor also injects personal feelings and reflections into this mix of intellectual debate, creating a warm, revealing tone of acceptance that encourages readers to think, rather than judge from knee-jerk precedents or reactions. 

The result is more than just another analysis of whether or not there is a God. It's a survey of the process of belief, validity, and reality itself that helps thinking readers consider the foundations of their own life experiences, religion, and philosophy. 

While spirituality and philosophy libraries will, of course, be the logical recipients of this debate, Questioning Spirituality should ideally take a more active role in book clubs and discussion groups where science and spiritual subjects intersect. 

Its use as a source guide for such debates is even more important than its recommendation to libraries seeking appealing materials suitable to different audiences of questioning thinkers on both sides of the discussion. 

Questioning Spirituality

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The Science of Getting Rich for Women
Sara Connell
Muse Literary
978-1-958714-23-2               
$29.99 Hardcover; $18.99 Paperback; $9.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BCKDPPNJ 

The Science of Getting Rich for Women points out that not only have women traditionally earned less than their male counterparts, but they've lost more money during times of financial crisis and have too often opted for choices that garnered less financial rewards than their male counterparts. 

Sara Connell points out that the bulk of money advice and management books assume a decidedly male overtone that embraces white male privilege over the experiences, attitudes towards and special concerns of women. She seeks to rectify this in an advice guide specifically tailored to female readers. 

One might wonder about how such financial advice would differ, but Connell's own motivation for writing this book (which isn't the first to offer money advice to women) sets the stage via her own experiences: "After decades of unconscious replaying of patterns of lack, unworthiness, underearning, undervaluing myself, moving from struggling to make $20,000 a year as a writer and coach to making $1,000,000 in a year as a writer and coach did not happen in a day, or by reading one book. It took a full life-makeover approach." 

Her hard-hitting messages open with an acknowledgement that conscious and subconscious social messages create patterns of expectation and judgment that often direct a woman's drive for financial success: "I was living out old family messages and cultural programming that said pursuing money or having abundance was bad, that it was unspiritual to care about material things, that caring about money meant I was greedy or a “bad” person, superficial, wrong. The truth was, I was broke and disempowered with money, because I’d guzzled cultural, religious, familial, ancestral societal and gender “Kool-Aid” from my earliest cell development that said I was not allowed, that I shouldn’t, that I wasn’t worthy, wasn’t capable, didn’t deserve and wasn’t good enough to have it." 

By now, it should be evident that The Science of Getting Rich for Women isn't just another "one size fits all" set of money-making or financial management strategies. Nor does it represent Connell's singular success (though that is intrinsic to the story). It's a key to a personal makeover that flavors insights about the process with case histories and experiences of other women who have faced their inner dollar demons and come out richer for the effort on not just financial, but psychological levels. 

As readers learn about these diverse successes, they will be prompted to examine their own approaches to business, money, and independence. This requires of readers the willingness to do so and the flexibility to absorb statements and messages that defy the common picture of women's financial worlds and motivations: "As women of wealth, we face a challenge that many act as if it is external—the belief that it’s a man’s world and it’s somehow harder to be successful if you are a woman. That’s a popular opinion, but I don’t believe it. Having lived through rapes and sexual harassment and unfair treatment, I can tell you that the only reason someone isn’t as successful as they say they want to be is because they don’t believe they can be." 

Women who choose The Science of Getting Rich for Women will find "rich" defined as more than monetary wealth. It documents attitudes, misconceptions, influences, and approaches to money and success that ideally will receive book club and women's group attention and discussion. Its biographical profiles should also spark lively debates among such circles. 

The Science of Getting Rich for Women is highly recommended not just for libraries catering to women who look to improve their financial or business status, but for collections interested in powerful women's issues for discussions and bigger-picture thinking that expands the notion of wealth and riches to psychological understanding and social and business transformations. 

The Science of Getting Rich for Women

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Spiritual Constipation
Stephen Ladd

Apocryphile Press
978-1955821872            $20.00 Paper/$6.99 ebook

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1955821879 

Spiritual Constipation: Discover Your True Nature & Get Shift Moving pairs two words typically not seen together ('spiritual' and 'constipation') to illuminate readers about the process of being stuck, getting unstuck, and moving ahead both in life and in spiritual circles.
 

Readers should prepare to be surprised, informed, and perhaps sometimes lightly offended by the references to bodily functions, from the start: "Do you smell that? Just to be safe, let’s clear the air.
I
don’t
know
shit.
Rest assured, this is not my lame attempt to feign humility. On the contrary, I suppose it may be closer to a false bravado. For let there be no doubt, I forget daily that I’m still quite full of it; and by “it” I mean knowledge. For the better part of four decades, I was a collector, perhaps borderline hoarder, of seemingly pertinent information."
 

Being a self-confessed "information junkie" meant that Stephen Ladd pursued spiritual considerations with as much enthusiasm for the quest and acquisition of different concepts as he did with life trivia. The result mired him in confusion rather than enlightening him—but perhaps that was for the best, because the process of becoming unstuck and finding a way through the contrasting, often conflicting, paradigms and spiritual pathways forms the foundation of his powerful Spiritual Constipation. 

When too much information has been amassed, the result can overwhelm rather than enlighten. In such circumstances, a course of 'unlearning' may be pursued to move aside the morass of confusion and arrive at nuggets of insights to form a foundation of belief, revelation, and progression. 

As Ladd navigates this process without a road map, readers will benefit from his ability to create such a blueprint for others. He synthesizes the process of letting go in order to achieve psychic and spiritual balance, but his book applies to more than those already on the road to spiritual understanding. 

Surprisingly, this process led him to become a corporate speaker, offering seminars that applied his technique to business as well as life pursuits. 

Whether the reader's purpose is one of improving business teamwork and collaborative efforts, or self-examination, Spiritual Constipation's principles and discoveries apply equally, across the board, to life. 

Readers may choose this book for its spiritual promise, but will find it delightfully applicable to much broader topics. It also comes flavored with a dash of ironic humor that enhances some of its more serious contentions. 

The result is a discourse in self-discovery that requires of its readers only the ability to self-inspect and analyze, and the flexibility to learn about, process, and admit new avenues of growth and understanding. This is a key prerequisite because some of Ladd's contentions defy the conventional routes of understanding, and ideally will be recognized for their promise of deeper realizations and growth: 

"Project Mayhem’s goal, at least ostensibly, is to alleviate the suffering of their fellow human beings. Their modus operandi is vandalism and the eventual destruction of the symbolic structures of corporations and consumerism that keep people trapped in the illusion. I would suggest this is a misunderstanding of how change happens. Tyler is preaching destructive action to wake people up and set them free. This is a popular stance today and throughout history, but I would put forth that it has had marginal longterm success. I’ve not found destructive environments the most conducive to awakening and don’t buy into the perspective that anything need change in the external world for people to become free. Freedom is an inside job." 

Libraries looking for spiritual, self-help, and motivational titles to add to their collections will find an unusual flare of candid life inspection in Spiritual Constipation. Its title prompts readers to take a second look, then choose a book that stands out from the crowd. 

Spiritual Constipation

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There's More Bodies Out There
Rick Porrello
Next Hat Press
97809662508-1-8           $16.95
www.rickporrello.com 

A fine line separates true crime fact from fiction. Few authors or investigative researchers walk this line as carefully as Rick Porrello. 

