January 2024 Review Issue
Literature
Mystery & Thrillers
The
AndroBiotica File: Nearly Human
David Gittlin
Entelligent Entertainment, LLC
979-8-9858605-4-2
$3.79 eBook
Website: www.davidgittlin.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/AndroBiotica-File-Nearly-Human-ebook/dp/B0CN5YSZL5
The
AndroBiotica
File: Nearly Human is a sci-fi novella that marries the
genres of crime
story, sci-fi, and technothriller. Two notes forewarn readers: it's
written in
the present tense, and its science is, David Gittlin admits at the
start,
'wonky' at best. Additionally, certain words are intentionally
misspelled.
Why these features? The
proof of their effectiveness is
in the pudding of a plot that also introduces a wry sense of humor from
its
opening lines:
“What
have you got
for me, Faulk?” Observing my supervisor, Clive Borinsky, I wonder, for
the four
hundredth time, why he only calls me by my last name. Despite the holes
in my
science training, I am Deputy First-Class Investigator Derrick Faulk."
The story of a stolen file
containing the key to producing
highly efficient, nearly human androids evolves within a story that
considers
AI technology's use in the wrong hands, the moral and ethical dilemmas
of
manufacturing nearly human machines, and how endless possibilities for
production and misuse emerge in a conundrum that immerses investigators
in far
more than a missing document.
As questions of what
constitutes humanity play out
against the backdrop of a dangerous mandate and mission to retrieve the
Androbiotica File, readers receive a vivid plot that moves from
detective work
to efforts to reshape the world.
Libraries and readers
seeking sci-fi stories that hold
the added value of moral and ethical dilemmas and detective escapades
will find
The AndroBiotica File: Nearly Human replete
with engrossing subjects and considerations that make it highly
recommended not
only for sci-fi readers looking for original writing but also book
clubs that
would discuss the moral and ethical boundaries of what makes us all
human ...
or not.
Return to Index
The
Redemption of Jarek
Dylan Madeley
Independently published
979-8369751800
$17.00
paperback/$2.99 Kindle
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Redemption-Jarek-Dylan-Madeley/dp/B0BQ521FVX/
The Redemption of Jarek
reviews the life of a once and
would-be ruler who finds himself disgraced and banished from his own
kingdom.
Jarek's story traverses the end of old ways, the downfall of Duke
Jarek, and
the power struggles between commanders that leads to banishment and a
form of
justice that is actually unfair in many ways.
As
Jarek and his soldiers are forced to agree to curb their attacks and
accept
blame for their actions and choices, readers follow the verdict and
terrain of
leaders who swagger, fall, and climb back into a different form of
leadership
role.
Of
particular strength and note is how others see Jarek's behavior, which
in turn
often affects his view of himself:
“You will have to explain if you
wish to convince me. From my vantage, I saw you venture far outside of
our
reach and into theirs. Then you seemed to get their spokesman terribly
upset
before brazenly turning your back on him and casually riding away. I’m
sure
many thought it was courageous, but after our talk in your office, you
must
understand my concern.”
Tyrants
rely on employing fear effectively, but the counterbalance to this
approach is
a form of psychological battle that takes place on very different
levels as
Jarek grows, learns how to better lead and defend his role, and embarks
on a
journey that brings him to redemption.
Dylan
Madeley crafts a medieval fantasy that excels in probing the psychology
of
conflict and transformation. As Jarek and those around him evolve new
purposes
and definitions of leadership and compassion, readers follow his
journey with
many opportunities for enlightenment, thought-provoking reading, and
action-packed clashes and scenarios.
Libraries
seeking stories that hold the overlay of fantasy and the literary
strength of a
psychological probe of leadership, downfalls, redemption, and
transformation on
a personal and community-wide level will find The
Redemption of Jarek a powerful interplay of forces that also
deserves book club recommendation and debate.
