February 2025 Review Issue
Literature
Mystery & Thrillers
Of Ash and Salt
Daniel G.M. McGee
Ruby Cave Publishing
978-1-7638001-0-6
$14.99
https://danielgmmcgee.com/
Of Ash and Salt, the first book in the Emorean Prophecy sword-and-sorcery fantasy series, combines a coming-of-age saga with an epic battle. This is set in a time when those with magical abilities are torn from their homes by the repressive Cernite Order.
Young orphan girl Eila dreams of joining the rebellion movement lest her gifted friend Tondor vanish from her life, grabbed by the Order’s Blackcoats. Meanwhile, Aiden’s father grapples with a dark spirit that seems to portend the end of all life—if the prophecy is correct. Aiden doesn’t care about this outcome. He just wants to save his father.
It turns out that Eila’s friend isn’t the only one with enviable gifts. Eila harbors an ability that connects her to other creatures:
A squeak interrupted her search. Mouse was back. The grey ball of fur came climbing up the wall, wiggling his tail to provide just the right balance, and continued up Eila’s leg to her knee. He stopped and flared his nostrils, long whiskers moving in rhythm. Nothing to eat in here, Eila. Just dust and dirt everywhere.
Each character cultivates friendships that lead to lessons and improvements in their various abilities as battle looms. Overshadowed by the predicted apocalyptic event, Eila and Aiden hone skills and relationships as they confront their destinies and the possibility of benefiting from combined abilities.
Mouse accompanies Eila and sniffs out trouble in the form of housekeeper Vilita, whose mercurial efforts portend adversity from unexpected quarters. Eila’s increasing distance from Tondor, despite her efforts to save him, also enter into the fray to present bigger-picture thinking about the nature of friendships set side for larger pursuits:
As she stood there, frustration and fear set in, her thoughts turning to Tondor. How much time had passed since she’d last seen him? Had the Blackcoats turned him against her? Was he still the friend she remembered, or had he become something else, something unreachable? The possibility of being too late to rescue him filled her with dread.
An invitation to set something free introduces further dilemmas as Eila and Aiden reap the consequences of their choices, delving into the uncharted territory of commitments, loyalty, questions of good versus evil, and impossible bids for freedom. These challenges involve accepting the help of the Darsaad blade, which masks its true intentions.
Tension is nicely developed as the two disparate characters come to terms with their life connections, evolving missions, and revised perceptions of the world around them and their places in it.
Mystery, intrigue, prophecy and magic entwine and are deeply woven into the coming-of-age component in Of Ash and Salt. This creates a realistic scenario in which the characters are compelled to discover and learn how to employ their hidden powers and new connections during the course of their journey.
There’s no hiding from this cataclysm.
The realization propels both players into new directions in a vivid series of growth-inducing encounters that proves hard to put down, whether the reader is a teen or an adult. Both audiences will thoroughly enjoy the quandaries that grapple the land and its inhabitants.
Libraries seeking series titles that open especially compellingly and strongly, taking the time to build characters against a realistic backdrop of social and political turmoil, will find Of Ash and Salt an excellent collection addition that’s highly recommended for fantasy and thriller audiences alike.
Of Ash and SaltReturn to Index
The
Quasi-Crystal
J.D. Rasch
Lamina Press
978-1-962247-02-3 $17.99
Paperback/$.99 eBook
www.JDRasch.com
The Quasi-Crystal, the third book in The Wanderer series, pairs gem cutter Theb’s discovery with the new and as-yet unsettled atmosphere of peace that has descended on Bracat since the Moment allowed everyone’s minds to connect with one another.
Theb’s strange crystal leads to equally odd dreams about a woman (Ran-Dhal) calling for help on an unknown, mist-shrouded island. It turns out that he’s not the only one receiving this plea, and so he joins forces with an unlikely trio of former ne’er-do-wells to embark on the journey of a lifetime.
J.D. Rasch delivers all the usual trappings of a superior fantasy—magic, mayhem, a quest, and a question—but couches these themes in bigger-picture thinking about enlightenment, connection, and life purpose.
This gives readers an opportunity to better appreciate Theb’s dilemmas, which evolve in the course of making difficult decisions not just to rescue, but transform others.
“This is where the wizards have gone wrong. They seek the Tree without seeking understanding.”
Roots of enlightenment evolve during an eventful sojourn that draws four disparate characters together in the journey of a lifetime. These events hold meaning for modern times, too—but perhaps this isn’t an intentional move by Rasch, because many of the wise inspections could apply to any moment in time:
“Their message is of understanding, of compassion. What is not fundamental about that?” Tiox said.
Lefi replied, “You are correct, Tiox. What they preach is fundamental. But the problem is that they preach.”
Telepathy holds its pros and cons. While peace is the first major benefit, the Moment also poses dilemmas that the wanderers and the people of Bracat have yet to realize and confront.
Rasch weaves all these elements of personal, political, and social discovery into an action-packed series of encounters designed to keep readers engaged and thinking. This flavors The Quasi-Crystal with a satisfying depth, containing the ability to appeal both to leisure readers of magic and adventure and those who look for deeper underlying themes for thought-provoking reading.
Another plus is that while prior familiarity with the series is recommended, it’s not an absolute requirement for newcomers who stumble into The Quasi-Crystal without prior series knowledge.
Libraries that choose The Quasi-Crystal for its powerful blend of contemplative transformations and action-driven scenarios will find it a worthy fantasy collection addition, indeed. It’s vibrant, fast-paced, and driven by memorable characters and circumstances that are often satisfyingly unpredictable.
The Quasi-CrystalReturn to Index
Harmony
River
Stephen
Jaech
Pleasure
Boat Studio
979-8-9903358-1-3
$18.00
https://pleasureboatstudio.com/
Harmony River is a poetry collection gleaned from the culture and wilderness of the Pacific Northwest and its major poetic influencers. Stephen Jaech’s efforts are steeped in the literary traditions of such names as Theodore Roethke and Pablo Neruda.
These roots come to light through poetry that vividly embraces nature and philosophical reflection while paying subtle tribute to these literary predecessors. One example lies in the poem opening the collection, “Enduring Grace”:
Before
words
appeared on vellum,
before
moonlight
shone on river
ripples,
before
hoofprints
tamped tracks on
mudflats where deltas
adjoined
seas,
even before chants
rose
from clans
squatting
near
driftwood
bonfires,
it
lay dormant
like bone marrow stem
…
The free verse creates intricate connections between nature and human affairs in a manner that will simply delight creative writing teachers, fellow poets, and literature students seeking contemporary poetry collections that represent the intersection of natural history and human affairs.
Jaech is especially adept at capturing moments in time and experience, as in “Deep Darkness Grows Darker”:
End
of a rural
road, close to an
abandoned
cowshed,
I duck
through a gap in
barbed
wire
and walk
across windswept
fields.
On
grazing land,
miles from city
lights
and
ballparks,
beyond up-lit
billboards,
I
merge with a
pasture and a sweep
of sky.
These “you are here” creations are powerful observations which also juxtapose human and natural abodes in an intriguing style, as in “Other Side of the Door,” where:
This
atrium
swallows sound.
Scuffed
by
generations of foot-
steps,
the oak
flooring reflects
a
tinge of pewter
light winnowing
through
a frosted
glass transom,
crescent
moon,
above an ironwood
door.
What’s
on the
other side?
Readers and libraries seeking infusions of nature, human affairs, and the connections that lie between them, whether physical or emotional, will relish the opportunity to appreciate Harmony River.
Steeped in literary tradition, influenced by other major poets, and delivered in an accessible free verse style designed to appeal to a wide audience, Harmony River stands head and shoulders above many other contemporary poetry collections with its special brand of nature-infused, thought-provoking inspections.
Harmony RiverReturn to Index
Letter
to a
Dandelion
Jeffry
Glover
Poems
for Pleasure Press LLC
9781948854085
$14.99
www.JeffryGlover.com
Letter to a Dandelion: Earth Verse for Gardeners & Nature Lovers is a poetry collection rich in descriptive, appreciative celebrations of the outdoors. This will especially please readers who hold deep connections to gardens and writings that celebrate them.
A winning cover illustration by Mary Bausman provides the initial draw to a collection replete with as much whimsy and delight as Glover’s previous The Wildebeest and a Bunch of Crock and Other Animal Story Poems.
The seasonal arrangement opens with spring blossoms and celebrations as winter recedes and flowers and creatures of the outdoors emerge to celebrate the sun.
This collection isn’t intended to be philosophical and heavy reading, as are too many nature reflections. Its light-hearted approach to gardens imparts a personal touch that is inviting and warm. One example lies in the introductory poem ‘Welcome to Our Yard and Garden’:
Read
with pleasure
At
your leisure
About
our yard and
Lovely
garden
Through
each season
Warm
to freezin’…
The wildlife that visits this garden also receives wonderful explorations, as in ‘Renditions of the Wren’:
Renditions
of the
wren
Add
music to my
day,
And
this has
always been
A
special joy, a
way
To
give my life a
lift,
A
measure of
delight.
Given its underlying messages of happiness and warmth, readers could not opt for a better collection of verse to combat the cold of winter months and turbulent times. Another big plus is that Glover employs rhymes rather than free verse. These are astutely and finely rendered to demonstrate literary prowess as well as reflecting a personal celebratory touch.
Libraries seeking contemporary nature-oriented poetry that demonstrates a seasoned and effective hand to employing verse will especially welcome the opportunity to add Letter to a Dandelion to their collections. It promises to attract a wide range of poetry readers and others, from fans of modern verse and nature to gardeners who will find its lilting, celebratory descriptions a perfect key for enjoying and celebrating both the outdoors and literary talent.
Letter to a DandelionReturn to Index
Periscope
City
Ben
Talbot
Current
Words
978-1-957224-43-5
www.currentwords.com
Periscope City: Where the Lonely Go to Live Alone is a series of interconnected short stories that revolve around themes of connections lost and found. Thought-provoking black and white photos pepper this haunting collection of tales. They are each designed to both stand alone and join together growing pieces of the interlocked puzzle of individual psyche and society.
The collection opens with the title story ‘Periscope City.’ Thirty-four-year-old loner Joe sees a sign describing Periscope City, is intrigued by its subtitle and invitation, and finds himself in the Cramden Hotel, which has been designed for maximum isolation and minimum human contact.
One thing about the lonely is that they can be both satisfied with their chosen state, yet tired of isolation. First-person narrator Joe thus accepts the possibilities of a dating app for loners, meets alluring fellow recluse Raylene, and finds his growing connection to her in direct conflict to his stated mandate in life: to avoid people and revel in his aloneness:
Stalking was the opposite of my worries. It was someone actually following me and desiring me that I wanted, but I also wanted my space. I didn’t know what I wanted. Let’s put it that way.
When Raylene vanishes, his obsession over her grows.
Ben Talbot excels at depicting a world both alien and familiar at the same time, employing descriptive insights that are refreshingly novel and captivatingly thought-provoking:
… the Lone Dragon allowed only one person at a time.
I waited outside in the cold for the single customer to come out of the restaurant so that I could go in. One robot, as the restaurant staff, would bring out trays for the all-one-person-can-eat buffet and seemed to know how much I could eat.
I cracked open a fortune cookie: You shall be alone forever. It didn’t comfort me, so I cracked another one and another one. Each fortune was about loneliness. The robot kept bringing them, and I kept cracking them for something to show Raylene, if we were ever to meet again. All of the fortunes were too negative. The sliced oranges they came with had piled up to an awkward extent. I crammed the slices of orange on top of my leftover fried rice as best as I could and stuffed the last one in my mouth like a plastic smile.
Coming off of ‘Periscope City,’ the stage is set for further explorations of loneliness, aloneness, and situations that challenge both as different characters emerge, sporting their unique backgrounds that intersect isolation and connection. ‘A Word from My Sponsor’ creates a different situation, for example, in which Ian, raised outside of Periscope City “before it became a thing,” struggles with AA, a new sponsor, and the odd lure of Periscope City:
I passed a movie theater, where an animatronic doll in a tuxedo watched me from a box office. Creepy. How could I ever adapt to a town that looked like an amusement park for loners?
Each short story features a different perspective on Periscope City’s concept and incarnation. Each adds further depth and revelation to situations where many of the characters begin question their sanity.
Talbot’s compilation blends elements of speculative fiction with psychological examination and reflections on oddballs who navigate their lives in unusual ways. This approach will prompt rich book club discussions about all kinds of subjects, sparking intense satisfaction in thinking readers who will relish the juxtaposition of fiction and philosophical life inspections.
Libraries that choose Periscope City: Where the Lonely Go to Live Alone for their collections will find it especially highly recommendable to book clubs seeking short stories that are accessible, connected by Periscope City, and filled with lively inspections that will provoke many a discussion.
Periscope City’s vibrant, lively “aha” moments are novel and delightful attractions that make this book stand out from the crowd.
Periscope CityReturn to Index
Facing
Inward, A
Memoir of
Celebrity, Sexuality and Chronic Disease
Melissa
Carter
Whanging
Dude Publishing
979–8-9894078–0-4
$19.95
Paperback
whangingdude.com
Facing Inward, A Memoir of Celebrity, Sexuality and Chronic Disease is a chronicle of two concurrent struggles: one about achieving lofty life goals; the other on battling ongoing chronic kidney disease. Melissa Carter’s discussions of her struggles and achievements create a life-infused jolt of experiences that don’t just center on her illness, but on the health of making and setting goals and growing into life. In this effort, she shines.
From coming out as a lesbian to becoming a successful media personality and embarking on a lifelong journey to understand why her body reacts so differently than others, Carter embeds her story with personal observation, background, and details of growth that will both entertain and enlighten her readers.
The story opens like a play, exploring a vivid hospital scene and presenting names and medical personnel in upper case to reinforce the shifting participants in a dramatic portrait of Carter’s birth. Actually, it’s an imagined drama, because Carter shortly confesses that this event held medical challenges, but wasn’t quite as edgy as the opening description suggests. As background life notes evolve, it becomes apparent that “tall tales” run in the family … and thankfully, for the reader’s entertainment.
With this vivid setting in place, Carter’s off into what promises to be a captivating, vivid exploration of life that begins with birth and moves into related growth and drama.
Everyone around her teaches her something about life. Her chance meeting with celebrity David Byrne, for example, holds a lesson that will be central as she hones her career:
It was my first real lesson in being humble as a celebrity, and I found his behavior incredibly charming.
As important these career- and life-building observations are, injections of reality about death and illness are equally compelling draws:
I didn’t want the Grim Reaper hanging around the neighborhood for any extended period of time. However, illness requires patience and a whole lot of mental strength, so I knew I would just have to find a way to endure.
Readers facing their own struggles with chronic kidney disease and transplant will find plenty of examples and insights in Carter’s memoir about survival and proactive thinking. However, to view her story as a health foray alone would be to do Facing Inward an injustice. As much as Carter confronts many possibilities of death, she gives equal attention to life-affirming choices and options which build both career and growth. As she finds joy in life and in her embrace of her oddities and strengths, Carter’s memoir serves as a blueprint to readers for developing self-understanding and acceptance.
Libraries that choose Facing Inward for its insights on chronic health challenges will find it highly recommendable to readers interested in the (ultimately uplifting) personal journeys of women who have gone the mile in growing into new personalities and objectives.
For these reasons, book clubs and women’s reading groups, too, will find Facing Inward delightfully enlightening and worthy of assignment and discussion:
Instead of asking why me, now you have to say, what’s next?
Facing Inward, A Memoir of Celebrity, Sexuality and Chronic DiseaseReturn to Index
I Will
Be the
Woman He Loved
Tania
Romanov with Matthew
Félix
Solificatio
979-8-9858781-5-8
$16.99
Paperback/$9.99 eBook
Website:
https://www.taniaromanov.com/the-woman-he-loved<
Ordering:
https://a.co/d/fzUEQiE
I Will Be the Woman He Loved: Learning to Live Again on the Thames Path is both a memoir steeped in grief and loss and a travelogue charting Tania Romanov’s transition from a notable career to navigating uncharted waters.
Throughout this memoir, the spirit of a woman in a powerful partnership who made a mark on the tech world, proving to be a strong force in a male-dominated industry, then honing a relationship with a life partner who was her soulmate, shines as a force of inspiration for all who choose this book.
More so than most memoirs about loss and growth, I Will Be the Woman He Loved delivers an important message not just about grief, but about stepping into renewed opportunities for growth and change.
Her partner’s untimely death promoted Tania Romanov to undertake a physical and mental journey of transformation. Her experiences emerge as insights for others newly on this path, providing signposts to recovery, healing, discovery, and, ultimately, new directions:
I wasn't dwelling on the injustice of it all, looking for reasons, asking why me. I was simply feeling the hollow ache of an absence, the loss of something very deep and important that, from one moment to the next, was no longer there. I felt a relentless disquiet throughout my body, an agonizing yearning in my heart, a hole ripped open inside me. Until it was filled, I wouldn't be myself.
What differentiates Romanov’s story from others in the grief and loss genre is a powerful countenance which emerges from the start. She embraces the women she meets with thought-provoking contrasts between how they act in her presence when traveling the trail and how they present in group situations. One example is Linda, whose personality changes in the presence of others, moving from possibly boring to exuberant.
From potential physical and mental dangers faced along the way to insights about the special form of growth that evolves from journey into cultures that operate far from one’s familiar norm, readers step onto the Thames Path and walk alongside the author. I Will Be the Woman He Loved is a very highly recommended read that will prove especially enlightening for already-powerful women facing the rest of their lives after a major change.
Libraries seeking memoirs that function both as descriptions of recovery and movements through grief and loss, and as a travelogue of emotional and physical revelations, will find I Will Be the Woman He Loved the perfect collection addition. It delves deeper than most books about loss, covers more ground than travelogues by connecting disparate personalities and perspectives, and delivers an emotional one-two punch of discovery that should ideally be read slowly for high-impact results.
Book clubs and women’s memoir reading groups will find plenty of food for thought and discussion in Romanov’s hard-hitting journey.
I Will Be the Woman He LovedReturn to Index
Lost in
the
Reflecting Pool
Diane
Pomerantz, Ph.D.
Muse
Literary
978-1-960876-74-4
$30.99
Hardcover/$20.99
Paperback/$5.99
ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Reflecting-Pool-Surviving-Narcissistic/dp/1960876740
Lost in the Reflecting Pool: Surviving Narcissistic Emotional Abuse is psychologist Diane Pomerantz’s memoir about her own mental challenges and survival process. It provides readers with a multifaceted blend of professional insights and personal experience.
This adds strength and revelation to a story that charts the specific approaches and impact of the narcissistic personality and the costs of becoming involved with one. The result is a much more insightful analysis than the usual memoir about emotionally abusive, toxic relationships.
Dr. Diane Pomerantz opens with a review of the purpose and approach of her memoir, presenting her desire that it will bridge the gap between psychological analysis and daily experience for others on the same path:
Writing my memoir allowed me to process and reevaluate my memories, thereby changing my perception of my internal reality. That broader understanding allowed me to move on. I hope that sharing my story and understanding of what it means, allows others to find a new way to rewrite or restructure their own life narrative.