There's More Bodies Out There: The True Story of a Mafia Associate and a Cop Who Emerge as Suspected Serial Killers is a study in strange attractors. It presents a true story based on written correspondence with Richard Henkel; government reports; newspaper articles; books; and personal interviews, leaving no stone unturned in the process of revealing the truth. 

While some of Porrello's conclusions are based on conjecture, their roots in facts presented here also lend to a feel of authentic research and postulations backed by evidence. 

Porrello, a former police chief, is a master at synthesizing research into the drama of daily life, capturing the incarnation, growth, and associations of a sociopath and his progressive actions. Porrello's attention to specifically pinpointing places in the story where conjecture was made (included in a reference section of Endnotes) creates an unusually specific attention to the fine line between fact and possible fiction that researchers will find especially important. 

The truth about Henkel's associations is starkly portrayed from the story's opening lines: "Under a convincing veneer of normalcy lurks the real Richard Henkel. Federal parole authorities deemed the incarcerated bank robber  psychologically stable and ready to make positive contributions to society. They got it wrong. Henkel operated within the underworld of the 1970s—the well-entrenched Mafia with their interstate connections and a loose network of drug dealers, burglars, and pimps." 

Rick Porrello traces these associations with the dogged and determined processes of a good researcher. He brings readers along on the research ride, foraying into little-charted territory as he surveys Henkel's con artistry, victims, and the lawmen who pursued justice and this dangerous killer. 

An unexpected whimsical feel is provided in the first chapter, which chooses "lead characters" to provide a short list of major players and their connections. This creates a user-friendly atmosphere which reduces any confusion about these relationships while outlining the milieu of Pittsburgh, the Gemini lounge girls and their upscale clientele, and the makeup of the Henkel family as their children come of age and move into Pittsburgh society. 

Richard Henkel's early arrests for petty crimes set off a lifetime of surfing the underworld with ever-darker intentions. His story and those of the victims reads with the drama of fiction, yet firmly rests on a foundation of facts that are gripping and methodical in their progression and presentation. 

As Henkel moved from bank heists to darker exploits, readers receive a story that also outlines disparities between his criminal activities, concerns about his home life, and his seeming good behavior: "While Richard Henkel was in Marion Penitentiary, he often expressed concern for his son. Some administrators found him to be intelligent and polite. He participated in various educational courses. He joined the prison’s historical society and the Jaycees (United States Junior Chamber of Commerce), a civic organization that provided training in business skills and leadership." But, he wasn't turning over a new leaf. He was plotting his next move. 

As the action and investigation moves beyond Pittsburgh, a methodical drama emerges that is even more riveting than fiction for its factual yet emotionally alluring presentation.  

Libraries looking for vivid true crime stories that take the extra step beyond research to present their stories in a thoroughly compelling manner will find There's More Bodies Out There a solid acquisition. 

Its insights into investigative procedures, crime revelations, and the cat-and-mouse games that connect investigators and criminals provide "you are here" moments that prove impossible to put down, and vividly frightening. 

There's More Bodies Out There

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To Venus and Back, One Man's Quest to Rediscover Love
Turner Grant
Stones River LLC
979-8-218-00424-8        
$29.95 Hardcover/$17.95 Paper/$9.99 ebook
www.ToVenusAndBack.com 

To Venus and Back, One Man's Quest to Rediscover Love is a memoir that reveals the different nuances of dating in one's 50s. After twenty years of marriage and raising children, Turner Grant's wife died suddenly, leaving him a widower adrift in a sea of challenging new dating possibilities that came with his revised status and new ways of searching for connections decades after his marriage.

As he becomes involved in the online dating milieu of Washington, D.C., Grant finds himself encountering a range of women who exhibit unusual (and often crazy) traits and tendencies. This belays the notion that online dating is filled with opportunity, providing the cautionary note that it is also rife with insanity and oddness. 

As Grant navigates this strange new world, he describes his encounters with a tongue-in-cheek, wry wit that will lead his readers to laugh even as he educates them about the potentials and pitfalls of online interactions in middle age. 

Re-envisioning his life after his wife's death came with both a personal price tag and the benefit of this book, which explores online dating from the (relatively rare) male's view of the dating scene. 

In this, To Venus and Back represents a study in unique approaches to life as well as distinctive experiences that will allow men and women further insights into the psychological and social conundrums facing middle-aged people who want to find romance. 

This three-year odyssey represents meetings with over fifty women who reside "on Venus" (the author bows to the classic book Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus in both his title and references), profiling over half of them with stories flavored with the sense of a remarkable and very different milieu from those married men experience. 

Perhaps surprisingly (to those unfamiliar with this world), the very act of entering online dating requires a form of self-examination which Grant found both inviting and challenging: "Every ounce of my heart and soul had been about being the husband to my wife, even now, a year after her death. But the encounter foreshadowed more discomfort the following year when I dared to fill out an online form for a dating feature in The Washington Post. I had to answer questions about who and what I was from a dating perspective and those were incredibly difficult questions to answer. Who was I?" 

Candid self-examination is one of the strong points in this memoir as events unfold: "Had my newly altered filters of life in the aftermath of my wife’s death become too fine to a fault? Could I not enjoy and appreciate people, life, and regular stuff anymore? Worse still, was I somehow broken from my experience? Or perhaps I was now some sort of I-know-life-like-you-all-don’t kind of snob. It was a soul-searching exercise that went on for the rest of my time on Venus. I was fully back in life, but it seemed like I was still set apart too." 

His probes of vulnerability, fear, sexting, and different types of relationships with women results in a survey that is inviting, revealing, and starkly candid: "You know the feeling you get sometimes? You want something so-o-o much that you throw everything you have into it? Then either gradually or suddenly, you realize it’s never going to happen? Disappointment and failure wash over you, and you become so disillusioned when you finally figure out that what you were doing—what you thought was the right thing—was a path to nowhere or worse? Okay. Good. Now you know how I felt about women and dating after Ava." 

Here is a man unafraid of exposure and willing to not just learn from experiences, but closely examine (in public) their successes, failures, and life lessons. Readers interested in the special milieu of mid-life dating in modern times need to consult To Venus and Back not just for its intriguing (and sometimes ribald) explorations of the dating scene, but for its intriguing inspections of what makes men and women different, and how to navigate the stormy waters of relationships. 

Libraries looking for thought-provoking and engrossing memoirs that represent honest self-inspection and enlightening relationship insights will find To Venus and Back a delightful, compelling journey through heart and soul. 

To Venus and Back, One Man's Quest to Rediscover Love

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Viila and the Doomsday Affair
Roger Danchik
Atmosphere Press
9781639886203             $18.99
www.atmospherepress.com 

At first glance, Viila and the Doomsday Affair would seem to fit in the fantasy category. Where else would a rollicking ride to save the universe appear? But then, there's the odd cast of characters, from a vampire and a cat to a rabbi and his son and a demon. And a chapter which opens with the title "An Erotic Scene!—And Wild Monkey Sex." And a mystery that is wound into compelling scenarios which defy any attempt at pat categorization. 

So evolves a story that would rival Douglas Adams for its world-hopping foray into characters and settings which are anything but predictable in their countenances or actions. 