Return to Index
Shield
of the King
MB
Mooney
Yorkshire
Publishing
978-1-957262-74-1
$22.99
www.YorkshirePublishing.com
Book
1 of the fantasy Elowen series, Shield of the King,
introduces a kingdom
where a girl is trained to be a warrior by her father, who is a
general. This
is extraordinary because, in this world, women are not trained for
positions of
power; much less daughters who have been expelled from school for the
temerity
of correcting an instructor during a lesson.
Elowen's
elf father has both bowed to the extreme repression of females and
defied it,
in his own way, by seeing that his daughter received unprecedented
opportunities to learn and grow. His teachings come home to roost in an
extraordinary opportunity when a plot to assassinate the king brings
the
retired general back into action, his daughter at his side.
Nobody
wants a hero who is considered a rebellious loser. And yet, Elowen
doesn't
think of herself as such. Thankfully. She joins her father in the quest
to
thwart the enemy, in the process also deftly defying the status quo
that has
kept women repressed and preserved the secrets and corruption that are
infecting and destroying the kingdom.
MB
Mooney crafts a heartfelt story of a young girl seeking to learn more
about her
mother, striving to overcome the limitations set by her society and
kingdom and
joining at her father's side in a role women typically don't experience.
From
a Tournament which changes her abilities and challenges her role even
further
to facing down the Ruchali, along with the training she's received
about who
they are, Mooney creates a satisfying dichotomy between personalities,
groups,
and events. This continually tests perceptions of good and evil in the
kingdom
Elowen navigates both with and without her father, driven by further
lessons on
how these elements intersect with her life and future:
"We are stupid. Less than
elven, right? Savages. Animals. When we fight for our own rights, for
our own
survival, we are monsters, evil.”
“You kill innocents,” I said. “You
want chaos and death.”
“That’s what your father told
you,” Bhelen said.
“Yes.”
On
the face of it, Shield of the King is about
rebellion and struggle. Look
deeper to see that it also is about a young woman who tackles not only
her own
abilities and place in the world, but the ideals and prejudices which
lay in
her own heart.
Young
adult and adult readers will find it much more multifaceted than the
usual
fantasy, filled with political, social, and psychological revelations
that
temper action with thought-provoking moments of introspection and
growth.
The
character of Elowen is likeable and involving, but equally compelling
are the
enemies and friends around her who each lend their own visions and
perceptions
to her growing world.
Libraries
interested in fantasy stories that embrace such disparate themes as the
growing
powers of young women, their ability to navigate repression and
opportunity,
and the corruption in and possibilities of a kingdom's redemption will
find
much to like and highly recommend in the vivid Shield of the
King.
Return to Index
MONARCH:
Stories
Emily
Jon Tobias
Black
Lawrence Press
978-1-62557-085-7
$22.95
www.blacklawrencepress.com
MONARCH: Stories is a
collection of literary
cultural experiences powered by an author who was raised "...as
a Midwesterner in an ordinary middle class American suburb
where as a kid, along with being a poet, the only other dream I had was
being
on the road. I left home young, yearning for a sense of belonging. Live
music
became my roadmap through America, and I exchanged my family for
friends on its
streets. I became intoxicated by all our states, carved into the
concrete of
this country by how hard I danced here."
The
stories were written as tributes to change, giving voice and testimony
to the
social, interpersonal, and psychological traumas life brings to
individuals who
stand on the cusp of new realizations and the distresses inflected by
and in
America's streets.
Choosing
the book's title, MONARCH, was not
an
effort. Indeed, the transformation each of these pieces reflect can
only be
captured by total body and soul immersion of change.
Take
the opening story, 'Red Cardboard Hearts Hanging From Strings.' In it,
a
marriage to an abuser unfolds from the wedding day onward, the roots of
this
relationship embedded in pregnancy and drugs and a sense of streetwise
savvy
that nonetheless neglects to identify the dangers residing under one's
own
roof.
The
rigid boundaries of the evolving relationship receive inspections that
are raw
and vivid:
"It had been decided: yes,
he’d stay with you forever; yes, he’d prove it; yes, he better; yes,
you would.