Specific examples of the drama of decompensating narcissists, the differences between quirks and dysfunctional personality traits, the impact of the author’s illness on children and partner, how dysfunction adds to hardship and challenge, and the effort to rise above family connections and complexities to realize truths that can lead to escape will help readers navigate their own lives:
I also now knew what I hadn’t been able to admit before: that my emotional and physical chains had been strangling me for many years before that. I just hadn’t been able to acknowledge what I saw or what I felt was happening. I hadn’t been able to accept that my very early misgivings had become the horrors of my existence.
All these elements are why libraries seeking memoirs that can serve as beacons of support and hope will want to place Lost in the Reflecting Pool at the top of their acquisition lists. The book’s ability to outlines specific circumstances that indicate deeper problems will enable readers in similar situations to better understand their reactions, choices, and options.
Lost in the Reflecting PoolReturn to Index
Lucked
Out
Pat
Moffett
Garrison-Savanna
Publishing
LLC
978-0-9742278-3-2
$15.95
Paperback/$9.95 eBook
www.amazon.com
Lucked Out is a memoir about Vietnam service, but comes with a twist that sets it apart from most accounts of this tour of duty. Pat Moffett preserved his sense of humor and his ability to capture ironic situations in what constitutes a romp through foreign territory and American special interests in Vietnam. As such, readers who anticipate the usual account of trauma and culture shock should add ‘wartime capers’ into the mix as Moffett becomes involved in black market currency schemes, goes above and beyond the demands of duty and obeying a superior by becoming embroiled in secret personal missions, hijacks a helicopter on a pizza run, and more.
This isn’t to say that Lucked Out is just a laugh a minute (though it does impart that flavor at many points of comic relief). It’s also a serious story of survival that takes place on moral and ethical levels as unfolding circumstances test Moffett’s mettle and convictions.
All this is narrated in a tone devoted to bringing a “you are here” feel to readers that embraces some of the multifaceted requirements of serving in Vietnam (if you’re Moffett, that is).
His proclivity for unusual situations and circumstances shines through descriptions that are thoroughly involving. Even chapter headings prove unexpected, as in ‘Saigon Pizza to Go,’ which explains:
“I’ve heard that there’s this little pizzeria just outside Tan Son Nhut Air Base in Saigon. It’s supposed to have the best pizzas in the Orient, almost as good as the ones Stateside.”
“It seems that the Air Force wants to keep it all to themselves.” Herb’s face changed; one would believe it was the most tragic event that had ever happened. “They’ve restricted the base from Army personnel. We’re not allowed to travel there by truck.”
Then he smiled wickedly. “They wouldn’t say no to a fellow pilot, though. Maybe you could just hop down there with a Huey and pick up five pizzas for all of us?”
It’s a pizza run attached to a pilot’s prank, as Moffett discovers on the ride of his life.
The narrative also drives home the point that all soldier desires and experiences in Vietnam were not the same:
Some of the guys who were sent to the war in Vietnam wanted to be on the front, where the action was. I was perfectly happy where I was; despite the regular salvos aimed vaguely in our direction by the VC, it was relatively safe—certainly far safer than trudging through the virtually impenetrable jungle just waiting to trip a booby trap or for Charlie to take a potshot at you. Many of us administrative grunts and other personnel were just as happy to fulfill our duties well back from the actual fighting. However, the Viet Cong didn’t fight on straight battle lines; there really was no front. Vietnam is a small country. It was impossible to be there and be totally risk-free.
The theme of lucky escapes, encounters, or even love runs through Moffett’s story with a stream of positivity and encouragement.
Moffett’s tour of duty embraces all kinds of encounters and experiences that move beyond the battlefield and into the psyches, survival tactics, and camaraderie of the American soldier. This gives his memoir more depth and attraction than many more singular accounts of Vietnam, making it a highly recommended pick even for libraries that already sport a healthy collection of Vietnam memoirs.
Book clubs interested in exploring the diversity of the Vietnam soldier’s experiences will want to place Lucked Out at the top of their reading lists. Its ability to bring to life the daily experiences of soldiers on their leisure time as well as in battle gives a different view of the war than most battle-oriented memoirs achieve:
Gripping the arms of my seat, I looked down through my window and caught a glimpse of the hooch where I had once lived; it filled me with a peculiar sense of nostalgia and—dare I say it?—homesickness. That feeling soon passed, though, overshadowed by my silent hope that Charlie wouldn’t launch a rocket at us as we vacated the country. Maybe that fear was irrational, but the feeling of imminent enemy fire isn’t one that simply disappears the moment you’re airborne and going home.
Lucked OutReturn to Index
Shadows
of Sobriety
Keith
Burton
Grayson
Emmett Press
979-8-9918502-0-9
$17.95
Print/$7.99
eBook
www.shadowsofsobriety.com
Shadows of Sobriety: A Journey of Self-Discovery and Healing a Family Legacy is a deeply moving memoir about Keith Burton's journey of recovery from family trauma.
Burton's childhood haunted him until he found the courage and faith to confront his family's attitudes, legacies, and secrets. All these elements coalesced to lead him into uncharted waters of self-discovery.
Readers who have grown up in dysfunctional families will find much to learn from Burton’s journey. The therapist who helped Burton navigate these uncertain grounds introduces his client’s story with a candid review of the “emotional surgery” involved in facing the truth about his family driven by his desire for growth and change.
While
many of the details
which Burton
examines are common to other memoirs about sobriety and healing, what
sets Shadows of Sobriety apart is its attention to
helping
others better understand the roots of addiction and generational
trauma that keep many families trapped in destructive behaviors and
relationships.
Especially
poignant and
thought-provoking are passages that get at the heart of how this
dysfunction began and grew to impact both child and adult:
…she
made sure I
was always sent
off to baseball, basketball, track, and football practices, yet she
and Dad never attended any of my games or meets. It was more than
disheartening; it felt as if they were merely ticking off boxes,
fulfilling obligations without genuine involvement. I was present,
doing as expected and desired on my part, but the absence of those
who should have been my biggest supporters left a more profound
imprint than any religious sermon or athletic triumph ever could.
Their neglect marked me deeper than the cheers of any crowd, echoing
the silence of empty bleachers at every game. Her need to control
infiltrated every aspect of my life, from my friendships to my
academic endeavors.
Also of
notable interest is
Burton’s
observation of siblings who grew up under the same cloak of family
dysfunction, and the different impact it had on them, too:
Her
journey was
perhaps the most
complex for me to understand. As her older brother, I saw her through
the eyes of a protector, yet I often felt helpless in shielding her
from the pain that shaped her life. My reflections on her life are
deeply personal, rooted in the love and frustration I felt as I
watched her navigate her own path. Despite the traumatic experiences
and the co-dependency that ensnared her, Charlotte managed to find a
sense of independence later in life. Her journey reflects the
resilience and determination to overcome her past, often seen in
children of alcoholics who excel in their professional lives but
struggle privately.
This
candid memoir
encourages readers
to examine their lives and family influences so they can chart a new
course for themselves.
Libraries
that choose Shadows
of
Sobriety for the memoir’s promise of deeply analyzing the
roots
of dysfunction, addition, and psychological struggle will find it
easy to recommend to patrons seeking hard-hitting stories. It offers
a wide range of topics for book clubs to discuss, from surviving
childhood trauma to strategies for healing emotional wounds.
Return to Index
Bloody Mary,
Bloody Murder
Tanya Westlake
Impractical Press
979-8985642544 $12.99
Paperback/.99
eBook
https://www.amazon.com/Bloody-Murder-Kalliope-Brooks-Mysteries/dp/B0BP43GPZJ?_encoding=UTF8&sr=8-1
Bloody Mary, Bloody Murder follows Florida bartender Kalliope Brooks into a situation where she is forced to confront not just murder, but her own obsession with the victim and a pursuit of justice which threatens to endanger her own life.
Spring Break isn’t just about teens celebrating. It also can be about introducing forces into the small town of Owhiro which will change its makeup forever.
When Kallie finds a body in her car, a personal drive for solving the case immediately emerges.
One strength to Tanya Westlake’s story-telling prowess lies in the details. Kallie’s discovery is imparted via a “you are here” feel that anyone who has felt nervous about their parked car’s back seat in a dark parking lot will readily relate to:
There it was. Something on the back seat, on the passenger side. Had she left a water bottle or something back there? It was too dark to see. Anyway, she could check when she got home. She started to pull out of the parking space again, but something stopped her. Feeling foolish, and yet trusting both her well-engrained instincts and the chill running up her back, she turned off the car and got out.
Moment-by-moment descriptors lend to a thoroughly absorbing atmosphere from the start as Kallie moves from the shock of finding a dead woman in her car to exploring the possibilities surrounding this woman’s demise.
Westlake excels in juxtaposing cozy small-town atmosphere with a murder that threatens its closeness and residents as Kallie approaches the investigation with the determination of a pit bull.
Joined by her best friend Tess Russo and her father (both of whom wish she would step aside and let authorities do their job), Kallie draws closer to a dangerous truth that will change them all.
Westlake also injects a dash of wry humor into her descriptions of townspeople and their interactions. This enhances the cozy feel of the story as Kallie investigates:
She was walking back to the house when a small, round woman with coke-bottle glasses and electric salmon-orange hair accosted her.
“Kalliope dear!” she shrieked, as Kallie backpedaled away from her.
“Mrs. Jones! Where did you come from?!”
“I was hiding in— I mean, I was just walking past the hedges. I’m very petite, you know. You must’ve missed me.”
Mrs. Jones might have been short, but she wasn’t petite. Kallie somehow resisted the urge to tell her that.
“I brought a lemon meringue pie for your father, dear. I’ll just take it inside to him. It needs to pop back in the fridge, you know.” The little fireplug tried to elbow her way past Kallie, but she didn’t make it to the stairs.
These elements of strong characters and light moments between them both enhance the underlying tension and reveal more small-town connections as Kallie pursues answers, maintains her bartender job, and interacts with newcomers to town with a trademark humor exhibited earlier in the story:
"We have four seasons here too," Kallie replied with a smile, setting down a plate of veggie nachos for them. "Pollen, heat wave, hurricane, and alligator."
Readers looking for more than a light dose of humor in their cozy mysteries will find Kallie’s discoveries and connections the perfect choice for a fireside read (or, in summer, a beach read).
Exquisite, likeable characters, realistic dilemmas, nicely done simmering tension, and new discoveries mark this amateur sleuth’s foray into a puzzle that defines the attraction and very nature of a cozy mystery.
Libraries seeking to enhance their collections with superior genre reads that rest firmly on a sense of place (small-town Florida, in this case) will find Bloody Mary, Bloody Murder a compelling winner and a standout in the cozy mystery field.
Bloody Mary, Bloody MurderReturn to Index
Cold
Warrior
Robert
Tucker
Wise
Words
Publishing/Tell-Tale
Publishing LLC
978-1-952020-31-5
$4.95
eBook/$34.00 Paperback
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DR6LGQH5
Cold Warrior’s engrossing story of political intrigue opens in 1957, where Soviet moles Vasily Kerenski and his wife Nadia are assigned to move to America and have children born there so they will be American citizens. Directed to become citizens themselves and assimilate into American society (but they are to teach their children English and Russian) the implants employed by the KGB don’t know the end result of their mission—just that their lives depend upon following orders and keeping their Russian involvements secret. So far, the move from Russia to Canada and then the U.S. has been good for them. There’s no reason to believe these plans will result in diminished lives.
Robert Tucker weaves real history and political perspectives into his story that add value for their insights and facts about the times:
Since Nikita Khrushchev had become Premier, Soviet life had changed. He had brought reconciliation and healing to the people oppressed by Stalin, released those imprisoned during the Great Purges and restored them to a liberalized society that encouraged and supported freedom of expression in the arts and literature, music and poetry, and in clothing fashions.
This background gives readers basic knowledge that supports the unfolding events and confrontations, making the choices faced by the characters both logical and understandable.
As trade embargos, company subsidies and involvements, and clandestine field agents on both sides emerge and clash, readers are treated to a thoroughly engrossing cat-and-mouse game of politics and special interests which brings the story alive and makes for riveting reading.
Another plus is how Tucker builds characters with disparate interests and abilities, contrasting their strengths against the bigger picture of global interactions and subterfuge. Many of those assigned to solve problems are actually contributing to them, such as field agent Roger Laekin:
Although Roger Lakein’s assignment was to solve the mystery, his own personal secret agenda was to distort the situation and the information coming from South American countries and discover that nothing was out of the ordinary.
Many characters come with surprising backgrounds, such as movie director Michael Sloan, who becomes involved with Kasia, Vasily and Nadia’s daughter. Her advocacy for solar and wind-powered energy over nuclear choices leads her to become a speaker against unregulated multinational corporations. This places them both in the crosshairs of danger and change as she pursues political activism in addition to being an actress.
Tucker doesn’t ignore social undercurrents, but explores them in a manner that adds further insights and believability to the story:
Everything she did to convince the public she was ordinary only served to convince them she was anything but ordinary. They did not want her to be ordinary. She was a movie actress, a goddess symbol, and only became more so despite what she said to deny that perception.
A myriad of subplots involving others evolves against the backdrop of political and social special interests that successfully reflect the complexity and entwining of global influences in America.
Tucker creates a story that is vivid, accepts and presents facts about the times, and weaves action based on revelation and encounters such as kidnapping to spin a fine thriller that is satisfyingly unpredictable.
Libraries seeking stories of different forms of battle and connections that sport a thriller countenance but embed it with historical observations will welcome Cold Warrior’s astute ability to prove thoroughly engrossing as well as educational.
Its fine blend of facts and can’t-put-it-down shifting scenarios lends to a complex and completely engaging read that will attract a wide audience, from thriller and political history readers to those looking for a powerfully captivating story.
Cold WarriorReturn to Index
Down and
Out in
the River City
Wm. Stage
Floppinfish
Publishing
Company Ltd.
978-0-578-52462-7
$15.95
Website:
www.wmstage.com
Ordering:
www.amazon.com
Down and Out in the River City is a crime fiction story that returns Wm. Stage’s prior protagonist Francis X. Lenihan to a new adventure. Readers who enjoyed this character St. Francis in Dogtown will recall that this beer-guzzling investigator exhibited a surprisingly savvy problem-solving ability that drew him away from the bar and into brawls outside his familiar watering hole.
Here, Francis tackles new dilemmas which involve him with the homeless as well as vigilante efforts and racial issues in modern-day St. Louis, Missouri. The story opens with the controversial aftermath of a court case that has fired up St. Louis residents:
What was happening now, this throng, mostly black with a scattering of young white faces, could have been a scene in one of Elmore’s crime novels. The natives were restless all right, whipped up in righteous indignation, eager to raise hell with white society, ready for battle with command authority. The courtroom itself had been standing room only and the much-anticipated verdict, announced by the Honorable Timothy Wilson, first fell on the spectators' ears and quickly passed on to the waiting crowd outside the courtroom, which included news teams from Channels 4, 5, and 2 as well as CNN and NBC BLK. Before you could say Come on down and join the protest, TVs in homes and bars across the city were spreading the news: White cop acquitted in the death of Anthony Lamar Smith, age twenty-four, a black man.
Even though the incident took place six years prior, the city is still embroiled in issues of racism and justice which draw Francis into a new series of crime-busting efforts despite his best efforts to stay secluded in the local tavern.
It’s not unusual to find him “in the midst of a powder keg about the ignite.” What is atypical is the circumstances of a miscarriage of justice that draws him into a milieu that’s impossible to ignore, where the fine line between bullying and successful control of mass demonstrations is crossed again and again.
Wm. Stage takes the time to capture the social and political atmosphere of Francis’s environment and times as the story unfolds. From Francis and Martha’s Catholic faith and their interactions in the Irish Catholic community to the wry sense of humor Stage injects at unexpected moments of personal and social revelation, the story excels at a building an immersive atmosphere that is as fun as it is revealing:
“Do you actually feel different after communion?” Martha asked him over coffee and pastries at Coffee Cartel, the place on Tamm where they had first spoke after mass twenty-six years ago. Only then it was called The Urban Oasis.
Francis pondered this. “Yeah, I’ve never told anyone this, but I get a warm runny feeling down around my solar plexus and it slowly spreads throughout my body until it seems I’m glowing. All my senses seem heightened too. Acute power of smell like a hound dog on the trail of a convict. Hearing, I can hear a mouse fart from a block away.”
Laughter permeates the story, adding to its backdrop and offering comic relief to the investigative probe into crime, resolution, and redemption. This gives the character of Francis a full-bodied feel that will thoroughly engross readers in his life and choices, which in turns make the crime concerns that unfold of realistic strength and psychologically alluring.
The fact that Francis is edgy in his decision-making also gives his character an original, appealing draw:
He lay there in the pitch dark of their room, listening to Martha lightly snoring, thinking how rich life is and how he’ll really miss it once he’s dead. The next thing that popped up: Wouldn’t it be fun to bring a gang of homeless out to see Jacob, kind of like a reunion, they can party and catch up. It was a great idea because it would piss off Jacob to no end. He would get it going this morning.
Stage ties together these seemingly disparate threads of personality, colorful choices, unexpected consequences, and crime so seamlessly that readers will find themselves completely immersed in a plot that simmers with tension, action, and excellent, quirky characterization.
Social issues that range from opioids infiltrating and infecting the community to the ways in which Francis’s involvements and choices impact his favorite places, Stage’s story is steeped in a sense of place and personality that places it head and shoulders above other crime stories:
In twenty-three years of coming to this bar he had never been the target of abuse, had never been seriously confronted or made to feel small. It was really bothering him. He felt cornered. What did he have to say for himself?
Down and Out in the River City will delight readers interested in the cultures and norms of St. Louis. Libraries that choose the story for its connections to other Francis Lenihan stories or for its stand-alone value as a top-notch, wide-ranging crime story will find its ability to attract a wide audience makes for a ‘must have’ acquisition that stands out from the genre crowd.
Down and Out in the River CityReturn to Index
The
Final Account
Jeff
Cooper
Red
Adept Publishing, LLC
978-1-958231-61-6
$15.99
Paperback/$9.99 eBook
Website:
https://RedAdeptPublishing.com/
Ordering:
https://www.amazon.com/Final-Account-Jeff-Cooper/dp/1958231614
The Final Account opens with Tom Nelson assuming the role an estate executor for newly deceased Samuel Heller. He’s standing opposite of Kyle Stone, who continues to hold him in thrall because many con operations could not be conducted without Tom’s expertise. Even though Tom’s nearing retirement, apparently there are few escape routes from previous nefarious connections and expertise.
Robbing from the newly deceased is no light crime of opportunity, but traverses moral and ethical quandaries that become personal. Kyle holds no hesitation about doing so, but Tom balks. His job in a new firm was supposed to distance him from this former world:
Joining the firm was supposed to mark his final break from his dealings with all of this. The new firm was supposed to be a fresh start, where he could transition his clients to his partners before drifting off into an uneventful retirement.
Instead, it only draws Jack Collins into Tom’s life when Jack’s senior partner in his struggling new law firm turns out to be walking on the dark side of the law.