As the story opens, Rabbi Benjamin is having a mild erotic fantasy prompted by his wife's cooking. His planned marriage was not of his choosing, but produced satisfaction beyond his wildest dreams. Especially since he'd been prepared for a life without marriage and sex. 

At this point it should be emphasized that eroticism plays an intrinsic part in the story that evolves. The humor that overlays many of these interactions replies on it: "Rabbi Benjamin looked up very impressed and, in a strangled voice, asked, “It was you who slept with the giant Og?”
Viila shrugged and looked a little embarrassed, “Someone had to step up, and in case you haven’t noticed, I am very flexible.”
 

An ancient gong rouses the Master, then contemplates a "long infinity" when its job is complete; Queen Pharaoh sports the ability to pose and glare so that her reputation means she never has to actually fight; and interactions between the Teraphim, Rabbi Benjamin, Viila and the merry band of misfits makes for a plot replete with humor and thought-provoking confrontations. 

The dynamics of this unlikely group are as intriguing as their confrontations as rules of engagement fade and cease to exist, challenging each character to assimilate different relationships and survival tactics than in their pasts. 

Roger Danchik's romp involves a quest and revelations that accompany the effort. His audience will appreciate both the ribald characters and their changing perspectives about their place in the world and their mission. 

Think Douglas Adams, but with far more sexual humor. 

Libraries that choose Viila and the Doomsday Affair will find its special combination of fantasy, intrigue, and adventure will attract audiences capable of absorbing a healthy degree of erotica in the overall yarn that evolves a rollicking good tale with the undercurrent of a Greek comedy and the contemporary feel of irony. 

Viila and the Doomsday Affair

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Young Adult/Childrens

The Adventures of Max and Maude
John Losee
Independently Published

978-1-7368387-0-9         $9.45 Paper/$4.95 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Max-Maude-Humorous-Loveable/dp/1736838709 

The Adventures of Max and Maude is recommended for animal lovers who enjoy dog and cat escapades. It tells of golden-haired Persian cat Maude's experiences with brown and black shepherd-terrier-boxer mix Max, who comes to live with the family. 

Unbeknownst to him, the new house comes with house rules created by the cat, which are not always to his liking: 

"Maude sought to impose some house rules:

1.  My food bowl is off limits, likewise my water dish.

2.  All horizontal surfaces above the floor are mine.

3.  No barking is permitted at any mice found on the premises. These prey are mine.

4.  Barking during my morning or afternoon naps is expressly forbidden.

5.  Any disturbance of my litter box will be dealt with severely.

Max was unimpressed. “For a creature whose behavior shows no respect for rules, you sure seem keen to invent and apply them. Be advised. I am a dog. Dogs do not recognize rules invented by cats.”  

And so Max begins to form his own rules, and a funny set of interactions between the two pets is created which will attract all ages with its blend of fun color drawings of cat and dog and entertaining encounters between the two. 

From the start, John Losee adopts a light-hearted tone that enhances a portrait in relationship-building achieved by both the animals' interactions with one another and the house humans that present sometimes-puzzling challenges. 

One example of a hilarious and fun encounter is a cuckoo clock that poses numerous problems. Losee anthropomorphizes the animals' dialogues and perceptions of their world's puzzles and the process by which they join forces to confront them: 

"Every hour the cuckoo emerged. It made a noise no bird would recognize. The situation was made worse by the fact that the cuckoo performed on the half-hour as well. Maude found that, after being assaulted by one cuckoo cry, she came fully awake waiting for the next. She was unable to sleep for more than twenty minutes at a time. Maude shared her frustration with Max. “Max,” she said, “you know how grouchy I get when I don’t get enough sleep. This clock has thoroughly disrupted my rhythms.” 

The result is an engaging dog/cat story that the whole family can appreciate, whether it's chosen for family read-aloud or pursued by all ages. 

Losee's ability to bring Max and Maude to life creates a vivid story nicely steeped in diverse adventures and fun. 

The Adventures of Max and Maude

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The Adventures of Ruby Pi and the Geometry Girls
Tom Durwood
Empire Studies Press
978-1-952520- 27-3               $13.99 Paper/$6.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Ruby-Geometry-Girls-Mathematics/dp/1952520274 

The Adventures of Ruby Pi and the Geometry Girls provides teen and young adult short story readers with a math-centric collection of five adventure stories; each centered on linking geometry to problem-solving applications. 

This represents the missing link between math entertainment and education that young learners have long needed, in more than one way. 

First, in couching these applications with fictional adventure components, Tom Durwood adds compelling leisure read interest to the educational process. 

Ruby Pi and a host of characters tackle problems that are outlined both in chapter headings and through the conundrums that test their knowledge. 

Examples of numerators and other math concepts juxtapose with history, science, and challenges embedded into even the vocabulary Durwood chooses to prompt young learners to expand their knowledge in different mathematical and problem-solving areas. 

As for the stories themselves: they excel in a special type of troubleshooting intrigue that reaches out to involve young readers in a mystery that isn't just served up, but requires reader thought to thoroughly understand. 

These stories are challenging, and don't 'dumb down' a young reader's abilities. The introductory 'Case of the Old Carthusians', for example, presents rising mathematician Ruby P's involvement in repairing the cathedral at Charterhouse School, when sabotage leads her to uncover a long-buried secret. 

The blend of intrigue and mystery opens in 1877 Surrey, moves to South Africa, then leaps ahead to Ruby's participation in 1897, as she becomes involved in an engineering firm's repair bid in an unusual way that tests her math capabilities and problem-solving skills alike. 

Each short story moves through different layers of mystery and math insights with an attention to educating and entertaining. Each provides lessons that readers can use to apply their blossoming math knowledge to real-world situations. 

The result is an invaluable addition to any library appealing to teens and young adults. Especially for those that feature writings that draw through leisure interest, but ultimately support mathematical knowledge. 

The Adventures of Ruby Pi and the Geometry Girls

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The Adventures of Ruby Pi and the Math Girls
Tom Durwood

Empire Studies Press
978-1952520266            $13.99 Paper/$6.99 ebook

https://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Ruby-Math-Girls-Mathematics/dp/1952520266 

The Adventures of Ruby Pi and the Math Girls provides five in-depth mystery short stories for teens and young adults which reinforce basic math concepts by applying them to mysterious situations. 

From predictions to code-breaking endeavors and mastering rates of change ratios, Ruby Pi and her team face a range of situations that rely on important math-based problem-solving skills. 

This book and its companion, The Adventures of Ruby Pi and the Geometry Girls, are the prefect examples of what happens when real-world math is applied to problems to challenge all ages of reader. 

The books both entertain young mystery fans and educate them about the possibilities of applying math to many different kinds of real-world situations, whether they be puzzles or life circumstances. 

The stories are as diverse as their characters; from a life-saving effort by Jayani which requires a big gamble and an understanding of the odds involved, to a Mayan tablet that requires extraordinary code-breaking skills from siblings who struggle with one another. 

The blend of action and adventure, psychological insight, and strong characters pairs nicely with the embedded math concepts, while the story also introduces new language and explorations designed to challenge and educate young readers in different areas, as well. 

Both books should be considered "must have" acquisitions for middle-grade collections seeking fiction that also rests firmly on educational opportunities. 