Then you went back inside, to his bed, more rigid than before. When a
bright
sun broke like a yolk behind Pier 66, you two were still wide awake,
then
hiding your eyes from one another. Somehow you knew there was a little
girl in
you."
At
this point, it should be noted that some of these candid revelations
will
trigger readers who have struggled under similar circumstances:
"(Bruises in fingerprints
on your upper arms that time you were in his seat when the game started
… that
welt from a playful snap to the bra when you took his fat joke too
seriously …
shocked by the first slap to your face in his car when you were too
drunk at
daytime … at a stop light, in broad daylight, on the edge of Occidental
Park
where a homeless lady selling roses out of a bucket watched. You
remember how
sad the lady seemed.)"
Emily
Jon Tobias pulls no punches with her gritty stories. One example is
'Fish and
Flowers', where character Joan hates waiting and standing still, but
finds that
her native Seattle hometown has culturally moved on without her even as
she
also reconsiders her relationship with her family:
"Joan hates her sister more
than she hates the waiting. Hates her. In the same unreasoning way she
imagines
other people hating Mexicans or Indians, with real gusto and tenacity.
She
imagines her baby sister like one of those Barbie dolls that smile
relentlessly
but can only move their limbs at the joints. Flawless waistline but
with
absolutely no distinguishing marks of character. She’s always wanted to
pop the
head right off that doll."
Another
example lies in the gem that is 'Nova,' in which a torturous and
wonderful
relationship with the woman Jones evolves:
"I opened my eyes. Venice.
Craned my neck reaching for air. Gut rot from booze on an empty
stomach. Looked
down across my grass-stained front, wondering where the fuck I had
fallen,
sick, I swayed, and there he was again, front and center, like it was
seventh
grade all over again. The teacher who thought I was special. He said he
wanted
me. Young. My head all spun with clouds like blooms of chalk dust in
the late
autumn light of that classroom. I clamped my lids down and gouged at
the
hangnail on my right thumb, let ocean salt sting the raw flesh. A rock
kicked
off the skateboard of some little, local shit made me flinch. So close,
the
ground rattled beneath my beat-up Converse as he flew by. Looked up,
and there
she was—big and noble—out of nowhere, like my mama’s old ceramic
Madonna.
Jones."
These
are not easy reads, but their literary, social, and psychological
prowess is
compellingly rendered and darkly poignant.
Libraries
and readers seeking stories about addiction, transformation, success,
and
failure will find MONARCH captures
a
series of alterations and relationships that reflect love, loss, and
the outer
limits of the underbelly of American culture and influence.
Highly
recommended,
this literary work will especially spark book club discussions of
contemporary
women's writings that are firmly rooted in emotional and social change.
Return to Index
Northwest Poems
CE Rivers
Penguin Book Writers
978-1-962874-54-0
$22.99 Hardcover/$14.95 Paperback/$7.99 eBook
www.amazon.com
Northwest
Poems
is a Northwest-centric collection of imagery and reflections that
offers free
verse embedded with nature and a sense of place.
Whether CE Rivers is
reviewing a sunrise in Seattle or
wading in the wild waters of the Northwest, the poems embrace a hearty
sense of
Northwest possibilities and impossibilities that capture philosophical
and
natural history observations for a satisfying mix of topics.
Take a trout's soliloquy to
a fisherman in 'The Fish That
Talked'. Here, nature doesn't bite back physically so much as in
reflections
about the fine art of fly fishing and its ultimate impact on the
ecosystem.
The fisherman narrator
receives a lecture that gives him
pause in his pursuits:
"Do you think fish
don’t feel pain?
We do!
Let me put a hook attached to a line
Into your mouth or throat
And pull you in against a current.
Your mouth or throat will be torn and bleed.
You won’t be able to eat for days or
At all, if you survive the fight!"