By opening with Tom’s dilemma and connections he cannot seem to escape, Jeff Cooper leads readers into treacherous territory in which good intentions rapidly devolve into old patterns of deception. In this case, Tom draws Jack onto his turf in unexpected ways. When Jack catches him embezzling money from the deceased’s estate, he doesn’t realize that this is only the tip of an iceberg of dangerous precedence and deadly associations.
Cooper’s ability to build and then meld the life experiences of two men who approach the world in very different ways adds an undercurrent of not just intrigue, but moral inspection to the story, which thriller readers will find captivating. The thought-provoking moments of revelation that emerge from their newfound association and discoveries test many facets of Jack’s approach to crime-busting.
They also entwine with rising threats and tension as a bigger conspiracy involving Connecticut’s elite emerges to present Jack with further dilemmas about how to approach the rich with accusations that could place his life in danger.
Community connections, subterfuge, and a web of associations that prove nearly impossible to break give thriller readers the type of exquisite tension they relish from the best reads of the genre. Jack, Kyle, and Tom wind up in a dangerous dance that seems endless and irresolvable. This will delight seasoned thriller audiences adverse to plots that are too predictable. There’s nothing staid or stale about Cooper’s story.
Jack’s dilemma increases the more he discovers, with no easy outs or answers. As political ambition and legal probate operations come enter the fray, readers will appreciate the many layers of complexity that drive a powerful story of how deeply Jack needs (or wants) to shake Connecticut’s social, business, and political structures. How he will solve such issues without threatening his professional life or personal safety? The events ring with an authenticity and attraction that makes the book nearly impossible to put down:
“Okay, go on. What does Jack know? Did you give him any names?”
Something was wrong. This guy should be asking about the money, about Kyle, about the wires. But he wasn’t. It was almost as if he already knew all of that. Oh, shit. A wave of nausea overcame him as he broke out into a cold sweat.
Libraries that choose The Final Account for its promise of a fast pace and intrigue that spreads in many directions will find it easy to recommend to thriller audiences—and also to book clubs seeking thrillers steeped in moral, political, and ethical conundrums that are ripe for group discussion.
The Final AccountReturn to Index
Lucky
Duck
Mike
Garretson
Torchflame
Books/Top Reads
Publishing
LLC
978-1-61153-509-9
$18.99
Paperback/$6.99 eBook
www.torchflamebooks.com
Few authors can pair comedy and crime like Mike Garretson, as demonstrated in his novel Lucky Duck. Nor do they create such appealingly flawed characters as new college grad Joel, who thought he had a life successfully worked out with his girlfriend and job, only to lose the girlfriend and the job. Both circumstances place him in the unenviable position of remaining a shoe salesman despite his college education.
His concerned father pushes Joel to do better. And so he does. Perhaps robbing the mall’s bank on the night of Black Friday wasn’t what his father had intended; but it sure raises Joel’s possibilities for his future in unexpected ways that readers will find delightfully humorous.
An important thing to know about Joel is that he considers himself lucky. He could fall in a dung heap and emerge smelling like roses … usually. Will his luck hold out?
Garretson develops a story packed with unexpected logic and many twists and turns. Set in the 1980s, it captures the full flavor, ironies, and events of the times while remaining true to building engaging characters and crime scenarios. These contribute to a spree packed with social, psychological, and legal reflections.
Garretson grounds these considerations in Joel’s family history, farm experiences, and the dichotomy of living in two worlds:
Living all spread out in the country is just a way of life where you feel like you are part of the land. You’re connected to nature until the school bus shows up in the morning, then you are back to real life.
As Joel pursues happiness at all costs, he is forced to consider the price of choices and consequences which are not always mired in upbringing, family values, and the norm.
This notion will spark intriguing thoughts and book club discussions alike as crime and growth marry with intrigue and revelation in unexpected ways.
Readers seeking a crime-based story filled with engrossing moments of reflection will relish Lucky Duck’s ability to depart from the genre’s typical formulaic writing style to venture into satisfyingly unexpected territory.
Libraries will find Lucky Duck especially accessible, highly recommended reading for patrons who love a good story, well-developed characters, and insights about misguided influences that dictate different outcomes than can be found in the usual staid crime novel.
Lucky DuckReturn to Index
Moonset
on Desert
Sands
Sherri
L. Dodd
Black
Rose Writing
978-1-68513-579-9
$23.95
Paperback/$6.99 eBook
https://www.amazon.com/Moonset-Desert-Sands-Murder-Crystals-ebook/dp/B0DF33L1YW
Moonset on Desert Sands may sound like a romantic setting, but its focus on Arista Kelly’s search for peace after escaping the crosshairs of a serial killer is as much a tale of recovery as it is one of finding a safe haven from stalkers and adversity.
Arista thinks she’s found that haven by moving to Sedona, Arizona to live with Auntie, but trouble follows her to her new home. Fainting spells indicate that her unresolved past is reaching out to force her back to Boulder Creek, where further trials await.
Uncle Fergus not only pursues her, but has an unexpected ally. This portends a possible transfer of power that could prove deadly to Arista:
He looked over at his notorious passenger, its glimmering steel edge catching hints of moonlight as it peeked out from beneath his rumpled jacket. Mesmerized by the athame’s exotic beauty, he could almost feel the awesome power that it must have held during its most infamous moment of taking the life of his old acquaintance, Henry. Rumor had it the possessed blade played a bigger part in ending the life of the notorious serial killer, more so than the young woman’s hand that wielded it. Even now, its presence captivated him. Why would he give it to Fergus?
Sherri L. Dodd builds an atmosphere of murder mystery, dangerous pursuers, a young woman’s mandate to confront her past in order to forge a better future for herself, and supernatural influences which prove both obstacles to her goals and new possibilities for her survival.
Readers of Dodd’s prior Murder, Tea & Crystals title Murder Under Redwood Moon will have the advantage of knowing Arista’s past and confrontations, which lends this second book in the trilogy a fine continuing stream of insights on growth and discovery. While newcomers can easily enter into the tale, readers who have enjoyed Arista’s previous challenges will relish the manner in which her life continues to move in unexpected directions.
The tension is well-developed, characterization is solid, and the challenge of navigating not only killers, but support systems, is especially nicely done and compellingly presented:
“Okay, just checking. I thought I heard you call me.” Auntie paused. “Everything okay in there?”
This had become irksome, too. The constant checking. She forced out another huff, took a final rinse, and killed the flow of noisy water. “Yes, I’m fine.” Her words bounced off the glass enclosure and back at her. Liar.
The excellent balance of thriller, supernatural intrigue, and psychological growth gives Moonset on Desert Sands a vivid countenance that makes it highly recommended to libraries seeing popularity with Dodd’s first book as well as those seeking engrossing juxtapositions of potential victim perceptions and pursuer objectives.
Moonset on Desert SandsReturn to Index
Muddy
the Water
Matt
Barrows and Jessica
Barrows Beebe
Koehler
Books
979-8-88824-560-6
$27.95
Hardcover/$19.95
Paperback/$7.00
eBook
www.BarrowsBeebeBooks.org
Muddy the Water is a thriller packed with suspense, intrigue, and the unexpected. These elements will delight genre readers looking for a blend of fast-paced action and delightful murder mystery.
Usually a suspect is innocent until proven guilty. However, in this case, the residents of the small town of Haversport, Massachusetts know the culprit is young deckhand Ben Broome. This widespread community accusation forces Ben to go on the lam to hide out in South Carolina, where his false charm and reporter’s skills earn him a job and admiration.
Detective Lillian Grimes just knows he’s the perp. But, in order to prove her beliefs, she first needs to hunt him down, and then overcome his charismatic countenance to amass evidence supporting her beliefs.
The proof of an exceptional story lies not so much in its plot, but in its delivery. In this case, three points of view provide the cement linking characters, circumstances, and social and cultural backgrounds in a satisfyingly complex, appealing way. This approach embraces the disparate perspectives of killer, detective, and reporter.
Chapter headings in bold, big lettering assure that readers don’t become lost as each character steps up with personality and professional insights. The action begins with Detective Grimes, a top detective paired with rookie Marty Mulligan, whose intelligence makes him a winning, desirable partner for tracking down perps.
Reporter Ben (alias Charlie Fisher)’s newfound career serves as a safe haven for tackling the bigger problems invading his life, from accusations to honing a profession that proves to be an attractive match to his personality. After all, he’s learned from the best:
In his head, he repeated the dead man’s advice: All he had to do was write everything he’d seen and heard. He could do that. In fact, it might be the easiest job he’d ever had.
Turns out it’s not so easy, as his editor points out with his initial effort:
“Your lede is nice and descriptive: ‘Abraham Mink stepped into his bateau a little past noon and slowly poled it north along the calm waters of Gum Tree Creek.’ That’s beautiful prose . . . if you’re Ernest fucking Hemingway. But you don’t get to your nut graph until much, much farther down: ‘Something is killing the oysters in the creek.’ That’s what this story is about, right? That ought to be your lede, don’t ya think?”
As additional victims raise the hackles of Detective Grimes and further implicate Ben, Matt Barrows and Jessica Barrows Beebe build a thoroughly involving story based on astute juxtapositions of characters. Each holds a stake in the unfolding events and their outcomes.
Students of media studies and newspaper reporting will relish the realistic scenes which follow Ben’s evolutionary process, while those who turn to Muddy the Water for its murder mystery scenario will be satisfied by and attracted to the myriad of possibilities that emerge from what initially seems like a singular case of not whodunit, but ‘will they get away with it?’ At the heart of matters is a struggling small newspaper that may find its readership and support as transformed by the murder as the victims and participants.
Tension is as nicely developed as each of the characters, giving Muddy the Water added value in immersing readers in questions about intention, action, and ultimate impact.
The authors are both journalists well steeped in the politics and processes of newsroom life. Additional familiarity with sea island lifestyle and atmosphere help these sibling authors create an extraordinarily realistic backdrop for events and characters.
Libraries seeking murder mystery thrillers that operate on many levels of discovery and intrigue will welcome Muddy the Water for its ability to capture diverse characters, present unpredictable outcomes, and develop a real mystery that raises questions about journalism, identity, and the powers of posers and imposters.
Muddy the WaterReturn to Index
The
Plagiarism Plot
Geoffrey
M. Cooper
Captain
Thomas Publishing
978-1-7337714-4-3
$15.95
paperback,
$4.99 ebook
Website:
https://geofcooper.com
Ordering:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DKY4WN2Z
Brad Parker and Karen Richmond return to the limelight of investigative efforts in The Plagiarism Plot, falling into yet another case in the eighth book of the thriller series.
This time, Parker and his partner, FBI Special Agent Richmond, find that a probe of scientific misconduct has blown up into a full-fledged conspiracy mystery that embraces all kinds of participants.
As in the previous Parker and Richmond books, exquisite tension is well-developed, backed by unexpected twists and turns of plot that keep the action nonstop and the outcomes satisfyingly unpredictable.
Readers might think that the eighth book in a series requires prior familiarity with the main characters, at least. However, as with its predecessors, The Plagiarism Plot needs no prior introduction in order to prove thoroughly engrossing and immediately accessible to newcomers.
A
prologue sets the stage
with a
suspicious offer made to a candidate, for a
long-coveted tenured position. The job and an envelope of
money is
Monica’s … for a seemingly small cost. That’s how one buys
placement for future nefarious investments, it seems. But it’s not
that simple, as “Mr. Black” makes an investment of his own that
requires a big payback. The third-person prologue sets the stage
before Chapter 1 converts to the first person.
Another big plus to this saga lies in its ability to weave a tapestry of deception against the realistic backdrop of the scientific and medical community. The politics of professional misconduct investigations come to life, as do the quandaries presented by special interests that undermine institutions, procedures, and vulnerable participants in the system.
Brad Parker becomes involved because of his position as Director of MTRI. The initial allegation is shocking to him:
This was the last thing I’d expected. Since I’d been director, there had been a few cases of authorship disputes or graduate students being too selective about which data to include in their theses. But nothing that rose to the level of an official ORI misconduct inquiry.
But, it’s only the tip of the iceberg as first Brad and then Karen become personally ensnared in the investigation of a lifetime.
As in his other books, Geoffrey M. Cooper builds personal relationships and revelations that blend seamlessly into an ambiance of professional discovery. He also widens the territory from Maine to Boston, injecting atmospheric touches to keep the story not just fast-paced, but realistic and exciting as different researchers’ approaches and interests muddy the waters of truth.
From an analysis of career trajectories that suggest who is most vulnerable to blackmail to descriptions of the perils of going undercover, vivid events give many talking and thinking points to thriller fans participating in book clubs or reading circles:
“What are you, crazy? Look at the four of you, you’re not cops. You look like you’ve spent the day playing football in the mud. What’d you do, order the badge on Amazon?”
I had to admit, he had a point. We were all a mess, and there wasn’t a uniform among us. Nor anything resembling the coat and tie generally worn by Boston detectives.
A satisfyingly fast-paced probe into the politics, policies, and influences that underlie professional ambitions makes The Plagiarism Plot thoroughly engrossing.
The Plagiarism Plot is thus a very highly recommended acquisition for libraries whose patrons enjoy vibrant thriller situations, as well as reading groups and book clubs interested in scenarios that probe nefarious influences in a widely-cast net of subterfuge and special interests.
The Plagiarism PlotReturn to Index
Puppied
to Death
C.B.
Wilson
Dog
Tales Furever
978-1-964056-05-0
$13.99
https://cbwilsonauthor.com
Puppied to Death joins the other cozy mysteries in C.B. Wilson’s ‘Barkview’ series, exploring a puzzle tackled by humans and dogs alike. One of the humans is Maryann Ohana’s daughter Cat, a savvy sleuth whose visit to her Hawaiian family results, perhaps predictably, in a new case. Mystery unfolds from the start as a jet-lagged Cat fails to make a decision supporting her own safety:
Note to self: Ask the guy at the airport holding the sign with your name on it who sent them before you get into the back seat of his SUV.
In retrospect, I should’ve known better.
Indeed. The fact that the vehicle is equipped for a kidnapping quickly leads Cat to understand she’s in danger. What she doesn’t comprehend is who could be threatening her.
The death of a notable tea sommelier and the discovery of his body by her half-sister Lani draws Cat into a Hawaiian community beset upon by a seeming myth come to life. In short order, Lani vanishes and Cat’s kidnapping delivers a clue—and a threat—that immerses her in yet another case.
Ironically, Cat wonders, as she sizes up the nonstop events that began upon her landing in Hawaii:
Would my husband believe that none of this was my fault?
The story is delivered steeped in the alluring flavor of Hawaiian culture, meals, and atmosphere. Anyone who has been to Hawaii will relish these moments, as they compliment the dog-centric focus and events that create further conundrums and puzzles.
Newcomers to the many other books in the Barkview series which profiled Cat’s unusual cases need have no prior familiarity with them (or Cat) in order to appreciate how this latest conundrum evolves. The standalone component of Puppied to Death gives it an attraction that will widely appeal to many cozy mystery audiences, whether they are interested in Hawaii, dogs, or murder mysteries.
Family connections and characters emerge as a powerful adjunct to Cat’s problem-solving abilities. These result in a whirlwind of events and discoveries that lead in unexpected directions while building community ties amidst the alluring backdrop of Hawaii.
Libraries either seeing popularity with the other series titles or looking for a standalone cozy mystery involving Hawaii, dogs, and dilemmas will relish the warm, compelling lures and mouthwatering flavors of Puppied to Death:
“Come. We’ve found another clue on the Mahjong helpline.” We obediently followed Auntie Mae’s finger crook.
The distinctive aroma of roasting taro leaves encouraged me not to delay. “Is the Lau lau chicken almost ready?”
“Almost. I’ll serve while you look over the tiles.” Not hard to interpret Auntie’s grin. Bribed with Lau lau chicken worked for me.
Its ability to build upon the unexpected while embracing the rich heritage of family and community that make up Hawaii translates to a vivid, attractive read that’s hard to put down and easy to recommend.
Puppied to DeathReturn to Index
Regardless
of the
Consequences
L.D.
Lauritzen
Independently
Published
979-8533918152
$10.00
Paperback/$2.99
eBook/.99
Audiobook
https://www.amazon.com/Regardless-Consequences-L-D-Lauritzen/dp/B09C3D59VS?_encoding=UTF8&sr=8-1
“You walk the line between white and Apache, and only you can choose your path.”
Fans of police procedurals that look for mysteries steeped in shifting investigative processes and discoveries will find Regardless of the Consequences a satisfying study in contrasts. It juxtaposes Sheriff Lance Tallbear’s mandate to uphold the law with a crime that alters his beliefs and knowledge.
The event is a plane crash in the Superstition Mountains—his territory. His partnership with FBI agent Brad Hanley leads to quandaries for both as they probe what really happened, each other, and their individual troubled inspections of life.
Crash victim skeletons provide them with insights about what really happened, but the truth (and the perp) is so unbelievable that each investigator finds his traditions and modus operandi thoroughly shaken—especially when it becomes evident that uncovering the truth also brings the threat right into their homes and hearts.
L.D. Lauritzen does an exceptional job of creating contrasts in psyches, objectives and white and Native American worlds and belief systems. The conundrum created by police procedures actually reveals too many dangerous facts and ideas that move well beyond a simple whodunit examination.
Lauritzen’s special talent lies in detailing Native culture, a family buffeted by fine lines between worlds, and the weight of Tallbear’s mandated legacy: to become the future shaman of his people.
These threads emerge against the backdrop of greater concerns in a manner that immerses readers in Native perspectives, the dichotomies between worlds and between life and death decision-making, and the moral and ethical dilemmas that stem from participating in a democracy:
“The records say you’re an honorable man, Sergeant Tallbear, a man of your word. I see you turned down a battlefield commission in Iraq and left the service. If I might ask, why?”
“I questioned we were doing the right thing there,” Tallbear said. “And felt we shouldn’t be a party to someone’s civil-war.”
Another strong plus to the tale is its satisfying focus on unexpected developments that build tension, construct exciting scenarios, and embrace heart-stopping moments of confrontation. These move in unexpected directions to completely involve Regardless of the Consequences’s audience.
Libraries seeking thrillers that reflect the force of Native American culture, feature an investigator who doesn’t always operate within normal Western parameters of questioning, and builds an evolving deep mystery that keeps readers guessing to the end will completely enjoy the characters and unexpected truths that drive Regardless of the Consequences into novel territory. These features also lend to the book’s high recommendation to book clubs and reading circles interested in debates about ethical and cultural consequences of choices and decisions:
“Before this case started, I was questioning my life and who I was. I came to realize my heart will always be with The People, but the law will always walk in my boots.”
Regardless of the ConsequencesReturn to Index
The
Bayrose Files
Diane
Wald
Regal
House Publishing, LIC
9781646035953
$18.95
paperback/ $9.99
e-book
Website:
https://regal-house-publishing.mybigcommerce.com/the-bayrose-files/
Ordering: https://shorturl.at/Zlvkc
The Bayrose Files is an alluring novel about creativity, lies, loss, and authenticity. The plot revolves around young journalist Violet’s deception, created so that she can join a coveted writer’s colony in Provincetown.