The strong characters, diverse and compelling mysteries, and history and math-based focus make these books top recommendations and winnings acquisitions. 

The Adventures of Ruby Pi and the Math Girls

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Ameera's Song
Hareena Kaur
Little Blue Peacock
978-1-7376086-0-8         $13.99
https://www.amazon.com/Ameeras-Song-Hareena-Kaur/dp/173760860X/ 

Ameera's Song is an Indian story designed for read-aloud and discussion between parents and young listeners, and captures the dilemma of a king and his three daughters. 

The youngest, Ameera, is nothing like her sisters. She eschews being a princess in favor of outdoors adventures and active play, until one day a plan to journey through a forest to visit their grandmother leads to an adventure none of them can resist. 

Aided by Bear, Monkey, and other forest denizens, the three sisters locate their grandmother, only to find her home and habits puzzlingly indicative of a hard-working life. 

The sisters pitch in, with one of them going with Grandmother to help her at work. When she doesn't return, a sense of disaster looms which only increases when a second sister also vanishes. What is young Ameera to think about her family ties and these disappearances? 

As the story reveals further surprises, parents and young listeners receive a fable steeped in Indian culture with interactions between all ages and creatures. 

Lessons about kindness and paying it forward come to light as the story progresses, making for an involving tale filled with surprising twists and turns that keep kids and adult readers engaged and reflective. 

With its bright, colorful illustrations and thought-provoking adventure, Ameera's Song will provide many nights of listening pleasure and the opportunity for interactive dialogue between parents and kids. The words of wisdom and enlightenment evolve into a fine adventure containing an important underlying message. 

Libraries seeking picture book fables representing Indian folklore roots and attractive messages alike will find Ameera's Song a winner. 

Ameera's Song

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The Angel of Santo Tomas - The Story of Fe del Mundo
Tammy Yee
Tumblehome, Inc.
9781943431748                     $16.95
Website: https://tammyyee.com/angelofsantotoms.html
Ordering: https://tumblehomebooks.org/book/the-angel-of-santo-tomas/ 

The Angel of Santo Tomas - The Story of Fe del Mundo is a picture book story that takes place in Manila in the Philippines. It opens with the funeral of young Fe's older sister, who wanted to be a doctor. 

Fe decides to fulfill her dead sister's ambitions by stepping into that dream herself, finding a mentor in her physician uncle after her mother passes away. 

As the picture book story tells of how she achieves her dream and then moves beyond its initial boundaries to become not just a doctor, but the first person of Asian descent to attend Harvard Medical School, young readers receive an involving tale of how an ambitious young woman who cared for others created a lifesaving institution, Santo Tomas, to provide a sanctuary for children. 

Tammy Yee's inviting, full-page color illustrations power this plot, adding visual attraction and emphasis as Fe del Mundo moves beyond her initial vision of helping others to become an influential force in children's' lives. 

It's a biography that will not only lend to student papers for assigned reading, but gives enthusiastic support to the notion that a child can grow up to make a difference in the world through thinking of a bigger picture for helping others. 

Adults who choose The Angel of Santo Tomas for read-aloud will find plenty of topics to discuss beyond the book's initial and powerful biographical sketch. 

Libraries that feature it will fulfill their mission of providing early readers with stories that emphasize Asian women's strengths and ability to achieve their dreams. 

The Angel of Santo Tomas - The Story of Fe del Mundo

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Angry Octopus
Lori Lite

Stress Free Kids
‎978-0983625681           
$21.98 Hardcover/$13.95 Paper/$4.95 ebook

https://www.amazon.com/Angry-Octopus-Management-introducing-progressive/dp/0983625689 

Angry Octopus: A Relaxation Story blends a nautical fantasy adventure with real-world tips to picture book readers on techniques for calming down and relaxation. It's the perfect item of choice for adults seeking to introduce the concept of relaxation techniques which enhance calming results. 

A sea merchild confronts an angry octopus who receives lessons from her on how "to be the boss of his own feelings, body, and anger." 

This key message, accompanied by lovely, colorful illustrations by Max Stasuyk, is firmly rooted in ocean ecology as the octopus faces an invasion of his home "garden" by careless lobsters that have bumped into his carefully-arranged seashells and rocks. 

Lori Lite offers compelling scenes that capture emotional responses to adversity: "The more he looked at the mess, the worse he felt. He got madder and madder, and he felt his body get tighter and tighter. His muscles were tense and his stomach was rumbling like a volcano. He looked around at his ruined garden, and his face started to turn red with anger. He knew what was happening to him, but he did not know how to stop it. He was so angry that he thought he might explode. And he did." 

Adults who choose Angry Octopus as a read-aloud will find it holds plenty of opportunities for exploring anger and its management. Familiar feelings come to light as the octopus loses his temper and control, and a passing sea child tries to help him identify the results of his choices: “Why are you so angry? Why are you sitting in a dark cloud on such a beautiful day?” The octopus answered that he didn’t know why he always did this when he got angry, but he did know that it didn’t feel good to lose his temper, and it always made his problem get worse." 

Angry Octopus goes above and beyond most psychological stories for the very young in not just exploring feelings, but introducing basic calming techniques that kids can employ to regain control over their emotions. 

When accompanied by parental or adult interactive experiences, kids receive specific guidelines for exercises that encourage them to better understand not just their feelings, but the routines they may employ to manage them. 

Libraries and adults seeking picture books that take the extra step beyond understanding and into introducing proactive behaviors and emotional management strategies will welcome Angry Octopus for its appealing, practical insights on handling anxiety, stress, and anger. 

Angry Octopus

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Artemis Sparke and the Sound Seekers Brigade
Kimberly Behre Kenna
Fitzroy Books
9781646033133             $9.95 Paper/$8.45 ebook
https://fitzroybooks.com 

Artemis Sparke and the Sound Seekers Brigade is a story recommended for grades 4-7, and tells of a girl who becomes involved in trying to save a beloved shoreline salt marsh refuge, which is dying. Her determination to change its future leads her to not only confront bullies and her stuttering problem, but to better understand nature and human relationships. 

Even though Artemis is more than fed up with the latter, she comes to realize that human influences on natural habitats are something she has the ability to change, even at her young age. 

As Artemis and a group of friends (including deceased ecologists) rise to the occasion, more controversy is created as they uncover the likely perp involved in the marsh's demise, only to realize that his connections to her mother make him formidable in a personal way. 

It's unusual to find a middle-grade read that deftly navigates both peer relationships and the politics of adult interactions, but Artemis Sparke and the Sound Seekers Brigade addresses both worlds as it evolves a mystery's clues and the ramifications of a discovery that could save one facet of Artemis's life, but rock her world in too many other ways. 

The dilemma is well-done and will appeal to young readers, while the lively ecological and social threads that run through the mystery offer many thought-provoking moments. The total impact of Artemis Sparke and the Sound Seekers Brigade is a strong story that moves from mystery to bigger-picture thinking about intentions, power struggles, disability, and ability. 

Libraries looking for a vivid adventure story that holds opportunities for broader class and peer discussion will find Artemis Sparke and the Sound Seekers Brigade an appealing acquisition. 