The
expansive
big bang moves from individual impact to social considerations in
sections
which evolve the narrator's perspective on environment, life, and
bigger-picture thinking. One example lies in 'The World That Happens
Every Day'
in which the narrator moves from his life encounters and challenges he
can
"afford" to urban living that becomes an accepted part of that world:
"Brutality, murder,
and benevolence
Walk side by side
On any city sidewalk
Waiting for the opportunity to emerge."
Readers
move
through the nomadic scenarios that play out in Northwest Poems
breathing
air both pure and tainted by the purposes and perceptions of mankind,
feeling
impacts on person and environment with new reflections, and sharing
equal
attention to the details of life whether they be ice-fishing with an
axe or
reflecting on the agonies of a key photo from the Vietnam era.
The
interplay of
man and nature is especially evocative in this collection, outlining a
concurrent
pursuit of self and life meaning which comes alive under the narrator's
pen.
Libraries
and
readers looking for a collection steeped in a sense of place and
replete with a
powerful juxtaposition of individuals, nations, and nature will find Northwest Poems a compelling gathering
that will do double duty as classroom assignment for teachers seeking
materials
firmly grounded in a sense of geographic and social connection.
Return to Index
Providence
David Grosz
Black Rose Writing
978-1-68513-336-8
$21.95 Paper/$5.99 ebook
www.blackrosewriting.com
Many younger siblings spend
much of their lives in the
shadow of their older siblings, but in Providence,
brother and sister Becca and Gabriel
Staub are in their thirties and still struggling with family dynamics.
Even
though she's a renowned artist, privy to the glamour and attractions of
a
world-wide art community, Gabriel knows some of the wellsprings of her
craft
lie in a childhood trauma he could not prevent.
And so Providence unfolds a warm story of adult
realizations, redemption, and blossoming new opportunities for recovery
and
revitalization as Becca and Gabriel confront their pasts and reinvent
their
futures in different ways.
David
Grosz's ability
to posit a powerful, all-embracing event is evident from the
introduction to
the story, in which the first-person Gabriel confesses to readers about
"A story obsessed me from my late
childhood into early adulthood...I must have run through it thousands
of times,
at first in my head; later out loud, to others. I saved it only for
intimates—close friends, girlfriends, and more than one shrink. It was
the
bridge to my inner chamber, I implied between whispers, the only way to
know
the real me. Over time, I recognized a second motivation for these
retellings.
Although I had recounted the story again and again, something at its
core
mystified me. Each telling was a confession, but also a plea."
The plea
reaches out
to readers in an unusual way, here; the retelling breaking a long-held
pattern
to address the past, finally, in a reflective but conclusive manner
that is
finally able to break away from set reenactments of events to introduce
new
elements of resolution to the story.
The
contrasts between
Gabriel and his sister are stark and appear in the first lines of the
story.
Becca is a nomad; Gabriel lives in the apartment where he was born and
raised.
As Gabriel
faces
uncomfortable truths about his past and present perceptions of and
efforts
towards Becca, readers are drawn into a story that is filled with
juxtapositions of past memory and present-day sibling patterns:
"As I recalled each moment of that night and day
after, I would
ask myself: Did you think of Becca here or only of yourself? My answers
were
usually inconclusive or, worse, disappointing. I concocted various
excuses for
my oversight—Becca had left me, not the other way around; it was so
easy to
find my way out, I figured she could too, I figured she already had;
with Becca
you never knew, you never knew anything; I was so scared I wasn’t
thinking at
all, not of her, not of myself—but I knew they were all
rationalizations. The
truth is I didn’t think much about her, if at all."
As a
blossoming
re-acquaintance with Catherine Morrow (an estranged, former best friend
of
Gabriel and Becca's mother) introduces new realizations about what
happened
with Becca decades ago, Gabriel finds himself caught in a time loop of
past and
present circumstances and confessions that introduce new feelings of
abandonment and rage into the mix.