Narrated in the first person, the logic, uncertainty, and determination of a woman unwavering in her decision to participate in the art colony against all odds creates a warm, memorable story of the ultimate impact of her ruse on everyone around her.
Diane Wald’s ability to build a plot based on achievement and deceit, juxtaposing the two in a manner that will especially lend to vivid book club discussions, enlivens a story unexpectedly rich in its psychological interactions and Violet’s justifications for her choices. Wald crafts a fine mix of good intentions gone awry, unexpected impacts and results, and ultimate regrets that change Violet’s trajectory both personally and professionally.
Readers that join this inquiry into lies and their costs will especially relish the realistic atmosphere that makes Violet a flawed, but likeable, character:
“Violet,” he said, “why don’t you just apply there yourself?”
I stared at him. He stared back. His eyes said, “Why didn’t you think of this?” I remembered a phrase from Richard Wilbur: “mad-eyed from stating the obvious.” I took the tiny pink umbrella from my drink, stuck it in my hair, and leaned back in my chair.
“No,” I said. “Really? But I have no talent. I mean, maybe I’m getting to be a decent journalist, but I’m not a painter or poet or fiction writer. It’s a brilliant idea, Spencer, but I’d never get in. That place has high standards.”
Another big plus is the changing nature of Violet’s friendship with Spencer, which comes not just from a too-helpful suggestion on his part, but the ultimate impact of AIDS in the 1980s. This comes home to influence Violet in unexpected ways that capture the milieu of the 1980s in general and the artist colony in particular.
Forced to interact with Spence’s sister Barbara while fielding a new romantic possibility and the increasing health issues of her friend and partner in crime, Violet is pushed to come to terms with many interconnected issues about life purposes and change. These underlie a situation where she can’t simply write herself a new, promising outcome from her ruse.
Libraries and readers that choose The Bayrose Files receive delightful forays into not just friendship and support systems, but what it means to evolve a lie, field its consequences, and consider the ultimate results of truths and lies. The candid self-assessment Violet employs will simply delight readers seeking realistic over predictably happy endings:
Betraying his trust in me was even worse in a way than lying to get accepted to The Home. He was a decent, kind, affectionate person and I had come to love him. I was a lying, selfish bitch. That was all there was to it.
The Bayrose FilesReturn to Index
Bergthora's
Saga
Reiner
Prochaska
Europe
Books, London
9791220153713
$22.99
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DH6LW8X4
Bergthora's Saga: A Heathen Revenge in a Christian Iceland is a powerful work of Icelandic fiction that traverses the history and culture of 1019. It presents a fiery, memorable protagonist in Bergthora Bjornsdóttir, who returns to her Iceland home to exact revenge for a childhood trauma.
Her passion and purpose hold unexpected results as she unintentionally drives a young wife away from her marriage. The move holds community-shattering social and political implications.
As the community and her family reels from her anger’s onslaught, Bergthora discovers that vengeance is not all that sweet, but comes with a heavy price. It expands from her singular experience and intention to form a dangerous ripple of adversity in the lives around her.
This is not a novel for light reading. It spans some four centuries of Icelandic personalities and history, introduces a broad cast of other characters whose lives are affected by Bergthora’s choices, and encourages readers to think deeply about a wide range of topics, from Iceland’s link to other countries to how heathens become Christians.
Perspectives shift between characters, introducing a host of cultural and social observations to bring readers directly into the shifting worlds of Iceland, Greenland, and the rest of Europe as the decades unfold.
The seasons’ passage is marked by individuals and events which bring these milieus to life. One example is the observation from Leif, brother of Kjartan, Bergthora’s childhood friend:
Kjartan and I are riding home from Egillshof. It is dark, but I pray that the bright beams of the full moon will not betray the torment burning across my face. Tonight, Egill, our goði, gave a feast to celebrate the stepping across the threshold between summer and winter. I left the warmth and happiness of summer for the bleak darkness of winter the day Engilborg was married.
In shifting these perspectives regularly and over time, Reiner Prochaska creates a sweeping epic story that shines with not just one woman’s journey, but the concurrent experiences of characters both related and unrelated to her life.
The complexity of these experiences and changing times makes Bergthora's Saga of special interest to readers of historical fiction in general and those attracted to Icelandic experience in particular—a subject that rarely receives the attention it deserves or the variety it should experience, save for a relative handful of Icelandic authors.
Vivid passages depicting social, political, and religious change are especially well done, promising to attract readers who may have little prior Icelandic history knowledge, but who enjoy epic sagas filled with memorable characters and understandable, hard-hitting passages of insight:
…throughout the night, several chieftains entered through the back entrance and discussed options for a solution with Thorgeir to ensure Iceland would prosper instead of tearing itself apart. King Olaf had given Hjalti and Gizur enough silver to pave a path to the influential heathens. In the end, neither the Christians nor the heathens were truly satisfied with Thorgeir’s judgment, but it didn’t matter because both parties accepted it. Pragmatic leaders preserved the unity of our island without shedding a drop of blood.
The novel has its roots in a 2018 visit to Iceland, where author Reiner Prochaska fell in love with the nation’s people and culture. Museum director Ms. Guttormsdóttir Þormar’s passion for explaining the life and literature of Snorri Sturlusson led Prochaska on a literary journey that not only culminated in producing this novel, but fill many gaps in Icelandic history and culture for readers who might be only casually familiar with the country and its epic writers.
Libraries should consider Bergthora's Saga: A Heathen Revenge in a Christian Iceland a top literary work packed with thoroughly absorbing passages documenting how the characters in particular and Iceland as a whole evolved.
Book clubs seeking weighty, serious fictional stories about Iceland will find Bergthora's Saga: A Heathen Revenge in a Christian Iceland raises many discussion points, making it an exceptional acquisition holding universe-building prowess.
Bergthora's SagaReturn to Index
Boy With
Wings
Mark
Mustian
Koehler
Books
979-8888244272
$29.95
Hardcover/$19.95
Paperback
www.koehlerbooks.com
Johnny Cruel is no ordinary boy. Born with appendages on his back that can only be described as wings, he faces danger when his community of the 1930s South deems him a devil and tries to capture and kill him.
Forced to flee, Johnny and his mother hit the road in search of a safe haven. This effort sends him into associations with other social outcasts, from the freaks in a circus to relationships in which he questions why and how others can love him:
“You
say that she
loves me?”
“Well,
not like I
love
you.” I touched his neck and face.
“You
love the fact
of my oddness.”
Mark Mustian raises many questions as he follows Johnny’s journey through life in search of acceptance, a safe place, and love. These issues also emerge from Johnny’s influence on those around him who are not extraordinary—but might long to be:
Only Johnny was truly aloof, the look on his face one of concern or maybe revulsion. Or was it envy? I thought I recognized this and knew of it. As a nonfreak, I felt it too. Why was I so common, so depressingly middling and bland? Placed among people who were truly remarkable and unique.
A strong device utilized to explore the extent of Johnny’s world is that of shifting perspectives, easily identified in chapter headings. Dwarf Esmeralda (“Tot”)’s daughter Winifred, tattooed lady Sheila, and others add their own observations and experiences to the freak show focus on of finding a place in life. This immerses the characters in a strange miracle that embraces them all.
Mustian’s story is a study in acceptance, diversity, kindness, and the possibility of marvels in life. Through Johnny’s eyes and others, the intricacies of relationship-building develop in a way that imparts intriguing lessons on differences and shared perceptions.
Magical encounters, transcendence and the human drive for connection and life meaning reveal a compelling contrast between individuals who all reside, one way or another, in realms that force them to grow beyond their physical incarnations.
Libraries interested in novels that explore such potentially life-altering realizations will not only find Boy With Wings a thoroughly compelling story accessible to a wide audience, but highly recommendable to book clubs seeking novels that will spark discussions about family, diversity, fate, and the origins of understanding and acceptance.
Vibrant with discovery, Boy With Wings is a winner.
Boy With WingsReturn to Index
The Call
Cathy Schieffelin
Atmosphere
Press
979-8-89132-412-1
$15.99
pb/$7.99
ebook/$24.99 hardcover
www.atmospherepress.com
The Call opens with a Muslim call to prayer which awakens first-person narrator Nate. His locale is identified as Anjouan—a tropical isle floating in the Indian Ocean, part of the Comoro Archipelago—and the reason for his presence there (for work).
And then there’s Juliette, who also struggles with her past and looks forward to new beginnings. Their stories are set against the backdrop of an unknown virus that each are charged with addressing in different ways, setting the stage for a sweeping, epic account which unfolds over shifting times and places. The result is a multifaceted tale of adventure, family connections, and even mystery.
Cathy Schieffelin’s powerful novel is a challenge to neatly peg. The intrigue, suspense, emotional overlays, and history are wound so deeply into events that readers receive a rollicking ride through birth, death, and challenges that drive the two characters into dilemmas they never saw coming. To call it a mystery alone would be to do it as much of a disservice as to identify the novel as a love story.
Interpersonal relationships weave through social and political conflicts in such a manner that readers will delight in their intricacy and psychological depth, major draws to the story’s plot.
Readers may not expect a medical mystery and romance to present on a level embedded with political and social context, but Schieffelin shifts perspectives between Juliette and Nate so deftly that their disparate backgrounds and connections receive equal billing and insights:
Despite knowing better, I want him. We’ve got chemistry. He’s one of the good guys. I’m usually attracted to the bad ones—lured in by their mystery and sexy scowl. That’s never a good combination. And if things don’t pan out, he lives halfway around the world from me. Maybe that’s for the best.
The Call’s special combination of international intrigue, romance, and revelation makes it a top recommendation for libraries seeking fiction that tests the boundaries of the usual genre assignment as it forges new pathways of discovery.
Book club reading groups seeking novels that are compelling and thought-provoking will especially appreciate the many discussion opportunities that emerge as Nate and Juliette slide deeply into the duality of unfolding horror and opportunity.
The CallReturn to Index
The
Catalysts
Joseph
Guzzo
Resource
Publications/
Wipf and Stock Publishers
979-8-3852-3693-0
$37.00
Hardcover/$22.00
Paperback/$9.99
eBook
https://www.amazon.com/Catalysts-Novel-Joseph-Guzzo/dp/B0DPCMRJNT
The Catalysts will especially attract and delight cat fans seeking a charismatic animal character and a story that revolves around a shelter cat’s adoption by the Gioppolo family. Stray cat Fatty wanders into Red’s sweet situation, and a secret both share upends the lives of those around them.
Joseph Guzzo builds a cat-centric focus on these lives, which gives added value via its analysis and observations of relationships both feline and human:
Occasionally, she would come across a house and see one of her own sitting in a window. The first time she encountered such a sight, she almost fainted. The cat in the window looked so calm and well-fed. And warm! Maybe not all the two-leggeds were so awful. But she knew some of them were. She had to keep up her guard.
Yet she wondered. How do I end up like one of those window cats?
Shifting perspectives give a full-bodied feel to the furry characters, while the consequences of divulging their deepest secrets to the humans around them hold further attraction for their unexpected directions and impact.
As the cats interact, readers become involved in their perceptions of the world, their abilities, and their different objectives in juxtaposing freedom with indoor comforts:
“Oh, you two,” said Red. “Again, nothing happened the first time. You know why? Because we’re cats. We’re fast. We’re sleek. We don’t get in trouble.”
“Well, Fatty isn’t exactly sleek,” said Luca. “No offense, pal.”
“None taken, Luca.”
“Yeah, true. But she’s fast. You’ve seen her play. She’s got great reflexes. And, Fatty, you survived by your wits for a long time outside. Do you really think something bad is going to happen if we sneak away for an hour?”
As the humans become involved in the puzzle of missing cats, so readers will be delighted by the juxtaposition of two very different worlds, with all their disparate attitudes and expectations. Guzzo is masterful at depicting both, giving the novel an outstanding focus that celebrates diversity and unexpected outcomes.
Libraries looking for cat novels that feature a touch of something unexpected and different will relish the opportunity to recommend The Catalysts to readers seeking a joyful, uplifting, fun, and thought-provoking story. Its refreshing creative flavor provides much-needed enjoyment to feline-appreciative audiences.
The CatalystsReturn to Index
The Day
After His
Crucifixion
Merikay
McLeod
Independently
Published
9781662955518
$12.99
Paperback/$4.99
eBook
www.amazon.com
The Day After His Crucifixion personalizes the murder of Yeshua in a manner few fictional coverages can match, offering the first-person perspective of a follower who awakens to the unthinkable—his execution:
That truth slashes like shattered glass shards. The man who saved my life. Our Promised One. Gone. And here I am, breathing. How can this be? It's not right. On my knees, sobbing, I roll up my sleeping mat and its covers, and stash them in the corner. He gave us purpose. He taught us everything. He revealed God as our loving Father. And they've killed him. His healing hands pounded to pulp. His feet viciously impaled. Our strong and gentle master savagely murdered!
There are questions about political impact and ramifications of Yeshua’s death and the permeation of hate and cruelty in Gentile Roman society. The story’s atmosphere and emotionally charged “you are here” feel places readers in an thought-provoking milieu with a world-altering event that impacts humanity from that day onward.
As this perspective and ensuing events unfold, Merikay McLeod creates a powerful female-centric focus that is as avid and faithful as Yeshua’s disciples. This is a collection of women’s experiences, perceptions, and lives that serves not as a religious study, but as a reflection on women’s issues and faith.
Deliberate choices have been made in the tailoring of these experiences, from the choice of the native name Yeshua (versus the English name ‘Jesus’) to how various women perceived and aligned with the Son of God.
Biblical passages influenced and sparked these stories, giving Christian readers a foundation of faith-based considerations that pepper each story and bring it to life. The concluding Author’s Notes reference particular Biblical passages which influenced each story’s creation. This gives Bible study groups fine access to background and supporting material. Discussion groups will thus find it easy to make important connections between Biblical representation and creative writing.
Of equal strength, and lending to discussions, is the ‘Questions for Deeper Study’ section which encourages readers to consider how and why the different events are impacted by their being narrated from a woman’s viewpoint.
Stories unified by Yeshua’s crucifixion thus serve as a powerful testimony to how women’s lives were impacted and their choices and perceptions altered by their convictions and the social, spiritual, and political atmosphere of their times.
The Day After His Crucifixion’s short stories are especially recommended for Christian libraries, reading groups, and women’s literature study programs. It provides an unparalleled view of the times as seen through the disparate eyes of narrators whose lives and mindsets are forever changed by these events.
It’s not all about despair and oppression. Perhaps this collection’s greatest strength lies in how faith emerges like a phoenix from disaster to rejuvenate and heal—a powerful message of hope for modern times and women, as well:
Yes, His love fills me and His peace calms me. And I realize that our understanding of his mission was far too small. Far too limited. Far too weak. Yeshua has more than overcome Rome. He has overcome death, that powerful presence of evil’s reign. He has opened the door to this whole wide suffering world and ushered in the love-saturated, life-filled Kingdom of God. The magnitude of who He is and what He has done stuns me. I have never before felt so hopeful about the future.
The Day After His CrucifixionReturn to Index
The
Greatest Band
That Never Was
Jeff
Meshel
Atmosphere
Press
979-8-89132-499-2
$25.99pb,
$34.99 hc, $8.99
ebook
www.atmospherepress.com
The Greatest Band That Never Was tells of middle-aged Ohio paralegal Shelly Griffin’s foray into the past when she inadvertently shares a video clip of the long-gone band Decapede.
When her post unexpectedly goes viral, she embarks on a mission resurrect the band. This involves locating its members and discovering the truth about the dying rock ‘n roll years and those who achieved fame in rock music circles.
That’s the basic plot. But Jeff Meshel pushes the themes of middle-age discovery, rock music revelations, and personal involvements, bringing the past alive as Shelly plots the band’s reunion and imagines the novel discoveries that will come from such a venture. What she can’t imagine is how this effort will impact not just her fascination, but the modern world around her.
Meshel pairs Shelly with a host of other characters. Each hold special interests and objectives that both dovetail with and clash with her pursuit. There’s bandleader Aaron Woodright; Allie, the owner of Bauer’s Brewery (an institution that also has a lot to do with past and present outcomes); band coordinator Bev Hunt and her son Robbie; and radio and show personalities that rub shoulders with handymen and billionaires alike.
Humor, irony, and self-inspection drive this story with an energy that will especially appeal to readers harboring their own attraction to bygone times, imagining what these dreams would look like when translated to present-day experience. Emotional and musical ties entwine, creating a truly compelling saga of discovery and recovery.
Is Shelly’s effort to turn the clock back a misguided vision? Meshel poses interesting questions through dialogues and encounters that will lead readers to question ideals of the past and their reincarnation in the present:
“Don’t you understand anything? In real life, humans interact. They meet, and they talk to each other, and if they’re really lucky, they get involved and fall in love, and sometimes they have their hearts broken. And then they pick themselves up and pull themselves together and start all over again. That’s how life works.”
Libraries that choose The Greatest Band That Never Was will especially appreciate how the story bows to past events and memories while capturing the lively energy of the passage of time as Shelly and others navigate newfound stardom and grapple with its implications. Its flavor of action, discovery, and revised notions of past and present is particularly engrossing.
Book clubs will find many topics worthy of avid discussion and debate, from the impact a sojourn into the past brings to disparate lives in the present to considerations of growth and discovery that rest upon the foundations of music’s ability to draw together communities and individuals an a unique manner.
The Greatest Band That Never WasReturn to Index
In the
Company of
Knaves
Anthony
R. Wildman
Plutus
Publishing
978-0-6489454-9-9
$6.99
eBook
Website:
www.anthonyrwildman.net
Ordering:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DMZHG789
In the Company of Knaves, Book Three in the ‘Lost Years of William Shakespeare’ series, opens in 1589. A new play by young William has been presented to the actors of Lord Strange’s Men for performance. The effort no sooner reaches stage than the show is shut down by authorities for a minor transgression.
Undaunted, William begins on a new play, Titus Andronicus. Ironically, this too comes to a halt when a burglary results in the manuscript being stolen from his room, along with other writings. Forced to engage a band of thieves to track and get back his literary work, William moves from literary to mystery pursuits. His search for his missing plays leads him deep into the underbelly of an artistic and performance subterfuge he’d never known about.
Anthony R. Wildman crafts a powerful tale that will attract mystery and historical fiction readers a well as literary fans of well-crafted novels based on real people. His portrait of Shakespeare’s times embraces many intriguing, thought-provoking moments about the intersection (and sometimes the clash) of artistic and political special interests:
For any company that played within London’s walls, there was always the possibility that the Puritan-dominated city council would seize on some pretext to close them down. On the other hand, plays and theatre-going were popular with the gentry, not to mention the queen, and so the city fathers had to tread carefully.
This, in turn, adds pragmatic insights on events that swirl around Shakespeare’s literary efforts, social responsibilities, and the disparate lives of those who become involved with his efforts.
Tyrannical behaviors, duels, and feminine rebellion emerge as underlying threads to the greater story of Renaissance rivalries among artists that draw in political figures. This gives the times a sense of delicious realism that keeps readers engaged—even those who may have thought the Renaissance period a relatively dry collection of facts and events. Wildman’s lively explorations and intrigue developments prove otherwise.