Artemis Sparke and the Sound Seekers Brigade

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Ask Uncle Neil: Why Is My Hair Curly?
Neil Thompson
Teach the Geek Kids
978-0692157275            $11.99 Paper; $4.99 ebook
www.askuncleneilbooks.com 

Picture book readers and read-aloud parents who look for stories that embrace self-acceptance, the possibilities in changing appearances, and Black pride will find Ask Uncle Neil: Why Is My Hair Curly? the perfect item of choice for discussing appearances and science alike. 

The latter proves an unexpected accent to the story, which opens with a young boy's conversations with his mother about possible new hair styles and evolves into the question of why his hair is curly in the first place. 

The solution is to consult scientist Uncle Neil, who often knows the answers to intriguing puzzles. 

As mother and son embark on a shared journey for answers, readers receive a warm story spiced with nice drawings as the story surveys Black heritage, genes, and their influences on physical developments and attributes (such as curly hair and its properties). 

The result is a discourse that works on many levels: as a lesson in Black pride; as an example of scientific inquiry applied to basic life puzzles; and as an example of how science can explain everyday life. 

Libraries looking for different picture book explorations of any of these topics will find a lively, positive, welcoming tone to Ask Uncle Neil: Why Is My Hair Curly? It ideally will be used by adults to open conversations about a myriad of subjects with young picture book audiences of all races. 

Ask Uncle Neil: Why Is My Hair Curly?

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The C.A.P.E. Crusade
Billy Lombardo
Muse Literary
9781958714140             $10.99 Paper/$2.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/C-P-Crusade-Application-Personal/dp/1958714143 

Many books for teens and college applicants discuss the application form, SATs, and other influencers on college acceptance, but The C.A.P.E. Crusade: Your Guide to a Great College Application Personal Essay narrows the focus to what often proves the determining factor between acceptance and rejection—the essay. 

While it can be said that this, too, is a subject covered elsewhere, what sets Billy Lombardo's title apart from others is its attention to injecting some of the excitement and potential into the effort, which will inspire students to write their best. 

Lombardo emphasizes his different approach from the beginning, presenting his view of how and why a student essay should not assume the regimented formula approach that other books too often recommend: "They include sections such as “there are four types of this,” “five easy steps to this,” and “these are topics never to write about….” But there aren’t just four types. There aren’t just five easy steps. And there aren’t topics “never to write about.” There are topics you should probably be very careful with, of course, but a great writer could write a great essay on any topic. And the best topic in the world can turn into a terrible essay." 

With this encouragement in mind, students are led into the world of college essay writing with a different, more creative mindset that remains open to all possibilities of subject and presentation. 

Pre-writing exercises, examples of topics designed to get students testing their skills and hand at writing tasks, and advice tailored to encouraging creative inspiration over regimented requirements adds to this process by encouraging students to set pen to paper and free flow with creative responses: "Obsess over word count now, and I guarantee that you’ll never get to the discoveries necessary for a great essay. Imagine that you’re secretly competing with your classmates to write a ten-thousand-word discovery draft. If you come back to shore with more than ten thousand words, we’ll sift through the flotsam and jetsam and worry about the word count later." 

The C.A.P.E. Crusade is filled with good advice, inspirational and motivating lessons, and cautions about the kinds of input that reduces rather than accents creativity and good writing. The result is a highly inspirational, motivating, different college application advice title filled with rich exercises and examples of work well-done. 

Billy Lombardo admits from the start that he never had to write such an essay to gain entry into college, and never even took a SAT. What he did do was hone the approaches to writing that support creative efforts and ultimately lend to outstanding results. 

Any library strong in recommendations for college-bound students, as well as creative writing sources for inspiring essay writing, will find The C.A.P.E. Crusade a standout and a winner for not only its encouraging approach, but its specific contrasts between what makes for staid and dull writing and the contents of great prose. 

The C.A.P.E. Crusade

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The Dragon and the Unicorn: The Magic of Friendship 
Charly Froh
Independently Published
978-3-910542-19-8         Price: TBA
Website: https://www.charlyfroh.com
Ordering:www.amazon.com 

Charly Froh's picture book story The Dragon and the Unicorn: The Magic of Friendship receives lovely, colorful illustrations by Zuzana Svobodová as it explores the land of the Emerald Kingdom, which is inhabited by magical unicorns and fiery dragons. The two live in separate, very different environments: the dragons in Cloud City and the unicorns in Sparkle Land. 

Little Dan the dragon is powerful, intelligent, and caring. He has everything he needs from life. Or, does he? 

His counterpart, smart little unicorn Fran, also enjoys her life and seemingly needs nothing more. 

When a blustery blizzard strikes the Emerald Kingdom, Dan and Fran are taken away from their familiar worlds to encounter not only each other, but a very different milieu. 

Parents who choose this picture book story for the very young will find the compelling illustrations and lessons about appreciating very different people impart important insights about diversity, inclusiveness, and friendship between seemingly disparate entities. 

The bright, alluring drawings reinforce the tale and add magic to the adventure, which attracts on many different levels. 

Libraries looking for picture book stories that hold both adventure and opportunities for broader discussions will find The Dragon and the Unicorn: The Magic of Friendship an alluring, original acquisition. 

The Dragon and the Unicorn: The Magic of Friendship 

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Elvia and the Gift of Passion
Ruthy Ballard
WhipSmart Books
9780997853216             $12.95
www.WhipSmartBooks.com 

Elvia and the Gift of Passion gives middle grade fiction readers a science-based STEAM story of adventurous Elvia Hill, who is all about taking risks, in contrast with her more cautious parents. 

Caution is thrown to the wind when her mother wins a lottery for a wildlife safari and Elvia finally gets to join in on a real adventure. It's a mother's nightmare come true when Elvia vanishes and a lion is suspected as the reason for her disappearance. But, in true Elvia fashion, she hasn't been eaten. She's just on another adventure, sailing on a stately submarine in another world and taking the safari expedition a step further. 

Black and white drawings pepper a high-octane adventure that will attract middle graders looking for a blend of fantasy and science-based fact. 

Ruthy Ballard creates a spunky, proactive character in Elvia that comes to life through her determination to succeed even in realms that are alien to her: "Elvia processed the word "emergency" and, though she was annoyed by the nickname "little sailor," she let it pass. She wanted to suit up immediately and get on with the lesson. She was finally going to learn to swim. It was about time. All her friends knew how." 

From submarine sailor lingo and explanations of the water environment to an adopted boy who joins her in the adventure, only to face death at the age of twelve, the tale grows to embrace others who are also committed to a voyage of discovery. 

Ballard cultivates a voice that involves middle graders in a delightful, quirky story that is part of the 'Tales by Moons-light Series.' It takes swashbuckling to a new level, but grounds these fantastic journeys with a sense of science-based reality that educate readers in a subtle, informative, compelling manner. 

Another unusual facet is that Elvia doesn't remain a child throughout, but matures to enter a different life, herself. 

The result is a compelling saga replete in action, adventure, and discovery that offers leisure readers an opportunity to absorb emotional and scientific details. 

Teachers seeking STEAM-based stories to recommend as leisure choices that lend to further discussion and insights will find Elvia and the Gift of Passion takes an unusual leap, linking emotional and educational growth in proactive young people who don't just explore new environments, but enter and change them with gusto. 

Elvia and the Gift of Passion

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Ember
Sara Gibson
DartFrog Plus
978-1-951490-70-6         $14.99 Paper/$4.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Ember-Sara-Gibson-ebook/dp/B0B643K3Y6 

Young adult readers who choose Ember for its promise of fantasy adventure will find the story replete in action-packed pages that juxtapose intrigue with atmospheric descriptions. The story opens with a solid sense of place: "Ra’s rapiers emerged from the sea and set the undulating water on fire. In an instant, the sun banished the dark emperor’s minions to remote corners where they shifted and scattered throughout the day, eschewing the light and waiting for their master to summon them once again at dusk. The sun’s rays reached a perfectly manicured golf course, awakening the sleepy earth and transforming the dark landscape into a canvas of chlorophyll green, sparkling dewdrops, and warmth." 

It then unfolds with a decidedly quirky set of encounters with appealingly strange individuals that lead young adults into an engrossing dilemma when college student Ember literally falls into a book, trapping her within its world. 

Has she slipped into another dimension? Has her body split into atoms like Cinder's did? 

The quirky fun of books that both present new worlds and answer dilemmas makes for a fantasy flavored by whimsy and driven by powerful encounters. 

As Cinder's story in the book closely follows Ember's experiences, leading her further into a strange realm, readers will enjoy the delightful humor that overlays an atmospheric tale that literally reaches out to grab Ember from her life: "Ember put the book down and joked, “Will I get sucked into my book, too?” Thunder boomed so loudly that her entire house creaked. “Okay, okay! I’ll read on if you cut that out!” The thunder cut off abruptly." 

Young adults who look for lively fantasy sagas (especially bookworms whose noses are always ferreting out new situations and experiences) will find Ember an attractive choice that poses intriguing, unexpected dilemmas and a special form of compelling action. 

When is a book not a book? When it captures other worlds and injects the reader into them as a protagonist against all odds and efforts to challenge this transformation: “The author began writing this stupid story over twenty years ago. I infiltrated her Hotmail account and deleted the file. Like an idiot, she started the story again,” Eris replied. “I allowed her to find a hard copy of the old story, hoping that she would be so confused she would stop. Then she merged the stories, creating parallel universes! I’m going to keep throwing writer’s block at her until she goes crazy, so this stupid story will never be published!” 

The result is a vibrant, refreshingly original, fun tale that embraces a love for books, other worlds, and situations that challenge reality itself. Ember's character and the whimsical forces she encounters in these other worlds create literary and social conundrums that are unexpectedly fun. 

Libraries and adults seeking unique and strong recommendations for young adult fantasy-reading bookworms will find Ember the perfect choice. 

Ember

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Eye of the Stormlord
Laurel Colless
Peter Blue Press
978-952-94-6058-8         $18.99 Paper/$7.99 ebook
www.laurelcolless.com 

Eye of the Stormlord's eco-sci-fi story offers an adventure that young adults will appreciate as they absorb the dilemma of eleven-year-old Peter Blue, who attends an exclusive school for eco-talented, gifted children. His father was part of an organization that tackled big-scale world eco-problems, but he's gone missing. With him goes family connections, but as Peter comes to realize the real source of the world's storms and the concurrent turbulence in his heart, he also comes to understand the real nature of the world and his place in it. 

Laurel Colless creates a compelling saga that rests in the arms of fantasy, but incorporates many messages about family, life connections, and good and evil. 

It also incorporates social and political messages, often delivered with a wry wit that young readers will find unexpected and compelling: "At Big Garbage, we’ve expanded across England up to the north. Thanks to a big idea from yours truly, we bought a bunch of old collieries. Unbelievable space they have for garbage dumping, especially chemicals from our big company clients. Garbage is the gift that keeps on giving, eh, Peter? And between you and me and the gatepost, it pays very well. Wink wink, say no more." 

If Peter can't thwart the "baddies," then everyone he cares about is going to die. 

Colless spins a powerful yarn that, on its surface, appears pure fantasy adventure, replete with good/evil clashes and characters that learn more about a surprising world: 

“Are you still there, light boy? Let me hear your voice.”
“Yes,” said Peter.
“That’s good. We have an understanding, you and I.”
In his outer vision, Peter saw the demon’s shoulder twitch.
“Watch out!” It was Roly, arriving behind him. Too late, the
demon had Peter’s neck in his grip. Squeezing his throat.
It was like a fierce hug, but the Stormlord’s purpose was not from a place of love."
 

Within its overlay of action, however, lie many lessons about ecology and interconnectedness that educate young people about the forces in communities and outside them that let Trojan Horses in, to disrupt life. 

As warriors, demons, and stormlords clash, readers receive a delightful blend of adventure and education that will lend to group discussion as well as individual reading. 

Elementary-level libraries looking for rollicking good fantasy adventures that offer a dose of something more serious in the way of life and ecological inspections will find Eye of the Stormlord an attractive recommendation for pre-teen to teen readers. It stands alone nicely, but also adds to The Sleeping King, a prequel which introduced Peter, Spiral Hall, and the special milieu in which he operates. 

Eye of the Stormlord

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It's Okay Not to Know
Brenda Do
Peanut Butter Publishing
978-1-59849-322-1         $19.95
www.brendado.com 

Picture book readers and read-aloud parents who choose It's Okay Not to Know for its inviting title will find that Brenda Do and her illustrator C.S. Fritz have crafted a formula for better self-acceptance and the importance of making mistakes in life. 

That's right: the loveable little monster that is the focus of this story does everything wrong, from spilt milk and missed ball catches to not knowing the answers to everything. 

The story begins with a wordless series of fun illustrations about several mishaps, then moves into admonitions read-aloud adults will find particularly inviting for sparking conversations in the very young: "When you don’t know something…Or you make a mistake…It’s easy to feel down. But not knowing and having uh-oh’s are good…When you turn things around." 

As the appealing little character learns that "Not knowing gives you a chance to learn something new," young listeners and readers receive a golden opportunity to explore the positive aspects of seemingly-apparent failures in their own efforts and lives. 

Adults who choose It's Okay Not to Know will find in it an outstanding opportunity for dialogue and growth. 

It's Okay Not to Know

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Let Your Inner Golden Sparkle Shine
Sarah Vie
Muse Literary
978-1-958714-20-1
$21.99 Hardcover/$14.99 Paper/$4.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Your-Inner-Golden-Sparkle-Shine/dp/1958714208 

Let Your Inner Golden Sparkle Shine: The Little Girl Who Never Stopped Believing in Herself is a warm picture book story that gives youngsters advice and insights on overcoming life obstacles. 

Narrated through the eyes of Little Vie, the author's Inner Child, it shares a sense of magic and discovery over the notion of an Inner Sparkle that is unique to every individual. 

The book gently embraces the notion of recognizing, tapping into, and supporting this Inner Sparkle through actions and choices that solidify its presence and ability to guide youngsters through life. 

Juliana Brykova's lovely large drawings are an added bonus, creating appealing images and scenarios that support the notion of inner beauty and unique outward appearances. 

Typical child dilemmas, such as feeling excluded by others or feeling different, are addressed through repeated admonitions to take a breath and "notice the magic beating of your heart." 

The same meditative approach can be used to address fears, worries, and life challenges. 

Adults who choose Let Your Inner Golden Sparkle Shine will find its messages of positivity and self-acceptance offer uplifting and early lessons on acknowledging and tapping inner strength. 