The addition of Emma Ball into the mix of special interests and striking personalities will draw women into the era with the knowledge that not all Renaissance women worked in kitchens or went to balls. Emma’s powerful personality and involvements draws William into unsettled, murky waters as the intrigue and associations evolve.
Libraries seeking literary historical fiction that excels in a sense of place, time, and psychological twists and turns that not only keep the characters compelling, but the action vividly personal, will be happy to recommend In the Company of Knaves to a wide audience, from prior series fans to readers that seek a standalone novel sporting great attraction for its striking sense of time, place, people, and events.
In the Company of KnavesReturn to Index
Jane
Jamey
Gittings
Attila
Press
979-8-9921827-1-2
Hardcover:
$21.00/Paperback:
$12.00/Ebook: $8.00
www.jameygittings.com
In Jane, nineteen-year-old Jimmy reflects on Jane Deriksson, the mother of his girlfriend, with whom he’s fallen in love. The literary quality of this reflection portends an excellent read which grows from the start.
The setting is New Jersey during the summer of 1967. The literary influence on the narrator’s mind is Huckleberry Finn, a classic that has fueled his desire to be a notable published writer while co-opting the “disdain of Hemingway, Steinbeck, and Salinger” into his worldview, and the fact that he considers his education to be “undistinguished.”
A rebel and a truant who squeaked into graduation by the skin of his teeth, his sojourn to Long Beach Island for the summer leads to some unexpected forays into romance, intrigue, and self-discovery. Jimmy gathers material for his stories while probing the birth of the Jersey Devil, a gargoyle-like figure that is part of the Pine Barrons mythology which captures his reporter’s eye for trouble.
Think a blend of The Graduate and a coming-of-age story. This drives Jimmy in unexpectedly fresh directions as he embraces the complexity of new adulthood while fielding the literary and social blows and snafus of growth.
Jamey Gittings grows a thoroughly compelling story. Jane will especially attract readers interested in stories that sizzle with self-inspection, feature unexpected twists of plot, and embed the main character’s psyche and evolution with descriptions that are alluringly forceful:
It’s amazing what you can get used to, and how fast you can get used to it. Things you thought were impossible become commonplace in no time—it is truly amazing. It was like that with Jane. All you needed was an injured cat and a hurricane, then you’d be laying naked next to the love of your life, all seeming natural. That was the bliss I experienced for two days in the hurricane on the Jersey shore.
Jim and Huck (of Huckleberry Finn fame) intersect with Jimmy’s observations in this story—so seamlessly and fast that the bridge between fiction and literary reference sometimes blurs. Readers of literature will thoroughly appreciate the references and allusions to classic writing which appear in droves throughout the novel as its plot and characters evolve.
Libraries interested in contemporary coming-of-age sagas centered on one transformative summer’s events and the shifting aspirations of a young man who falls in love and steps into his skills against all odds will find it easy to recommend Jane. It will especially intrigue book clubs seeking fiction that is compelling, refreshingly different, and filled with thought-provoking moments and encounters.
Jane’s compelling revelations and thought-provoking literary references produce a thoroughly engrossing hit that will engage an unusually disparate audience.
JaneReturn to Index
Love and
Conductivity
Erin
Nieto
Koehler
Books
979-8-88824-602-3
$27.95
Hardcover/$19.95 Paperback
www.koehlerbooks.com
From its opening lines, Love and Conductivity reveals that, while the historical setting of 1917 may be familiar, the language used to describe the war’s events sparks unexpectedly thought-provoking considerations from its vivid opening lines:
In 1917, the men went away and were replaced with photographs. At the Brandenburg Boarding House, which rented rooms to women of the Oklahoma University faculty, they all had someone swept away by the draft: brothers, husbands, sons, lovers, all now smiling back from their framed perches, where they both existed, and didn’t.
This reference, with its intriguing capture of a home front which harbors a countenance of uncertainty similar to Schrödinger’s cat, promises a story that eschews the traditionally staid approaches to World War I history, creating a more vivid perspective than readers might anticipate.
This, in turn, strengthens a powerful saga of separation, friendship, and love which is cemented by Erin Nieto’s attention to different devices to capture the shifting tides of these times. This includes letters such as the ones written in 1921 between Thomas Erwin Phipps (a student of chemistry in Berkeley) and poetry teacher Eleanor Morgan. Eleanor longs for adventure in her staid life, finding it in an unexpected meeting of minds with a lieutenant on his way home after the Armistice.
Their brief encounter grows love slowly, over time and the miles, but Eleanor must first overcome her innate tendency to reject the adventure she so desires before she can take the kinds of risks that lead to more intimate connections.
Nieto creates a forceful story of self-discovery and coupling against the backdrop of changing times. Her ability to inject history with a gripping “you are here” feel of immediacy through psychological and social depth lends the story a revealing tone that is at once poetic and intimate:
She’d always thought herself prepared to meet unexpected turns in her life calmly and assuredly, but her emotions that night had been so unexpected and so strong that they’d quite frightened her, making her feel almost a stranger to herself. And the union with Erwin was so fleeting that she’d since convinced herself she’d at least partly imagined it. Yet here she sat, the embers still aglow in her heart; the wonderful harmony of those moments reflected back to her through the arrival of this poetic New Year wish. And it had found its way to her on Valentine’s, of all days, fanning the embers once more into a low, bright flame. He did care. And it all seemed so comical and gay that she felt as if a fire fairy had touched her with her wand.
Readers seeking a vivid, slowly-evolving romance in which life events buffet Eleanor and her beau, yet create serendipitous moments of growth and discovery, will find Love and Conductivity exceptionally vivid and thought-provoking.
Libraries will want to highly recommend Love and Conductivity to book clubs seeking blends of romance and history that point to many possible discussion topics about social mores, love, and the kinds of risk-taking that result in truly effective changes, whether they take place on a personal or a social level.
Love and ConductivityReturn to Index
Mayhem
on Mulberry
Vincent
deFlippo
ViennaRose
Publishing
978-1960299567
$19.99
Paperback/$7.99 eBook
https://www.amazon.com/Mayhem-Mulberry-Book-Rise-East/dp/1960299565
Mayhem on Mulberry, the first book in the Rise of the East series, blends romance and crime in a most astute, intriguing manner as New York City teeters into an AIDS epidemic in 1990.
Even the dominant Italian Mafia is not immune to change and attack as rival ethnic gangs erode its power and control. Enzo DeCarlo is a Mafia figure who observes that the empire he’s set to inherit is crumbling. Some of these changes are happening within the crime syndicate’s structure, as exemplified when Enzo encounters Chinese crime family daughter Jen Mo Li, falls in love with her, then must reassess his changing position in the crime community, as a result.
This isn’t just a story of star-crossed lovers, as readers might anticipate. It also becomes one of vengeance and pain as Jen’s brother is murdered (supposedly by Enzo), which impacts their relationship as heavily as their initial attraction.
Vincent deFlippo excels at drawing astute connections between seemingly disparate characters holding special interests that dovetail in unexpected ways. Spiraling events and discoveries challenge Jen’s assumptions and role:
Once again, her life had changed around her, leaving her in the dark when it came to vital information, such as from what quarter she should expect attack.
Another big plus to the story is its discussions and incarnations of empowerment which both Jen and Enzo experience in disparate ways. deFlippo fully explores the political and psychological marriage between power plays and emotions, presenting his evolving story in such a way that readers will walk alongside the characters that step into new opportunities and possibilities:
Jen wanted to laugh out loud. This was what it felt like to be in the driver’s seat. To take control. She celebrated the dark revelation, and she feared it. She hadn’t striven to manipulate, merely to not be the victim of manipulation. But this….
From sexual conquests to assassination attempts that revise the perspectives of all involved, deFlippo creates a living, breathing work of discovery. Many a reader won’t see these twists and turns coming.
Call it a romance, a tale of mob relationships and social change, or a crime novel of intrigue, as you will. What remains clear is that libraries that choose Mayhem on Mulberry for their collections will find it easy to recommend to a wide cross-section of readers in all these genres, plus those who seek a moving, thoroughly engrossing story. Individuals who come across it in their own pursuits of memorable, engrossing stories will relish its swift action and solid characterization.
Mayhem on MulberryReturn to Index
Naked
Girl
Janna
Brooke Wallack
Independently
Published
979-8892125703
$18.99
Hardcover/$14.99
Paperback/.99
eBook/$10.00 Audiobook
www.jannabrookewallack.com
Readers of historical fiction and coming-of-age novels will find Naked Girl fits the bill for a vivid read. It blends oddball father Jackson’s views of life with his influence on two siblings who are largely left on their own, but who benefit from his quirky perspective as much as they suffer from his benign neglect:
Jackson approached us on a wave of incense smoke undercut by a bittersweet gush of marijuana. He plopped down between us where we sat watching “Captain Kangaroo” on the wicker sectional left by some hopeful woman who wasn’t our mother, but who might have intended to stay.
“Hey, you two munchies,” he said, his smile as dilated as his pupils. “Who’s in the mood for an adventure?” And, like magic, the whole room brimmed with mischief.
The contrast between and dichotomy of a lifestyle that becomes embroiled in a communal cult of chaos also captures the benefits of alternative thinking patterns, self-resilience, and unexpected journeys. These facets come to life through evocative “you are here” descriptions reinforced by the first person, allowing readers to delve into uncharted territory cemented by memorable, malleable young personalities and experiences:
Today looked to be a great one. By noon, we might be anywhere from Key Largo to Kalamazoo. It was a crisp September Tuesday, cloudy, minus the usual haze, and since we never went to school, it was the same as any other day. Jackson put the top down so Siddhi and I could sit up high in the back, crunching handfuls of Cheerios and waving like pageant queens, looking out for better views of the coming hours.
As Sienna and her younger brother Siddhartha walk out of familiar, traditional patterns and into new ventures, readers that join their ride through life will find the story replete in the unexpected. Not only is their father no ordinary parent, but they, conversely, are not ordinary children. Forced to adapt and grow in novel ways, Sienna and Siddi choose paths in response to their revised lives that are as unexpected as their father’s choices.
Janna Brooke Wallack cultivates an attractive, zany road trip through counterculture life from the perspective of a child whose experience and definition of home proves very different than most. Readers prompted to think about the outcomes of parental choices will find much to consider about the ways in which the children grow from their perhaps-less-than-ideal new surroundings.
Equally thought-provoking are moments of reflection and insight which follow the children’s evolutionary process, adding life and unexpected insights experienced from walking between two very different worlds. Of special note is how Siddi comes to view this disparity, juxtaposing his sometimes-strange encounters with adults with his changing views of not just his place in the world, but the impact of his upbringing. Especially pointed are his observations of others who appear to have more control over their destinies than he:
Siddhi craved Travis’s Zen with the board and his easy approach to life, treating the scariest things like they were no biggie.
Themes of family diversity and inspection, social propriety and changes, and the different growth and revelations experienced by each of the kids makes for a thoroughly engrossing romp through life. This provides readers with memorable moments and thought-provoking considerations of what it means to be in and have a family.
A heartwarming, fun experience lies in wait for libraries that choose to acquire and recommend Naked Girl to a wide audience. This includes book clubs seeking engaging, exceptional books that introduce many unexpected lines of development with much accompanying food for thought.
Powerful descriptions create a masterpiece of insight and possibility:
I’d arrived that afternoon ready to battle Kublai Khan, to hold my ground to the bloody death, throw down the pain of my existence at the foot of my oppressor, and demand, if not a solution, then truth, repentance, groveling, drooling, sniveling, tearful apologies. The only thing I hadn’t anticipated was being where I sat, staring into the face of my father and already feeling like I’d won, like anything I said or did would be overkill, and the win was a distinction, a power shift, but a joyless one, like I’d been shipwrecked and washed up in a safe harbor, and it seemed like a waste of energy, and quite frankly silly as hell, to stand there on the shore and tell off the sea.
Naked GirlReturn to Index
Sequins
and
Starlight
Margaret
Porter
Gallica
Press
979-8-9856734-6-3
$15.99
https://www.margaretporter.com/
Sequins and Starlight is a companion follow-up to Margaret Porter’s invigorating novel A Change of Location, but since it is an adjunct and not a sequel, it will attract newcomers to the stage world as well as Porter’s prior audience.
The new protagonist is Ellie (aka Stella Nue), who is in the process of closing her final performances at the Archway Cabaret Club at the end of her farewell tour. Burlesque is about to leave her life forever … and with it, the colorful, dramatic, bizarre and beautiful influencers of her life.
Ellie’s lasting legacy is an extensive product line of branded products. Commercials and endorsements will keep the income coming for years, fueling her retirement years. All seems set and conclusive … or, is it?
Once again, Porter brings to vivid life the world of stage personalities, behind-the-scenes political and social encounters, and even the ballet world that Ellie finds herself involved in.
Hannah, the main character in A Change of Location, returns as an adjunct to Ellie’s life, further expanding the perspectives and involvements of characters whose ties to entertainment are lasting and eye-opening.
As Ellie finds herself not retiring, but transitioning into a different entertainment milieu, she fuels a forward momentum into the world of musical ballet which is a far cry from the risqué milieu of burlesque.
Porter’s ability to contrast these seemingly disparate entertainment interests allows readers to step (or dance, as the case may be) into and around the industry as a whole, with its casts, directors, production challenges, and personalities.
The relationship that develops between Ellie and Dan Wheeler also adds a realistic and engrossing component as career, training, and personalities undergo sea changes and grow, professionally and personally, as a result.
From the special strengths and backgrounds that can translate between seemingly disparate forms of entertainment and their audiences to the challenge of leaving behind one role to assume a very different position on and off stage, Porter’s juxtapositions of personalities and worlds are nothing short of exquisite.
Libraries that reach for novels steeped in entertainment experiences and quandaries will find Sequins and Starlight a compelling story that stands nicely alone and draws its readers into the demanding world of stage production at all levels.
Readers that choose Sequins and Starlight are in for a real treat, between its immersive descriptions, strong characterization, and challenges that emerge from unexpected arenas to contribute thought-provoking insights to a story that dances through new opportunities and old habits alike.
Sequins and StarlightReturn to Index
Sport
&
Leisure
Tom
Trondson
Black
Rose Writing
978-1-68513-615-4
$21.95
www.blackrosewriting.com
Minnesota natives, residents, or aficionados will find that state’s culture and sports milieu embedded in Sport & Leisure, a novel that embraces life, love, and the cultural milieu of the North.
Ken Solberg is heading to northern Minnesota on a journey that brings to life the music and experiences of his youth:
The
music turns
majestic. Like an
American flag rippling in the wind. That’s the beauty of
Springsteen—his songs are like caught fire. They’re the balm
against a cruel world, his problem solver and old friend, how he
blows off steam. They remind him of America—bottled up one moment,
the next like fireworks on the 4th of July.
The next
lines capture
perfectly the
adventure Ken embarks on, which is presented in powerful metaphors
that will simply captivate readers:
It’s dark like it’s never dark in Minneapolis. A northern night sky has a color all its own. A black that tears straight through you. Ken feels like he’s near some end and there’s nothing he can do but keep moving for fear of getting in its way.
This serves as both example and a summary of the book’s wide-ranging observations and connections as Ken drinks, drives, fights, and faces the end of his marriage.
Tom Trondson presents a romp through Minnesotan culture and individual angst, lacing all with an air of familiarity and allure that will attract readers to Ken’s uncertain, shifting positions as villain and ordinary guy.
Music and drinking fuel this sojourn through life as women confront men, men confront themselves, and life goes on. From best friends and blank checks to hunting and intriguing contrasts between the worlds of humans and nature, Trondson captures facets of Ken’s life, friends, and family in a way that feels both familiar and surprising. These stark contrasts create a compelling saga in Sport & Leisure that delivers many memorable moments, laces philosophical and psychological revelation into the mix of bigger picture and ordinary life, and makes the story utterly compelling.
Bruce Springsteen songs play through the story in a tantalizing fashion. At times Ken fades into the background to allow other characters to assume central position, such as Sherman Garrity, wife Kimberly, and others. Their perspectives and experiences dovetail nicely with protagonist Ken’s ride through life, creating interesting juxtapositions of interests, background, and objectives.
From film-making to life-changing events, Trondson whirls through Minnesota with a realistic, thought-provoking, and revealing attention to life flash points, influences, and detail.
Libraries seeking a novel steeped in a vivid sense of place and culture will welcome Sport & Leisure’s multifaceted reflections and its down-home, realistic portrait of a world in flux, finding it highly recommendable to book clubs seeking novels of change and challenge.
Readers will appreciate its special focus on Springsteen, shows, and life reflections that will prompt thinking as much as immersive enjoyment.
Between Sport & Leisure’s solid sense of place and purpose and its probe of marriages gone right and wrong, the novel’s engrossing intersection of danger and discovery is unexpected, enlightening, and makes for a page-turner.
Sport & LeisureReturn to Index
A Time
of Your
Choosing
Gordon
MacKinney
Trailmark
Media
979-8-9857368-3-0
$11.99
Paperback/$3.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Time-Your-Choosing-Gordon-MacKinney/dp/B0DPJBMYFP/
A Time of Your Choosing is a speculative fiction novel steeped in issues of assisted suicide. Though this topic might prove challenging for sensitive readers, the manner in which Gordon MacKinney develops his story is designed to appeal on many different levels of philosophical, moral, and psychological inspection. As such, A Time of Your Choosing is far more accessible than other fictional representations of this topic.
Readers anticipating the inclusion of religious thought should know that this perspective is not part of MacKinney’s bigger picture. A Time of Your Choosing’s contrast of disparate viewpoints is meant to encourage readers and book club discussion groups to reflect on different aspects of assisted suicide, both in practice and in theory.
The story opens with Ketch Immer’s assignment by his father to take dog Reggie to the vet for his final journey. Ketch never asked for this task—but here he is. The dog had been the father/son company’s mascot for some fourteen years, gracing the halls of Immer Funereal and Statuary Services. Little does Ketch know that his father’s choice to put the old dog to sleep rather than treating it will lead on bigger-picture questions about assisted suicide’s concept, methodology, and possible ethical conundrums.
By opening his story with a dog’s fate, MacKinney makes the entire potentially challenging subject gently accessible. In making his protagonist a participant in the death industry, further complexity is introduced as issues move from dog to man, miring the protagonist in questions that he’d set aside even given his close professional relationship with death.
From the start, intriguing questions arise about the assisted death process featured in this novel—questions that lead to moral and ethical inspection by readers, in turn:
…once the countdown begins, only the client can stop it.
No, technology wasn’t the problem. The problem was the pre-procedure meeting with the client. The staff called it the exit interview, but that was shop talk, never spoken around the client. The official terminology was Interview in Preparation for Transition, or IPT.
Ketch had never conducted an IPT and never wanted to. What would he see in the client’s eyes? Eyes say more than words, and without euphemisms. Eyes say love and hate and joy and misery. Ideally, the eyes during an IPT would show absolute certainty.
Complete faith.
But what if the eyes showed fear, as if the client were escaping something in this life? What if they showed uncertainty, as if the client’s belief, even belief built over a lifetime like layers of lacquer, contained cracks? Fissures in faith. What would Ketch say? He wasn’t allowed to dissuade. State licensing left no discretion. He was legally obligated to fulfill the client’s wishes.
From the politics and regulations surrounding a future where assisted suicide is sanctioned and guarded by irrevocable processes to the funeral industry’s central position in its aftermath, MacKinney raises many important issues. These deserve widespread attention and debate in all kinds of circles, from book club speculative fiction reading groups to social issues classrooms and debaters currently immersed in assisted suicide’s ideals and threats.
As the philosophy and perspective of ‘Bridgers’ who advocate for and participate in this sanctioned way of leaving evolves, readers continue to receive thought-provoking reflections:
The freedom to die.
No, that wasn’t fair. Bridgers did not believe they were dying, but rather relocating. And who could prove them wrong? No one.
These develop as Ketch faces business challenges ranging from poor choices in trust to financial power plays, majority company control measures, and the industry monopoly that will come from the merging of two key companies.
The NEO technology which is at the heart of these opportunities and debates is vividly portrayed—also a possible trigger for some readers, but of special interest to those who would consider just how assisted suicide is carried out.
Libraries interested in novels that do more than entertain, but embrace the depth of social, political, and psychological issues that swirl around life and death in general and the death industry in particular will welcome the strength, vivid characters, and equally compelling dilemmas presented in A Time of Your Choosing. It’s a milieu in which nothing is set in stone, simple, or without its moral and ethical quandaries. These questions will delight thinking readers who hold opinions or ideals about assisted suicide.
A Time of Your ChoosingReturn to Index
Triangle
of Blood
Bob
Richards
Ukiyoto
Publishing
978-9361727887
$25.25
Hardcover/$14.50
Paperback
www.ukiyoto.com
Triangle of Blood is a challenge to categorize. The initial impetus is to feature it under ‘Thriller’ because its nonstop action and espionage intrigue creates a story typical of the genre. But, to peg this story as a thriller alone would be to do it a disservice—there is so much more of value that will appeal to a wider range of readers, from historical fiction and Caribbean island enthusiasts to readers seeking global romps and political encounters that sizzle with action.
The setting opens in Bermuda, where a cat-and-mouse game of Cold War has elevated the region’s political attractiveness to both Russia and the U.S. The Americans are up to something there, with a new sound technology being tested in the region.
The Russians are hard at work trying to uncover these hidden actions, but as intrigue spreads from Bermuda to California, London, and beyond, a crisis builds that threatens the world with nuclear holocaust.
The atmosphere of Bermuda comes alive under Bob Richards’ pen, likely because he’s from Bermuda and has the country’s culture and history well under his belt. The novel’s personal points and observations thus add depth to the intrigue portion to bring the evolving events to life as Bermuda moves from a small insignificant outpost in World War II to assume center stage in world affairs, becoming an important early-warning post during the Cold War.
The real evolution of SOFAR technology and the men, women, and nations that were involved in its development and deployment emerges in an exciting stream of action and counter-response which propels the story into thoroughly engrossing territory.
A prologue introduces tension from the start with the murder of a charter boat captain and the distress call that leads a SOFAR T-Boat to respond to the killers.
Intrigue grows as events move from this individual case into the world of electrical engineering PhD student Jack Bessemer and his fiancée Evelyn. They become increasingly involved in political affairs and situations that test their mettle and expand their horizons.
Richards is especially strong at injecting historical facts into a novel which also explores psychological connections between sometimes-disparate characters. Points of view shift from Russian to American interests and beyond, creating a multifaceted examination where no one nation’s perspective assumes a central role.
The tension is well-developed, satisfying twists and turns that play out on an international area provide hard to predict and delightful to absorb, and a wide cast of characters juggle their own special interests and motivations with broader perceptions of social and political connection.
At the heart of events is Bermuda’s journey into world affairs as the country evolves under the hands of special interests that would take advantage of its geographical locale to further their own objectives.
The dialogues between characters cement these viewpoints and comment on the forces at work both within their own systems and in opposing forces, creating tense, realistic reflections about walking the line between peace and World War III:
“Comrade Kapitan, what is the meaning of this message? What ships are these, and what cargo do they carry that is so important?”
“I don’t know, comrade, I don’t know. We’ve been down here dodging the Americans for five months. I have no idea what’s happened in the world since we’ve been submerged. Obviously, something very bad has happened and it involves Cuba.” Then he paused and scowled at Popov. “But here’s what I do know. I know that Red Banner Northern Fleet Command knows the capability and weapons onboard this boat – that we have “special” missiles and a “special” torpedo aboard. If we have to use that special torpedo to prevent the Americans from boarding either the Indigirka or the Berdyansk then we might be starting World War III. Perhaps it’s already started, but I think not, because our orders would be specifically about launching our missiles.”
Libraries and readers interested in dialogues and events that embrace both confrontation and transformation, and especially in historical precedents laid down for evolving countries as small as Bermuda which hold suddenly-strategic positions important to future goals, will find Triangle of Blood not just a fine sequel to its predecessor, Triangle of Treason, but an excellent standalone read.
The novel’s key explorations of the Caribbean in general and Bermuda in particular makes it an essential choice for fiction readers that look for engrossing plots, realistic characters, and events based on a history that comes alive through Richards’ vivid presentation of fast and possibilities.
Triangle of BloodReturn to Index
What We
Give Away
Paulette
Stout
Media
Goddess Inc.
979-8989023936
$21.99
Paperback/$4.99
eBook
Website:
www.paulettestout.com
Ordering:
https://books2read.com/what-we-give-away
What We Give Away: A Delicious Standalone Novel sports an unusual subtitle amplification that is such a good idea, it should be a clarifier on many a book that is part of a series (this is the fourth book in the Bold Journeys exploration).
The subtitle clarifier encourages newcomers to delve right in, confident that any prior events will be incorporated into and smoothly explained from the outset. It neatly addresses any concerns that the fourth book in a series demands the prerequisite of familiarity.
Award-winning journalist Leslie is approaching her forties with the knowledge that one big lie might have driven away the true love of her life. Her decision to become personally involved in an investigation of food habits and psychological connections leads her to self-examine her own food choices in a new manner, connecting her to a journalistic pursuit that holds new possibilities for her life.
Her prior romance with Chef Risto has ended, giving her the freedom to explore new opportunities, however lonely they may be. In reality, each person secretly licks their love wounds and dreams of the other.
When Leslie’s investigation begins to strike too close to home in more negative ways, she is forced into a position of having to choose between professional advancement and personal anguish. The powerful saga of love and success rests on Leslie’s revised definition of both.
Paulette Stout once again creates a powerful inspection of life, juxtaposing issues of identity and love into greater concerns about responsibility, professional advancement, and how personal life and career can clash.
Many of Leslie’s personal and food insights will more than resonate with her readers, keeping the plot not just believable, but thoroughly attractive:
“Why should you have thought there was anything wrong with how you were approaching food?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I’m scared shitless at mealtimes. I avoid family and friends when there’s a meal involved. I keep an empty fridge to reduce temptation. Shop online to spare myself the sensory assault of the grocery store. I haven’t had a regular period since I was sixteen. Oh yeah, how about the nagging thoughts of food but the inability to eat? Zero desire for sex and the constant tiredness in my bones?”
It all sounded so obvious when I said it aloud. So why was I just putting the puzzle pieces together?
Leslie does more than experience a revelation that changes her life. She tackles auxiliary relationships and professional issues in a manner that will completely immerse readers in life’s dilemmas, prompting them to consider the special blend of insight and change that drive personal success and career advancement.
Stout adds intrigue into the mix for added value, profiling both characters as they come to terms with food and other influences while flavoring descriptions that are mouth-wateringly realistic:
Instead of the usual overwhelm that typically left me fleeing the store empty handed, cartoon-style through the wall, I calmly browsed. I read labels, and Dot and I discussed the importance of eating a variety of foods. While I was now following a specific meal plan to restart my system, eventually my hunger signals would return. Once that happened, I’d be able to follow my cravings like the women we talked about at Dot’s meeting. So odd to think of trusting my body after fighting it for so long.
While romance readers and prior fans will certainly choose What We Give Away, its added value lies in raising important questions about body image, food habits and their sources, and underlying influence on eating healthily or unhealthily.
This is why libraries will want to recommend What We Give Away to book clubs considering not just novels about love and relationships, but the most important relationships of all—body image and psyche. The discussions What We Give Away will provoke on these subjects will be far more vigorous and engaging than most nonfiction analyses could achieve.
What We Give AwayReturn to Index
Align
Your
Business With the Real
You
Jennifer
Musser
PenRock
press
979-8-9915442-1-4
$19.99
Paperback/$31.99
Hardcover/$9.99
eBook
www.JLMAConsulting.com
Align Your Business With the Real You: Connect with Yourself, Create What Matters Most, and Define Your Success belongs in business, economics, and entrepreneurial libraries. Jennifer Musser’s focus on linking personal vision and ideals of success with basic business concepts and objectives gives her book an edge of authenticity that stands out from other business and personal growth titles.
From its initial chapters covering “Finding Where You Belong” and “Focus to Win” to later discussions such as “Shift Your Perspective” and “Be Your Catalyst for Change,” Align Your Business With the Real You will especially appeal to audiences who would better marry business objectives and interests with a concurrent focus on personal growth, adaptation, and transformation.
Musser creates a novel opportunity in her exploration of a new way of approaching business. She tackles difficult questions of self-interest and balance that will require readers to reconsider many of their assumptions and beliefs. Questions provoke deeper-level thinking and psychological insight:
How do I stay focused in the daily bustle of my life?
How do I feel fulfilled while supporting significant others, employees, clients, employers, supervisors, community—even kids, aging parents, and pets?
How do I gain traction to move forward, feeling less confused, conflicted, and frustrated?
How do I give myself the support I need?
How do I connect with others who lift me up rather than those who zap my energy?
The good news is that the very definition of an entrepreneurial personality often involves applied creative change to produce a product or service that differs from traditional norms. Thus, the seemingly radical contentions of this book won’t seem as daunting to the entrepreneur as they will to those who have been immersed in traditional business culture.
A series of tools help thinkers move forward. These range from understanding Musser’s ‘Gratitude Equation’ and its applications beyond new age thinking into business realms to visualization exercises, questions that encourage self-inspection, and methods that embrace the freedom and space to process new ideas about entrepreneurial and personal values:
The keystone of your calendar is your time to work on your business without anyone else around. Keep in mind your keystone time is separate from the Silence Solution time we covered in Chapter 6, for you to you spend alone, not working, to collect your thoughts for the day. This keystone is the most important part of your weekly work schedule. If you find time to reallocate, this is the place.
Aspiring business leaders will appreciate the concrete ideas posed in Align Your Business With the Real You—but they come with a caution. Readers should be prepared to self-examine on a level that goes beyond identifying strategic pathways to business success.
Libraries that choose Align Your Business With the Real You for their collections will especially want to highly recommend it to business readers and book clubs interested in considering and discussing the connections between and mechanics of effecting real change to better understand not just business structure, but one’s self.
Align Your Business With the Real YouReturn to Index
The
Ancient Wisdom
of Baseball
Christian
Sheppard
Greenleaf
Book Group Press
979-8-88645-304-1
$27.95
www.gbgpress.com
The Ancient Wisdom of Baseball: Lessons for Life from Homer's ODYSSEY to the World Series is formatted as a series of life “innings” which discuss ancient Greek virtues such as courage, prudence, and temperance. But what especially distinguishes this book are the anecdotes and descriptions of famous baseball players and how they embody these virtues. Ball players such as Carlton Fisk, Andre Dawson, and Ichiro Suzuki are just a few of the players held up as examples. The philosophical question underlying all this subject matter is “How Do I Live?” This approach forms the foundation of a personal journey that often equates the essence and nuances of succeeding in baseball with important life insights.
Though
this book will
obviously attract
baseball fans, it holds the dual ability to reach out to non-sports
audiences, from self-help and philosophy students to introspective
thinkers forging their own values in life. Indeed, young adults will
be an important audience for Sheppard’s discussion as the topics
unfold.
The
nuggets of wisdom open
with the
author’s historical review of his home ballpark, Wrigley Field.
This immediately represents the curious juxtaposition of spiritual
and sports history that sets the tone for this appealing,
thought-provoking work:
The
veneration of
generations that
has sanctified Wrigley Field as a place that is, well, sacred. But it
emanates an odd sort of holiness. Best memories and imaginings, the
famous field of dreams is also filled with boos and booze. If the
ballpark is in some way a sacred place, it is always also
unapologetically profane. I may be the only one to wonder aloud how
what is, after all, only a game works for me better than any
religion, but I do not feel alone.
Discussions
move from Plato
and
baseball history to life encounters so smoothly that readers will
find the celebratory revelations not just accessible, but thoroughly
engrossing because of their vivid presentation:
Amor
fati, as the
ancient
philosopher said, love your fate! Love your home team. Love life! I
had a feeling like déjà vu, not an uncanny feeling, but a feeling
of things coming together, of things that were once far apart now
being linked.
Sheppard
fosters a sense of
discovery
from the outset, leading to a vibrant exploration of a wide range of
existential themes.
It
should be noted that
The Ancient
Wisdom of Baseball is not a singular personal
discussion.
Sheppard provides an extensive chapter-by-chapter bibliography that
points the way to further inspirational reading, including Plutarch,
articles about Martin Luther King Jr. and Jackie Robinson, as well as
Homer’s Iliad.
Libraries
that choose
The Ancient
Wisdom of Baseball are in for a multifaceted treat
that can
be highly recommended, serve as a smorgasbord of topics for book club
discussions, and is a powerful collection of observations and
timeless lessons that will attract a large audience.
Return to Index
Brotherhood
of the
Wolf: The Lesser
Evil
Wes
Al-Dhaher
Written
by Ezra LC (prose)
and Wes
Al-Dhaher (comic)
Illustrated
by Aurelio Mazzarra
Tales of
Khayr LLC
ISBN:
None $47.95
https://talesofkhayr.com/
Imagine a graphic fantasy novel of prose storytelling accompanied by silent comic art. Set it in Constantinople, where a shaky but powerful Christian ideology reigns; then add a vision of restoring the Ottoman kingdom to spread its dominance over the Balkans. This commanding introduction to Brotherhood of the Wolf: The Lesser Evil promises riveting, multifaceted reading which excels in a succinct scenario made all the more hard-hitting for its diverse characters and format.
Ezra LC Wes Al-Dhaher crafts a masterful saga in which teenager Nikephoros grows into his powers and political destiny in the early 15th century, facing many unexpected obstacles and observations as he comes of age.
His foray with friend Adam into an inky black darkness where ancient carvings portend dangerous threats will engross readers with its “you are here” atmosphere as fear, pain, and a vanished fellow adventurer emerge from the depths.
The fantasy, horror, and historical backdrop are nicely entwined to create attraction to readers who are interested in one or more of these genres.
Constantinople comes to life in all its diversity and attractions:
In Constantinople, there was always something new to see, always a new food to try, or some new trinket from a faraway land. He loved this city and would do all he could to defend it and Christianity from the devils outside the walls.
As mother Polychronia confronts evil old friend Fausta, who delivers a not-so-subtle threat against her son, she struggles with her noble duties and heritage and the very real possibility that her son may be sacrificed for a dubious higher cause.
The mother and son’s relationship teeters against the onslaught of emerging events neither can control—but love is the one thing they can count on:
“I don’t blame you for asking those things but know this; I am your mother and I love you. Everything I do is for you. There is nothing I would not do to protect you. Do you believe that?”
“Yes,” he said, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. He breathed in his mother’s familiar scent as she hugged him, pushing his doubts away. Whatever else, he believed that, and believed it with all his soul.
Half the story is presented in prose and half in a black and white graphic novel format with illustrations by Aurelio Mazzarra, whose excellent work adds visual drama to the story. The “silent comic” presentation means that readers are further encouraged to fill in the blanks and think about the pictures, rather than simply being “fed” the plot and action.
Graphic novel readers who like their plots complex and characters realistic and attractive will find Brotherhood of the Wolf: The Lesser Evil a winner.
With its alluring backdrop, premise, illustrations, and unexpected situations, Brotherhood of the Wolf: The Lesser Evil is easy to pick up and hard to put down. The wordless action requires readers think about the evolving events, filling in word blanks based on battle portraits, character confrontations, and vivid action.
Brotherhood of the Wolf: The Lesser EvilReturn to Index
DevilsGame
Michael
Wolk
Independently
Published
ISBN:
None $9.99
www.devilsgame.com
DevilsGame is an interactive blend of book and game that represents the merging of cyberspace with a novel. As such, readers need to have some familiarity with basic computer functions (who doesn’t, these days?) and an affinity for online reading in order to appreciate the interactive prowess to a story embedded with intrigue and contemporary sketches from varied ‘sources’.
The
story opens with a
Blackberry
device conversation about murder, suicide, and the basic tenets of
DevilsGame, promoted as “The most virulent, violent and
invidious videogame ever created!”
Is the game to blame for a suicide-nee-murder, or is a greater evil involved? It’s up to readers to absorb not just the conversations, but the premise and influencers of a dangerous game, indeed.
As Michael Wolk evolves DevilsGame, its value as a bridge between written word and online drama becomes evident. From the initial scenario of world-wide digital disruption and cover-ups to social engineers who manipulate digital data for nefarious purposes and transformations, Wolk creates a completely immersive experience. Blackberry screenshots capture the action and high drama of the video gaming world, demonstrating prowess in capturing the suspense and tension typical of a superior thriller novel.
This intersection of interests is presented not just via Blackberry communiqués, but press conference proceedings, BBC digital recordings, radio broadcasts, the Parrot app, and other methods of social commentary and reflection. These create realistic observations that outline security concerns and special interests with the deft feel of a play featuring a wide cast of characters. Indeed, the events emerge in ‘Episodes’ rather than chapters, further reinforcing the rich content of this action-packed drama.
From worldwide coordinated brutal bombings that draw fire and attention to DevilsGame Servants and the emergence of the Apostles of APpOCALYPSE, dialogues are fresh and absorbing, sporting nuances and cat-and-mouse games readers will find thoroughly engrossing.
The format lends to easy digestion, as events that unfold like conversations hold the realistic feel of a cell phone conversation, and can be set down and picked up in quick succession for busy readers.
Not that audiences will want to set this story down. Its satisfying twists and turns, unpredictable characters and groups, and realistic influences on social and political affairs gives DevilsGame a unique countenance of intrigue, suspense, and modern-day digital attraction that makes for a powerful cyber novel.
Readers seeking a story that invites with contemporary digital atmosphere, realistic characters and special interests, and scenarios that test the purposes and nature of media and social influencers will find DevilsGame of high interest. It’s the perfect attraction for those looking not just for out-of-the-box thinking, but extraordinary digital presentations that bring the written word to life.
Bombs, Blackberries, and worldwide catastrophe, oh my!
What’s not to love?