Kids who receive this lesson early in life will find within themselves a form of resilience that allows them to face the world with more confidence and connection between who they are and their unique place in the scheme of things. 

While elementary-level libraries will find Let Your Inner Golden Sparkle Shine appealing, it's the parent or adult read-aloud participant who will find it especially relevant to discussions about independent thinking and self-assurance. 

Let Your Inner Golden Sparkle Shine

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The Lonely Toadstool
Kristin Addington Culpepper

Weave Sunshine Publishing
979-8985777215           
$18.99 Hardcover/$12.99 Paper/$3.99 ebook

Website: https://www.weavesunshinepublishing.com/copy-of-about
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BFTSZ5TD 

The Lonely Toadstool: A Children’s Books About New Friends That Come as We Find Our Voice is a celebration of growth that begins with Kristin Addington Culpepper's depiction of isolation ("One toadstool stood all alone
On the forest floor."). This grows to embrace the world when a lonely toadstool's cry of despair reaches a host of forest creatures that all put down their busy tasks to answer his call. 

Anyone who has been lonely or isolated, and any child who has felt the pain of such, will find The Lonely Toadstool a study in how to be a friend as well as how to accept and interact with others. 

Gorgeous illustrations by Ruthie Arthur illustrate how a myriad of fanciful creatures and forest animals embark on a search for the source of that lonely whimper, determined to help. 

Through the lonely toadstool's feelings and reactions, children learn the importance of expressing emotion, asking for help, setting boundaries, and being more inclusive in their friendships. They also learn how to be givers via the example of these disparate forest friends who come together to answer a call of need. 

The importance of this lovely message, well-paired with the equally lovely forest illustrations which represent whimsy with a colorful flair, makes The Lonely Toadstool a top pick for discriminating read-aloud parents and elementary-level libraries looking for explorations of emotions for the very young. 

The top-notch combination of simple subject and supportive reflections on friendships makes for a tale that all ages (including adults) can learn from. Ideally, The Lonely Toadstool will also be used in discussion groups with kids to explore themes of isolation, friendship, giving, and cooperative efforts. 

The Lonely Toadstool

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Longevity: The Awakening
Caleb Smith 
Independently Published
9798634979960             $14.99 Paper/$2.99 ebook
Website: www.ctsmithwriting.com
Ordering:  https://www.amazon.com/Longevity-Awakening-Caleb-Smith- 

Longevity: The Awakening opens in Scotland in 1286 A.D., introducing Alastair Ramsden to young adult readers. Alastair has survived being an orphan and coming of age during the Scottish War of Independence. Part of his survival skills stem from an unusual oak tree that grants him the power to cross over into the 4th-dimensional elemental kingdom of Akasha. 

Now on the cusp of teenage years, Alastair faces an ongoing journey between two worlds as he grasps the key to both adulthood and his own special talents. 

Young adults who choose Longevity: The Awakening will find the juxtaposition of fantasy and history to be compellingly presented, cemented by a young protagonist whose will to survive allows him to grow into his powers and realize the special options affecting not just his future, but the fate of mankind. 

Some scenes introduce angst and violent overtones as Alastair struggles with past lessons and future choices: "Donnan witnessed his son’s reaction towards the task and grew more actuated to speed up the process. It wasn’t easy for a man to break a boy from his soft habits." 

Alastair relives these pivotal points of his past with the help of spirit guide David, reviewing the influences and outcome of his family and life events: "With harsh lessons relearned like that of his first kill, it astonished him to watch his growth and development from a boy to a preteen adolescent." 

The juxtaposition of past and present lessons brings enlightenment and understanding to young adults who choose Longevity: The Awakening for its fantasy adventure component, only to realize that its underlying lessons are as much about growth as they are about survival and escape. 

Caleb Smith's strong attention to atmosphere and character development gives Longevity: The Awakening a powerful sense of place, time, and extraordinary events. Both Alastair and his followers contemplate the choices and consequences that befall them in life, directing the evolving adult persona that will eventually make life-altering decisions. 

Elementary-level libraries looking for fantasy histories that offer the possibility of bigger-picture thinking about psychological growth and overcoming impossible odds will find Longevity: The Awakening lends not just to leisure choice and entertainment, but to teen book club discussion groups. 

Longevity: The Awakening

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A Pixie's Transformation
Faith D. Eilertson
Beaver's Pond Press
9781643439105             $19.95
Website: www.faithdeilertson.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Pixies-Transformation-hardcover-Eilertson-August/dp/1643439103 

A Pixie's Transformation will reach ages 7 and older with a fantasy tale of mystery and magic, weaving an alluring story surrounding a new home and a pixie's atonement.

Pixies are typically naughty. But some cross the line of mischief and must make amends for their annoying jokes. 

Evelyn and Reed's journey of learning about this process and the magical world of pixies, fairies, and others who inhabit their new home is embedded with life messages that young readers will absorb in the course of the fantasy. 

Faith D. Eilertson's depiction of this learning process is nicely woven into the adventure component of the plot: "While fairies view life with positive thoughts and energy, pixies have chosen to contribute to mischief." 

Human siblings Evelyn and Reed Gunderson add their own growth and reflections to the process of realization, healing, discovery, and transformation: "I guess jealousy is common to all forms of life. I just wish people could find happiness in themselves with whatever gifts they have to offer." 

Black and white line drawings by Kari Vick introduce each chapter with a simple yet plot-reinforcing image that adds to the story's attraction. 

Kids drawn to stories of fairies and magic will discover much more going on than action alone. Woven into the mystery are thought-provoking, growth-inducing moments that give pause for thought about friendships, self-image, good and bad choices, and the transformations that accompany them. 

Libraries and adults looking for attractive stories that sport deeper reflective life lessons will find A Pixie's Transformation supplements its guise of a fantasy adventure with an equally compelling story of growth. This makes for a top recommendation and a standout above other genre or children's reads. 

A Pixie's Transformation

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The Shepherd of the Stars
Tricia D. Wagner
Independently Published
‎979-8358818583            $3.99 ebook; $11.99 paperback
www.amazon.com 

The Shepherd of the Stars is a young adult story about the aftermath of an accident that stymies healing and recovery. 

Fourteen-year-old Swift Kingsley's world has changed. Forced to assume adult roles (and thinking) while still a teen, Swift is injured in more than body. His family is coming apart, his dreams of a medical career are in jeopardy, and Swift feels that he's lost so much, he wonders if he'll ever have a meaningful life. 

That's why a respite trip to the rugged Welsh Pembrokeshire coast seems particularly appealing: it's a chance to get away, recover and heal, and move far from reminders of what could have been but for one devastating moment. 

Swift didn't expect the mystery and intrigue that develops from this move—and neither will the reader. This is one of the strengths in a story that opens with a seemingly set theme, then moves into unexpected realms much in the way life offers major twists, opportunities, and challenges. 

The story opens with this changed life as Swift contemplates the location of The Shepherd of the Stars, a book of sea shanties and power that has been hidden by his brother. 

Swift needs "warmth and quiet" to stay well. But, just as essential for healing is the sense of purpose and excitement that this book offers. The effort to find it carries him into realms where he is newly empowered and must make decisions that hold wide-ranging impacts on his future. 