DevilsGameReturn to Index
humAIn:
Unlock
Your Potential Using
Artificial Intelligence
Don
Roosan, Pharm.D; PhD
Armin
Lear Press, Inc.
978-1963271515
$24.95
https://arminlear.com/
humAIn: Unlock Your Potential Using Artificial Intelligence goes beyond books about AI that discuss potential threats, focusing on solutions and strategies to employing AI in all kinds of human-supportive efforts. Don Roosan offers a breath of fresh air that those facing AI technology and its changes will want to embrace (or, at least think about).
The discussions are geared to AI novices who have heard about the coming technology, but hold fuzzy knowledge about its actual incarnation and applications in everyday life.
An introduction points out that many companies are involved in misinformation practices that spin AI as a product rather than a user-controlled enhancement. Roosan refutes this style of business promotion, showing how AI may be controlled by users—not just sold to them as a done deal.
Discussion groups will want to wrap their debates around the introductory contention Roosan supports:
…here’s the reality: AI is just a tool. It’s not an omnipotent force poised to take over the world. You can control, adapt, and utilize it to improve your life.
In fact, most people are already using AI—perhaps unknowingly. Further knowledge about its benefits and possibilities will add more options for taking advantage of its applications. This contention is the crux of Roosan’s discussions.
humAIn is more than a technological celebration. It provides thought-provoking discussions about the pros and cons of various approaches incorporating AI into daily life, from education and ChatGPT (or Gemini)’s influence on student learning to adopting new critical thinking skills that can identify and address fake news.
Roosan’s purpose is twofold: to eliminate fear about AI, and to provide tools that readers can apply to incorporate AI into their lives in ways that are rational, not reactive.
Libraries will want to highly recommend humAIn not just to a wide audience of patrons interested in AI technology and issues. It will especially appeal to classroom and book club reading groups interested in lively debate material surrounding AI’s potential and incarnation in global society. humAIn’s practical approach takes guesswork and fear away from the AI platform, opening the door to new possibilities for its use.
Its different, much-needed alternative to the fear mongering that often surrounds AI speculation is refreshing.
humAIn: Unlock Your Potential Using Artificial IntelligenceReturn to Index
Immortal
Gifts
Katherine
Villyard
Flower
Feather Press
ASIN:
B0DM9YKV2F $4.99
eBook
https://www.katherinevillyard.com
Book One of the Immortal Vampires series, Immortal Gifts, introduces a milieu in which Prussian music student Abraham has forged a path of deception that allows him to study at the Berlin Academy of Music while hiding his Jewish identity. It’s just too bad that his new friend turns out to be a vampire who turns him into one, too.
It’s also a dubious gift when he attracts the attention of a vampire anti-Semite who vows to transform Abraham’s undeath condition into the real thing, pursuing him across the ages in a dangerous cat-and-mouse (or, is it vampire-and-prey) game.
Katherine Villyard traces the determination, survival tactics, and hopes of a violinist who seems to have found true love (with a mortal, nonetheless) at last, only to confront the timelessness of his enemy’s pursuit just when he stands at the threshold of happiness.
Many unexpected circumstances and scenes evolve, as when Abraham turns his wife Destiny’s beloved cat into a vampire to save Inanna’s life. The impact of his impetuous decision is not lost on Destiny, as she reminds him that he’s just made a dangerous decision by making the sick cat immortal:
“I love Inanna, but this is a mistake. She’s a bitch, Abraham. The sweetest cat in the world, but she won’t do what she’s told and attacks landlords and delivery people, and you gave her super strength and a taste for blood.”
The flow of the dialogue and shifting relationships and interactions lends Immortal Gifts an exceptional diversity that makes it stand out and above most modern vampire novels. Villyard attends to developing psyches, adding wry touches of humor to shifting events that keep readers on their toes and thinking.
Another big plus to Immortal Gifts lies in its intriguing focus on changing times, from movements through Ellis Island and Hitler’s influence in the world to the idea of a vampire building a family life against all odds.
The interpersonal connections between vampire and mortal world and concerns are well done, adding suspense, intrigue, and insight into a multifaceted story that is far more than a tale of blood-drinkers and conflict alone. From bigotry to betrayal and love, the tale simmers with insights and revelations that will involve and resonate with readers.
Libraries that choose Immortal Gifts for their collections will find it fast-paced, driven not only by likeable and memorable personalities, but disparate reactions to world events and changes that test the mettle and survivability of a wide cast of characters and creatures.
In effect, Immortal Gifts defies the usual formulaic writing of the genre to return to the meat of a superior vampire novel: good tension, wry humor, psychologically deep characters, and the allure, promises, and pitfalls of immortality.
Immortal GiftsReturn to Index
Into the
Mist
Sharon
Mikeworth
River
Nation Publishing
9781734936551
$15.99
Paperback/$5.99
eBook/$25.99
Hardcover
Website:
https://www.sharonmikeworth.com
Ordering:
https://www.amazon.com/Into-Mist-Sharon-Mikeworth-ebook/dp/B0DN27KR4N
Into the Mist is a timeslip novel revolving around Cheyenne Tanner, who enters a strange old abandoned house, only to find it carries her back in time to 1895 and house owner Augustus, who is struggling to adapt to life challenges and changes. This mirrors her confusion and experiences on many levels, so it seems unlikely that she could help him. However, in helping him, Cheyenne also helps herself to grow in a way that neatly translates to confronting her own dilemmas in modern times.
Sharon Mikeworth opens the novel with a rich circumstance that changes Cheyenne’s life and draws in readers from its opening punch:
Barely pausing, Cheyenne grabbed her phone off the kitchen counter where she’d left it, marched back through the house, and walked out the door. It would seem amazing to her later how quickly it happened. No more than three seconds of frozen silence at the sight that greeted her as, like Eve, her eyes were opened and she was given the knowledge, followed by maybe seven more before she was leaving again. Ten seconds, and her life was over.
Her primary challenge is to stop thinking about Brent and his infidelity—but secondary concerns involve redefining love’s attributes and separating reality from fantasy:
What would it be like to be loved by someone like that? To have someone she could love like that?
Romance readers will find the unfolding events stay true to ideals of love, yet offer twists that foray into mystery and supernatural arenas. Those who enjoy timeslip stories will appreciate the special value in Sharon Mikeworth’s descriptions of connections between past and present, and how events change all characters involved in both timelines.
Suspense and tension are superbly developed on the shoulders of psychological revelations. These push the characters to step beyond their beliefs and ideals to enter unfamiliar territory in matters of the heart and mind.
Even more provocative is the manner in which Mikeworth juxtaposes these personalities and their individual dilemmas, drawing important connections between disparate times while occasionally injecting wry humor into Cheyenne’s clash with the morals and habits of bygone years:
Stepping over, he clamped his hand around her upper arm, yanked her over, and began forcing her down the hall with him.
“Hey, let go of me!” she exclaimed. Planting her feet, she wrenched her arm back, and jerked free. “I can walk of my own violation!” You damn manhandling brute, she thought, glaring at him.
His glowered back at her for a second, then turned and resumed making his way down the hall without her.
She hurried after him, trying to keep up, but she wasn’t going to run.
With his longer legs and the fact that he was making no effort to walk with her, he had soon left her behind.
Gentleman, my ass, she thought, trailing in his wake past the startled receptionist. So much for Victorian manners.
Into the Mist is a welcoming novel that embraces bigger-picture thinking more than most in the timeslip genre. Libraries will find it will attract readers of clean romance, mystery enthusiasts, time-travel readers, and those who enjoy a plain good read powered by strong characters, unexpected realizations, and growth.
Into the MistReturn to Index
The
Overthinker’s
Guide to Joy
Jackie
de Crinis
JDC Press
979-8-9909520-0-3
$16.95
Paperback/$7.99
eBook/.99
Audiobook
Website:
jackiedecrinis.com
Ordering:
https://www.amazon.com/Overthinkers-Guide-Overachievers-People-Pleasers-Perfectionists/dp/B0DJRYNQJN
The Overthinker's Guide to Joy: A Handbook for Overachievers, People-Pleasers, and Perfectionists is a guide based on author Jackie de Crinis’s own life and search for success. It outlines the consequences of identifying success too rigidly, addressing how perfectionists work until they run on empty (and then some). This is not original news to those who approach life in this manner, but what is especially revealing are tips on how to identify and overcome these ingrained patterns of behavior.
Self-help audiences willing to participate in the work of self-examination and attitude adjustment will find its focus on achieving joy especially inviting—especially given that most books about overachievers adopt a pragmatic approach that misses the ultimate goal of joy in the pursuit of pattern-busting.
Readers won’t find graphs, pie charts, and academic credentials here. What they will find is a tried-and-tested series of insights based on de Crinis’s thirty years in the television industry, whose pressures and expectations supported perfectionist attitudes and habits.
This, in turn, leads to the kinds of analytical insights that draw connections between relationships in life, surveying the kinds of approaches that tend to stymie relaxation, creative ideals of life, and, ultimately, joy.
How de Crinis emerged from a restrictive world to develop more open holds much promise for all kinds of readers—even those who might think they are “too old” to change:
At the age of fifty-five, I started meditating, blogging, podcasting, and coaching. I have just turned sixty, and this is my first book. So, if nothing else, please remember:
You’re not broken, you’re not too old, and it is never too late to start living the life you want . . . instead of just surviving the one you have.
The adjustments in habits that better support physical health may be unexpected, but one goal of The Overthinker's Guide to Joy is to point out how to better integrate mind and body. And so the health pointers are but one pathway to revising daily life in a way that supports the goal of joy.
Tips on adopting practices that build positive neurochemicals, understanding the subconscious rationale behind people-pleasing coping mechanisms, and embarking on guided conversations between conscious and subconscious thinking all lend to building new choices in relationships and life.
Supportive examples range from de Crinis’s life experiences and life coaching efforts to the writings and contentions of others. Tips come from behavioral adjustment approaches in a range of disciplines, including cognitive behavior therapy:
Humans love to assume that our thoughts are facts, particularly negative ones. When we have a negative thought, looking for evidence to support it is natural. Once we find evidence, that becomes a magnet for another negative thought. And before you know it, you’re in a negative thought loop. This is another example of negativity bias. There’s a tool based on a cognitive behavioral therapy technique that teaches us how to reframe our thoughts and break free from negative thought patterns.
Libraries seeking self-help books that promote joy and make it an accessible (rather than an ethereal or impossible) goal will find The Overthinker's Guide to Joy an acquisition that stands out from similar-sounding approaches to perfectionism and self-examination.
The book began as a podcast of the same title, and is well worth the time taken to listen and think:
We
need to become
joy hunters and
gratitude gurus. Becoming a joy hunter means simply being mindful of
what is going right. It means focusing on the most minor details that
bring you pleasure or peace.
The Overthinker’s Guide to Joy
Return to Index
Pathway
to
Freedom: Applying the
Teachings of the Buddha
Lucinda
T. Green, PhD
Atmosphere
Press
979-8-89132-498-5
$15.99
pb/$7.99
ebook/$24.99
www.atmospherepress.com
How do we live in the face of pain and suffering? Perhaps there’s no better time to consider this question than now.
Pathway to Freedom: Applying the Teachings of the Buddha is applied Buddhism at its best. Though Lucinda T. Green discusses the foundation tenets of Buddhism, the meat of her book lies in how it actually presents in everyday life. In this pursuit, Pathway to Freedom shines.
Though other books also make this claim, Dr. Green’s title differs in that she tackles modern psychological insights and challenges, from attachment and mindfulness to how to actively pursue and develop loving-kindness routines that serve as the foundation for a Buddhist-based life.
In a world increasingly lacking in compassion, Dr. Green returns the fundamentals of compassionate perspectives and behavior into the mix of leading a better life. She reviews not just principles, but actions that support Buddhism. Of necessity, this process involves self-examination—one of the prerequisites to successfully absorbing the insights and wisdom in Pathway to Freedom:
…consider making your living in ways that participate in alleviating suffering. Short of being in a job with that as an intention, explore all the ways you can be an agent for diminishing dukkha at work. How can your presence participate in decreasing suffering? For yourself and others? What kinds of attitudes can you adopt or experiment with on the job, which reduce greed, hatred, and delusion? What kinds of actions can you take based on loving-kindness, compassion, equanimity, and empathetic joy?
Dr. Green does more than contrast theory and ideals with everyday life. She encourages a special form of critical thinking that may stymie those unused to closely considering the psychology and social impact of their choices, but which ultimate shines a spotlight on common fallacies, actions, and perceptions:
Empathy, the ability to be one with or feel for another, is born of heartfelt understanding, not pity, which is the near enemy of compassion. Pity disguises itself as compassion. When you say, “Oh, I feel sorry for that person who has to suffer such unfortunate circumstances,” you think you are connecting with that person. However, the source of pity is separation, not connection.
Pathway to Freedom is infused with “aha!” moments which make for thought-provoking reading that ideally will be done slowly, allowing time for supportive meditation practices as well as group discussion.
This is why libraries looking at books about Buddhism and its principles will find Pathway to Freedom far more wide-ranging than similar-sounding titles. It’s perfect for spiritual, psychological, and book club circles where thought-provoking discussions revolve on how Buddhism works in everyday life and modern times.
Pathway to Freedom: Applying the Teachings of the BuddhaReturn to Index
SMASHED:
Tennis
Prodigies, Parents
and Parasites
Todd Ley
Unsportsmanlike
Publishing
9780645899764
$19.99
Paperback/$9.99 eBook
https://toddley.com.au/
SMASHED: Tennis Prodigies, Parents and Parasites is highly recommended for all levels of tennis player and observers with more than a passing interest in the sport. It takes a deep dive into the hidden world of tennis politics, rules, and actions. This comes from the authoritative experience of author Todd Ley—once the world's top junior player and the youngest athlete ever signed by IMG; now a top tennis coach.
This lends authority and insight from both player and coach perspectives as Ley admits, from the beginning, that:
…expectations are silly things, and I really don’t like giving people advice, despite making a living from telling people what to do as a tennis coach. So, instead of starting by slanging out empty hope and promises, let me state a few things and tell you who I’m absolutely not interested in being. That ought to build some trust.
This candid self-assessment sets the tone for the rest of Ley’s memoir/sports inquiry, delivered with heavy emotional ties which are also very astutely admitted:
Vengeance, dissatisfaction and a lingering sense of injustice have compelled me to write a highly self-referential version of the gentleman’s game.
And so it begins … a survey of the tennis industry, rackets, and processes that give readers an insider’s viewpoint of the game’s greatest pros and cons. This offers more than a casual review of the sport’s more familiar countenance, delving into the psyches of players, rule-makers, and leaders and considering the many elements which influence a game and its players. By diversifying his sports coverage to consider gender and typical personality make-ups, Ley explains much of the headline news about tennis connections and events:
A lot of female players tend to turn to emotional support from the coach if their primary support system (family) is in disorder. Because the lives of some female athletes have been such weird experiences from the get-go, sleeping with their coach doesn’t seem to be such a crazy idea. And then there is the never-ending debate: who is suffering from Stockholm syndrome— the player or the coach?
No punches are pulled in the delivery of these experiences and analysis of their underlying milieu. SMASHED is eye-opening, nearly offensively candid (offensive only to those players who might hold different ideals of and approaches to the sport), and always enthralling. Many readers won’t see these insights coming. Thus, “smashed” operates as both a tennis term and an emotional response to the book’s many eye-opening conclusions:
…the shit talking increased, and I realised certain players wouldn’t practise with certain other players. The team started to operate like an artificial stepfamily who’d inherited relatives they didn’t like yet had to find a way to get along with come Christmas time.
(Additionally “smashed” refers to being very, very drunk. So, the title is quite apropos in multiple ways.)
The “you are there” atmosphere Ley creates in the course of exploring tennis’s hidden influences and reactions is essential for a complete understanding of not just the game (many other tennis books already provide this), but the psyches and motivations of all involved.
Humor, reality, and insights impart information parents of young players REALLY need to know. All these elements entwine in an unforgettable read that’s hard to put down.
Libraries seeking an uncommon, inviting, eye-popping memoir about tennis and how it really operates will find SMASHED a powerful analysis and memoir. It draws readers with personal experience, and then smashes them with the refreshing shock and awe of a candidness not usually seen in either the sport or books about it.
SMASHED: Tennis Prodigies, Parents and ParasitesReturn to Index
Songs of
My Father
and Other Essays
Gardner
Landry
Atmosphere Press
979-8-89132-507-4
$13.99
pb/$7.99 ebook/$
22.99 hc
www.atmospherepress.com
Readers interested in the experience of being raised by narcissists will find Songs of My Father and Other Essays hits the nail on the head when it comes to examples of childhood trauma and survival tactics that emerge from such an environment.
What readers won’t expect is the wry sense of humor that permeates these scenarios, representing a style of comic relief that makes them digestible even for those struggling with their own narcissists or its impact. Literary students might question how this wit translates effectively to personal expression, since comedic writing typically distances audiences from the psychological and personal perspectives of the narrator. However, in this case, the chosen format excels in confronting the unwritten family rule experienced by children raised by narcissists:
…the children of malignant narcissists are not allowed to have feelings. The only feelings that count in the house of a family of a narcissist are those of the narcissist. And everyone is walking on eggshells trying not to upset the narcissist’s fragile ego.
Gardner Landry approaches the subject with essays that represent “snapshots” of experiences over a period of time in the past. This allows readers to absorb and contrast incarnations and expressions of narcissism in a manner designed to educate and enlighten, rather than trigger.
Another note to these essays is their verbosity. Landry employs vibrant language and description that could be identified as “run-on sentences” in other circumstances, but will especially appeal to literary audiences interested in vivid scenarios:
My father seemed to be as impressed with his ability to break wind as he was with his oratory and singing skills—the nether end of his alimentary canal providing him with as much pleasure as that which he took in the mayonnaise-slathered morsels that, doubtless, lent such an inimitable Freddish timbre and vibrato to all its impromptu emanations.
The linguistic and comedic value of these stories thus will especially engage audiences interested in not just essay or memoir formats, but in the wielding of comedic expression to lend astute, thought-provoking, colorful insights to the very serious subject of encounters with narcissism.
Libraries seeking an essay collection that operates as a memoir, a comedic presentation, a literary pinnacle of expression, and a read attractive to audiences who seek psychological and linguistic depth in their reading will find Songs of My Father and Other Essays a standout. It’s especially recommended for creative writing classes as an example of how traditional literary molds can be transformed in the most effective, creative way.
Songs of My Father and Other EssaysReturn to Index
Your
Body: A
Course in Healing
Christopher
McKeon
Tőteppit
Press
979-8-9864707-9-5
$15.97
Paperback/$23.97
Hardcover/$7.97
eBook
https://toteppitpress.com/your-body
Your Body: A Course in Healing is the third book in Christopher McKeon’s Healing Through Awareness series, tackling many questions about mind/body connections and their influence on health and illness. While other books cover this topic from different angles, McKeon’s differs in that it identifies bodily malfunctions within the bigger picture of all existence and the emergent birth of physical, mental, and spiritual strengths.
This redefinition of health and disease allows readers a deeper glimpse and redefinition of mind/body processes that, in turn, imparts a greater understanding of the evolutionary growth of both.
Take the section on ‘Omniscience, Omnipresence, and Omnipotence of Psyche,’ for one example. This philosophical and spiritual discourse might at first seem contrary in a book about healing and wellness—but given the introductory discussions of mind and spirit, it fits right in, allowing for associations many readers won’t expect from the typical mind/body discussion:
… it’s not possible for emergent ℒife to be confined to exist in only one single place anywhere as a reality—say, in one’s body. The reason is that a person, as mind, literally exists in all places everywhere as existentiality via awareness. This is the case even though, strange as it seems, one exists nowhere as nondimensional—without time and space—existentiality at the same time. Sure, we don’t feel very omnipresent all shoeboxed into our physical body. But that’s only because our physical embodiment, lacking the balance of being well versed in our spirit embodiment and unembodied fundamentality, has inured our minds to this and only this limited reality. We’ll say it again: you are not your body, physical or spiritual. You are mind.
Although the implication of this notion appears to be that one exists and doesn’t exist at the same time like Schrödinger’s infamous cat, it’s not a contradiction because the combination of existence as existentiality and reality necessarily means that one exists regardless reality and one has reality regardless existence.
By now, it should be clear that readers attracted to the healing promise of the book’s title should also have an equal interest in philosophical and spiritual mindsets and books that explore all of these connections; not just the few obvious ones between mind and body.
From correlations between growing older and experiencing the “energy of the universe” (including problematic ones which are a “natural part of life”) to not just identifying but managing that energy and these influences, McKeon uses his own life path as an example to support his research and ethereal considerations of the universe.
Your Body: A Course in Healing is hard to easily peg. Call it a book of healing, and those seeking exercises for simple recovery may find a learning curve involved as they pursue the later chapters covering Intentionality. Call it a book of philosophy, and its deep spiritual connections may stymie. The best definition is one which embraces all of these elements, as does the book. It’s best to just identify Your Body: A Course in Healing as a ‘book supporting life’. It’s highly recommended for students of health and wellness, physical and mental healing, philosophy, and spirituality.
Libraries pointing patrons to this book for all these strengths (as well as directing book clubs to it for its many opportunities for pointed discussions about life and wellness) will find Your Body: A Course in Healing’s broad audience a major attraction.
Your Body: A Course in HealingReturn to Index
Young Adult/Children
Catawampus
Lori
Hoffman Penna
Winterspring
Books
9798991694308
$11.99
Website:
https://www.lorihoffmanpenna.com/
Ordering:
https://www.amazon.com/Catawampus-Crooked-Lori-Hoffman-Penna-ebook/dp/B0DSJW1373
Catawampus: The Story of a Crooked Cat follows a disabled stray cat who dreams of having a real home someday, but is aware that his crooked front legs don’t make him a prime candidate for adoption.
Caught by animal control and imprisoned at the pound, Catawampus is bullied for his differences, and an idea is reinforced that he will never fit in. A rollicking rhyme describes it all:
Then everyone laughed, howls and meows all around. Catawampus’s tail fell right to the ground.
It was then that he knew, without any doubt,
that he was a misfit, and better left out.
How he overcomes his self-doubt and the teasing of others to find a true home where he is accepted and loved makes for a moving picture book story that will appeal to any young cat lover. Its deliverance of important underlying messages about courage, self-esteem, bullying, and home also gives read-aloud adults many opportunities for enlightening young listeners.
Lori Hoffman Penna’s equally engaging, colorful cat illustrations present fine visuals that also impart underlying messages about diversity and acceptance.
Libraries that choose Catawampus for elementary-level collections and parental read-aloud opportunities will want to point out that this is more than an exceptional story about cats. It’s ultimately about life and love.
CatawampusReturn to Index
City In
My Hands
Thomas
More
Mannahatta
Press
978-1-942947-31-8
$17.99
paperback/$7.99 ebook
Website: www.thomasmorewriter.com
Ordering:
https://www.amazon.com/City-My-Hands-Mannahatta-Book-ebook/dp/B0BPPQHTLF
City In My Hands, Book 2 in the Mannahatta Series for teens, furthers the story of Mannahatta by presenting uncommon hero Sakima Tamanend, who steps up into a new role as a warrior backed by Native American spirits. Its powerful consideration of empowerment’s choices and responsibilities arrives at a period in time when girls most need these examples and insights.
Thomas More embeds these life lessons in a lively, action-packed tale that opens with teacher Sakima. She’s trying to impart her wisdom to feisty youngsters who want to emulate her, but have the wrong idea of what it means to be proactive. More interjects past history so seamlessly into this present-day world that newcomers lacking knowledge of events in The City At My Feet will find it easy to step into Sakima’s story:
“But Miss Tamanend, that’s how you did it when you saved Mënatink Ohëlëmi—the Land Below! Rescued all the people there. That’s when you became a Lenape warrior and the true legend!”
When an interdimensional threat forces Sakima to resume her warrior status (albeit in a different manner), the action-packed story proves hard to put down as she faces evil, monsters, and the possibility that her beloved world will be quashed despite all her best efforts to resist.
More’s reflective presentation is delivered with force and involving scenarios that shine with thought-provoking realizations and moments:
“All I ever wanted to be was a warrior, a leader of soldiers into battle. Not a queen. Certainly not a princess. You understand me. You know that’s true.”
“Yeah, I know. I’ve always known. But, hell, you’re queen now. Queen Sakima. Deal with it.”
“I can’t. I mean, I don’t want to.”
Many young readers will relate to the unfolding of events that dictate they make uncomfortable choices they not only are unused to, but actively avoid.
From battles and broken spaceships to increasing realizations that life as she has known it will never be the same, Sakima faces new challenges and new objectives. These shake her worldview and the potential she sees for the future:
It continued its line of destruction all the way across the foot‐ ball and lacrosse fields. Slowing at last, it cut through the practice archery fields where Sakima used to teach young girls the art and science of the bow and arrow. An activity that seemed to have taken place in another lifetime now, and not just a few days ago. Back when friends and family were alive. When her father ruled Mannahatta, before her temporary rule. Before the sickness was brought in to kill off the remaining warriors and the rest of the civilian population. When skies shone bright blue, and the clouds floated by in white wisps and puffs, and the air so fresh and full of promise. Back when life was still good. And not this horrible night‐ mare that seemed never to end.
The result is a fast-paced read highly recommended for its special focus on a young woman forced to assume command and control of not just her life, but others. Libraries that choose City In My Hands will find its value as a stand-alone story as highly recommendable as its position as Book 2 in a series which expands the Mannahatta world in unexpectedly delightful ways.
City In My HandsReturn to Index
A Home
for
Steamboat
Casey
Rislov
Mountain
Stars Publishing
979-8-218-39862-0
$24.95
caseyrislovbooks.com
A Home for Steamboat is the picture book story of a horse with a mind of his own. Horse Steamboat and Grandpa Charlie were once inseparable. Grandpa admired his sidekick, a bucking bronco, because:
He was true to himself even when tough times came his way.
Granddaughter Lena begs her grandpa for a story about Steamboat, which forms the impetus for this picture book tale, delivered with especially notable, unique color illustrations by Zachary Pullen that will attract both children and adult read-aloud participants.
Wyoming landscape and wildlife are vividly portrayed in the course of exploring Steamboat’s story and rise to local fame. Casey Rislov’s vibrant word pictures are powerfully rendered, with the grandfather and granddaughter engaging in a story that proves hard to put down:
Where meadowlarks sing into the open skies, a shiny black foal pranced and bucked from the day he was born. He was wild and confident living in the endless sage-colored fields and under the big, blue sky.
A Home for Steamboat’s powerful marriage between written and visual description will attract not just horse-loving young readers and listeners, but those interested in geographic settings that come to life with colorful embellishments.
The meat of the story lies in an exploration of how a bucking bronco that could not be broken found a suitable home with an admiring supporter of his spirit and determination. This underlying message holds many lessons for the young, whether about horses and ownership, or allowing spirited creatures to live in the way they wish.
The fact that A Home for Steamboat is based on the real horse’s life, but expands the biographical focus to life lessons suitable for parent/child dialogues, makes it a main attraction not just to young cowboys, cowgirls, and horse-crazy kids, but adults seeking stories about taming spirits, working with powerful, invincible personalities, and approaching life with a different lens of expectation and purpose than tradition often dictates.
Elementary-level libraries will find A Home for Steamboat’s many attractions will earn it a broad readership and delighted attention from all ages.
A Home for SteamboatReturn to Index
How to
Make a
Perfect S’More
Imagined
by Michael Cooper
Independently
Published
979-8-9904512-2-3
$11.99
www.howtomakeaperfectsmore.com
How to Make a Perfect S’More will attract picture book readers interested in stories about camp. It opens with young Miles’ reluctance to attend Camp Cascade for the summer.
Once there, he finds his days packed with outdoor adventures, learning, and the camp tradition of making s’mores around a campfire. Apparently, every child knows about (and has had prior experience) making s’mores. Not Miles. His marshmallows are too cold because he’s afraid of the fire.
He tries to overcome fear by closing his eyes when confronting it … but disaster happens instead, prompting laughter and teasing from his fellow campers. How can Miles overcome his fear to produce something tasty and perfect?
Michael Cooper’s thought-provoking exploration of a simple act of courage is accompanied by lovely illustrations by Penny Weber. Her realistic, large-sized imagery adds to the story of a boy who confronts a small fear, only to realize that bigger (and more magical) obstacles lie ahead.
Miles ultimately makes a new friend and learns valuable lessons about friendship and empowerment. These features will translate to a good time when How to Make a Perfect S’More is chosen by adults for read-aloud.
Libraries seeking an alluring story delivered with more than a dose of magic and many fine insights about handling life challenges and growth opportunities will find How to Make a Perfect S’More a delightful, original story worthy of high praise and top recommendation.
How to Make a Perfect S’MoreReturn to Index
Koda and
the
Whales: A True Story
Carrie
Newell
Torchflame
Books/Top Reads
Publishing
LLC
978-1-61153-044-5
$25.00
Hardcover/$18.99
Paperback/$8.99
eBook
www.torchflamebooks.com
Picture book readers interested in appealing true-life tales will welcome the natural history and moving experiences about gray whales that professor and marine biologist Carrie Newell presents in Koda and the Whales: A True Story. Illustrator Jack Wiens captures whales, humans, and dogs with colorful embellishments that kids will find attractive.
The author’s insights are presented from her dog Koda’s viewpoint, imparting a personal feel to whale discoveries that adds interest and a sense of adventure to the story from the start:
Hello, my name is Koda, and I am going to tell you the story of how my Mamma Carrie got me into finding whales for her whale-watching tours.
Can a dog be trained to find whales to observe? Many adults will also be fascinated by this concept as Koda’s story evolves. Additions to whale facts include insights about dogs, “you are here” descriptions of whale encounters and observations, and cross-comparisons between the more familiar dog and the (perhaps) less familiar whale that help the very young better understand the whale’s natural history.
Science blends with intriguing personal encounters in a way that will prove inviting and fun to kids and read-aloud parents alike. Colorful embellishments add humor and lively emphasis to these discoveries:
She turned the boat away from the whale and got downwind of the whale’s blow. I soon learned why she moved the boat because I got the full-on smell of the blow! What Mamma Carrie didn’t tell me was how stinky the breath of a gray whale is...worse than the stinkiest toot ever!
Newell’s experiences with all three of her whale-watching dog assistants create additional insights into pets, loss, and training.
Jack Wiens employs his artistic talents in a manner that captures not only whales, but the dogs’ personalities. Many of the drawings are made from individual photos and compilations for added realism.
A glossary of terms and a concluding section of classroom activities and questions reinforce the connection between whale behaviors and natural history—in particular, the whales of Depoe Bay, Oregon that are the subject of Newell’s lively journey of discovery and dog training.
Elementary-level libraries and read-aloud parents (or homeschoolers) that choose Koda and the Whales: A True Story will find it packed not just with whale facts, but many insights about dogs, life events, and marine biology. The story encourages kids to ask questions and learn about natural history in a more personal, vivid way than most picture books about sea life can capture.
The entire package is highly recommended— it’s a standout for many reasons.
Koda and the Whales: A True StoryReturn to Index
Little
Ruth:
Backpack Mishap
Dee Write
Little
Ruth LLC
979-8-9903326-2-1
$19.99
Hardcover/$12.99
Paperback/$7.99
eBook
www.LittleRuth.com
Picture book readers who enjoy tales of realistic chaos will find Little Ruth: Backpack Mishap an appealing study in problem-solving and sibling relationships that offers lessons, along with fun descriptions.
Ruth and her siblings return home from school enlivened by the day’s adventures. Ruth gets ready for piano school, but her younger stay-at-home sisters want more adventure, too. What better choice is there than to satisfy their curiosity by delving into forbidden territory?
The entire Campbell family becomes involved in a mishap that gives lessons to all about peer pressure, responsibility, kindness, and forgiving loved ones.
Dee Write’s escapade is illustrated by Andrea McAllister and Valerie Bouthyette, who add engrossing charm and personal touches to bring the tale and siblings to life. Close-knit family members all becomes involved, with the realistic scenario embellished by dialogue that kids can readily relate to:
Seeing Ruth sad made Abby and Annie feel sad. “Sorry, Ruth,” they said quietly.
Mom could see her daughters’ disappointment about this backpack mishap. “Everyone take a deep breath, and let’s talk about this in the den,” said Mom.
Grandma joined in to help Mom, “I‛ll start dinner for you while you talk with the girls.”
Conflict resolution arrives in the form of the Campbell Family Discussion Ball, which is employed to give a voice to all involved in the mishap, building a sense of family support and greater understanding via listening.
Elementary-level libraries and read-aloud parents will find it packed with many discussion points that will enlighten and educate the very young, while Black families seeking role models for conflict resolution opportunities within adversity will relish the positivity and practicality of Little Ruth: Backpack Mishap.
Little Ruth: Backpack MishapReturn to Index
Little
Ruth:
Halloween Drama Queen
Dee Write
Little
Ruth LLC
979-8-9903326-7-6
$19.99
Hardcover/$12.99
Paperback/$7.99
eBook
www.LittleRuth.com
Adding to the Little Ruth picture book series is Little Ruth: Halloween Drama Queen, exploring a Black family’s celebration of the fall season and Halloween.
All the trapping of holiday tradition are explored, from pumpkin carving to pie-making and costumes:
“Yum. Pumpkin pie is my favorite,” said Mom. “Ruth, please help your sisters and brother get ready to go to the costume store. I’d like to hurry back so we can have some pie when it’s fresh out of the oven.”
As the family interacts in a conjoined effort to create and enjoy Halloween, young readers will appreciate Dee Write’s emphasis on family dialogue and connections as well as the vivid drawings of Andrea McAllister and Valerie Bouthyette, who bring her story to visual life.
Especially educational are references to family budgeting which emerge unexpectedly to offer important talking points to families:
“Remember to stick to your costume allowance everyone!” Mom called after the group. “And don’t forget, if you want to go over your allowance, you have to use your chore money to pay the difference.”
How can the perfect Halloween costume create a dilemma? Dee Write presents a particularly realistic problem that many families will relate to, as well as a creative solution that involves the meeting of several minds.
From sticking to budgets to saving money, understanding financial limits, and employing family support to make hard decisions that turn out to be great ones, Write provides an attractive lesson the entire family can enjoy.
Elementary-level libraries that choose Little Ruth: Halloween Drama Queen either as a stand-alone seasonal story or an addition to other Little Ruth picture books will find it an exceptional, appealing story.
Little Ruth: Halloween Drama QueenReturn to Index
Nana’s
Heartwarming Tales: Tiny
Whispers
Vicki
Johnpeer with Cory
CP Press
979-8-9900625-1-1
$13.99
Paperback/$9.99
eBook/$18.99
Hardback
www.nanastales.com
Adults looking for juvenile short stories that demonstrate kindness, patience, and gratitude should place Nana’s Heartwarming Tales: Tiny Whispers at the top of recommendation lists for young readers. It consists of five short family-oriented stories that explore not just kindness, but being thoughtful, thankful, and content. Each theme is embedded into the story title to encourage quick associations between plot and purpose.
This 41-page collection opens with “Mama Bird’s Egg: Being Patient.” Here, a tiny hummingbird writer/reporter opens the dialogue with an introduction to the family she’ll be observing:
Aimee has low vision and carries a white cane to guide her on walkways, around the house, and at school. She’s learning about the great outdoors and loves how her Pals and family look out for her … My stories are about how the Pals work and play together. I love watching them patch up their day-to-day tiffs and tangles. Their character traits, which I call gifts, help them solve every problem.
Each chapter defines a trait and then presents a story exemplifying and supporting it. These stories will prove especially powerful when read-aloud adults become involved in discussions about the adventure and how the characters approached problem-solving, finding solutions that work for everyone involved. Concluding thoughts also add value, summarizing events and offering further interactive opportunities:
The next time Buddy goes on an adventure, why might he be more thoughtful of Pop’s advice?
When YOU feel like telling others you know more than they do, what could you say instead?
This approach juxtaposes action and insight in a satisfying manner that adults will find easy to explore with all ages—including the very young. Lovely drawings by the author add further interest for young listeners and readers. Bird facts conclude the tales, adding educational value beyond emotional understanding.
Tiny Whispers is highly recommended for parents, educators, and elementary-level libraries interested in stories that promote positivity, cooperation, and understanding. Its outstanding approach to illustrating a wide range of life approaches will prove perfect for adults seeking to engage the very young in understanding not just the nature around them, but the impact of their own choices, actions, and decisions.
Nana’s Heartwarming Tales: Tiny WhispersReturn to Index
Tiger D.
Cat
Darlis
Hooks
Xlibris
9788369417126
$12.99
Paperback/$3.99
eBook
www.Xlibris.com
Tiger D. Cat’s story is told by his ten-year-old owner, who narrates how Tiger came to her when she was seven, skinny and alone and being bullied by boys.
Tiger is a timid stray hungry enough to accept her food offerings, but scared to accept more. As she tells of Tiger’s taming, how he became her cat over the course of a summer, and how he “ate every meal like he was starving to death,” readers learn of a cat’s attraction, habits, and the process of his domestication, which teaches responsibility to his young overseer.
As he becomes a part of the family, she plays dress-up with him, he plays with his new toys, and the birds teach him a lesson about birdnapping.
The cat fits right in to their family life, as loyal and dedicated as a dog—until, one day, everything changes.
Darlis Hooks does an exceptional job of detailing the habits of cats and how humans interact with them. Cat natural history facts unfold during the course of the story, giving it an educational component important for any family considering adding a cat to the household.
A twist to the tale adds insights on caring for a cat in sickness and in health, further expanding the insights on what it means to adopt a kitty.
All these elements make Tiger D. Cat much more than a typical story of animal adoption, giving it the attraction and depth needed to elevate its message to picture book readers and families.
Libraries that pick Tiger D. Cat for acquisition and profile will find that Tiger’s story holds many opportunities for discussions on all kinds of themes, from cat adoption and stray cat requirements to cat care and personality.
Tiger D. CatReturn to Index