At odds with his brother over this mysterious book's meaning, Swift makes choices based as much on its possibilities for redemption as the reality of its impact: "What insights might it keep that could help him understand the Star of Atlantis, and his place in its mystery?" The book's secrets may be the only path back to Swift's ultimate goal of building a future in medicine. 

Tricia D. Wagner creates a fine young adult read that builds on her Star of Atlantis story, yet will prove accessible to newcomers, as well. 

The book's secrets offer numerous puzzles as Swift probes its impossibilities: "Mendeleev created his tables in the late 1800s; tables that included gaps that anticipated new elements, then still undiscovered. And yet in The Shepherd of the Stars, those elements were included—the noble gasses, argon, helium, and others. “How could this be?”
Octavian had concluded by surveying the ink and paper that the Star of Atlantis was older than the late 1800’s."
 

With its juxtaposition of supernatural intrigue, mystery, and personal evolution, The Shepherd of the Stars represents a heavy draw for young adults who look for all these elements in their stories. 

Swift's discovery of a legacy that can empower him to reach for newly impossible dreams creates a dialogue that is compelling, rich in friendship and family probes and revised destinies that all receive warm and detailed inspection. 

Libraries that choose this story for its powerful adventure components will find so much more in a tale that spins off additional insights into friendships, trust, healing, and self-empowerment: "How wondrously Cynfael and Chance spoke of destiny, how closely they appeared to know Swift by what they claimed to have foreseen. They were all at once the most profound enigma Swift had ever encountered, and the closest and most trusted friends he could imagine. Why their paths had interconnected with Swift’s and what destiny awaited them all—these questions, he was anxious to explore." 

The Shepherd of the Stars

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Unknown Waters
Cynthia Bordelon
Independently Published
978-0-578-28972-4         $7.99 Paper; $3.99 ebook
Website:  www.cynthiabordelon.com
Ordering:
https://amzn.to/3f1OjJp 

Unknown Waters: Sara Full of Wonder gives young readers ages 7-9 a compelling adventure that follows Sara and her family on a vacation on the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean Sea. The children have never seen the ocean, so this represents a special thrill and a venture into the unknown. 

Appealing black and white illustrations by Mariya Prytula accompany a compelling profile of a special place which is "better than TV," populated by wondrous creatures. 

Sara suffers from anxiety and harbors an inherent fear of many things—including the water. So, a beach vacation isn't exactly her idea of a good time. Not if she has to venture beyond the beach and into unknown (and likely dangerous) waters. 

Sara realizes that the fish surrounding her are "poetry in motion," and as she tackles both an environmental education and the challenges it introduces to her perspective and choices, young readers receive a story that ideally will not just earn a place on library shelves, but will become the subject of peer and interactive discussions with adults, too. 

A glossary of terms, coloring pages at the back of the book, and the message of Sara's growing interest in ocean issues and ecology creates a vibrant story juxtaposing wonder with life lessons. 

"If you look at life as an adventure you are open to new things. Sometimes doing something hard can be so wonderful. We just have to take the first step and see where it takes us.”

Sara is taking these first steps in Unknown Waters bringing elementary-grade readers along for a journey which embraces growth and environmental awareness.

Unknown Waters

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Why Can't Dating Be Like Pizza?
Andy V. Roamer
NineStar Press
978-1-64890-490-5         $14.99 Paper/$4.99 ebook
www.ninestarpress.com 

Why Can't Dating Be Like Pizza? presents the fifth book in the Pizza Chronicles series for teens and young adults, profiling the next series of conundrums in young LGBTQ RV's life as he navigates his sexuality, coming-of-age dilemmas, and the looming challenges of college and the future. 

RV's wise high school counselor pushes him to assure his future success: “Colleges want the total person, RV. The total person. Someone who’s not only smart but is industrious, has community spirit, thinks outside the box, steps up to the plate, works well with others, shows he can lead others when necessary, and is willing to help out and solve problems instead of just complaining about them. Are you that person, RV? Are you?” 

In order to achieve his goals, however, RV will have to do something he's never wanted to do before: stand out. But, does this effort mean compromising who he is, or augmenting it to make himself more attractive to others? 

Why Can't Dating Be Like Pizza? examines a high school junior's expanding trajectory in not only his college aspirations, but his personal life and his identity as a gay young man. 

The story opens with the pressure this period of time introduces into his life, carrying that theme through the experiences that shape his desires and future course. But RV isn't the only one experiencing pressure in this story. 

His friends, too, feel the impact of changes that portend drastically altered futures: “It’s horrible,” Mark went on. “It’s like it’s up to me to hold everything together. But I’m not doing a good job of it. Sometimes I want to leave and never see my family again either. And I hate my brother for causing all this. Isn’t that terrible?” 

Andy V. Roamer provides a powerful series of insights as RV struggles with his choices and the forces affecting his loves, friendships, and future. 

The first-person experiences are compellingly realistic, while the influence of mentors, friends, and family coalesce to create a story that evolves different insights from daily events: “Did you want the movie to turn out differently?”
“I never thought about it.”
“Yeah, that’s what makes it good. When we don’t know how it will turn out.”
 

Like its predecessors, Why Can't Dating Be Like Pizza? Focuses on a series of conundrums facing a young man who is on the cusp of adulthood and discovering what his future will bring. 

RV's ability to come full circle to see what is good about life's changes and the pressures surrounding decisions makes for a thoroughly engrossing read that is recommended for libraries strong in both coming-of-age and LGBTQ+ romance stories of love and change. 

Why Can't Dating Be Like Pizza?

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Yves, or the Man Who Wasn’t
L.N. Mayer
Oslo & Bangs Publishing
978-2-9569463-4-2         $11.99 Paper/$2.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Yves-Man-Wasnt-Tell-Trilogy/dp/295694634X 

"The only constant is change and the only thing that changes is how much you hate something." 

Yves, or the Man Who Wasn’t presents young adults with Book 2 of The Tell Trilogy, following the coming-of-age of a young man who becomes involved in forces beyond his youth or control. 

The reasons for people coming together over something they hate forms the foundation of examination in a story which maintains that "struggle is a fool's chore," supporting that introduction with the further adventures of William Teller, whose legend involves a propensity for getting into trouble. 

Tell is an outcast who just won't go away. And that's part of the problem. 

L.N. Mayer crafts a follow-up story best appreciated by prior fans of Tell, or the Adventures in Themiddle. This audience will fall easily into the atmosphere and story which takes place almost a hundred years from "right now." 

Tell thinks he knows his place in Themiddle, but his power sets him apart in a way no other resident has ever experienced. As he receives lessons on his abilities, how tyrants are formed and come to power, and the power of imagination, he better grows to understand his choices. 

Young adults who choose this adventure expecting a fantasy or action story alone will find much philosophical reflection underlying the vivid scenes of Tell's evolution and blossoming abilities. 

They will be prompted to think deeper and harder about finding one's place in the world and affecting its changes and judgments, and will also discover much fodder for discussion that will lend to young adult book club reader engagements on a variety of growth-inducing topics. 

The result is a study in belief and self-empowerment that blends fantasy and adventure with an overlay of personal involvement and discovery. This will attract libraries catering to young adults that look for exceptional stories of magic and social and psychological insights.

Yves, or the Man Who Wasn’t

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