Promise,
hope, and
anguish entwine as Catherine and Gabriel dance around issues of past
and
present relationships, with all the sorrow and ideals the dance holds:
"Who would have thought, Gabriel? Who would have
thought that you
and I, such an improbable pair, would be the ones to bring everyone
back
together again?”
Providence is a warm story that combines
artistic creations and
movements with a middle-age man's efforts to recreate connections and
truths
long regulated to the past. Libraries interested in acquiring literary
novels
about growth and new realizations will find it a powerful addition to
the
literature about love, sibling relationships, and past resolutions.
Its
thought-provoking
journey will entice and thoroughly absorb readers and will spark many a
book
club discussion about how "...the
cycle of fortune and misfortune, of comfort and anxiety, of
companionship and
solitude, turns for us all."
Return to Index
Riddle
Jane Brunette
Flamingseed Press
978-0989260589
$18.00
Website: www.flamingseed.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Riddle-Koans-Poems-Question-Marks/dp/B0CGTKVXT9/
Riddle:
Koans,
Poems & Question Marks was written during the
pandemic, when Jane
Brunette found herself alone in a wild part of the world, reflecting on
the
connections between nature, humans, and bigger-picture thinking.
Her writings reflect these
questions about openness, what
makes for being human, and the types of inquiries and riddles which
permeate
existence from start to finish. The poems reflect a philosophical,
social, and psychological
set of insights that are accessible, enlightening, and always
reflective, as in
'The Nature of Your Exile':
"loss
of what
you thought was home
a place a people an
innocence
even the center of
what you thought was yourself
disorientation to find
it gone
perhaps you are
larger now
what served
yesterday as center
became the suburbs
and you
a dot of light in
the womb of the universe"
An additional, enlightening
facet of the collection is
black and white images which hold their own one-line definitions to
augment and
expand these poetic and philosophical reflections. The poem 'In It
Together'
holds the image:
"just
us
humans here
no saviors or
saints
just us
kaleidoscopes
each one a village
a town without a
mayor
unable to stop
putin’s army
flood waters and
wild fires
unable to cuddle
every street kid
old man huddling in
the train station
annoying not to be
god"
A facing mercurial black and
white image of diverse
people (identified on one side with the note "we are made of our
limits" and on the other with "sturdy walls for the vessel")
adds further food for thought, binding all together.
Each section in this
collection proposes a riddle, with
the poems providing supportive and diverse enlightenment which reflect
their
position as both riddles and puzzle parts indicating possible solutions
and
resolutions.
As in any good riddle
collection, clues to understanding
are given. These reside at the book's end, offering literary
reflections and
connections that lead to further realizations about the universality
and
applicability of each carefully-worded poem/riddle/koan.
It is highly recommended
that readers imbibe of these
queries and poems, then consult the clues that will lead them full
circle to
pursue each poem in a new and different light.
Filled with spiritual
associations and enlightenment,
philosophical reflections on the state of humanity and its connections
and
disassociation with nature, and the allure of souls in progress where
anger and
resurrection reside side-by-side, Riddle:
Koans, Poems & Question Marks is highly recommended
for not just
literary, but spiritual audiences pursuing the intersection between
humans,
nature, and ethereal states of being.
Libraries and readers
looking for lively interactive
opportunities for discussion groups on contemporary literature will
find Riddle: Koans, Poems & Question
Marks an
exceptional and compelling attraction, both visually and for its unique
forms
and inviting questions.
Return to Index
Visible Magic
Charles Dowling Williams
West Wind Books
978-1-7376395-3-4
$14.95
Ordering: kytreefarm@yahoo.com
The haiku
poetry of
Charles Dowling Williams is actually reflected in the title of his
collection, Visible Magic, which
portends an
experience even seasoned haiku readers will find extraordinary in its
delicate
interlacing of evocative reflections whose inspirational heart lies in
decades
of journal writing about the Kentucky rural experience.
Perhaps no
other
poetry form other than haiku could have been chosen: succinct,
nature-centric,
and quietly evocative, the Japanese literary tradition comes to new
life under
American pen and observation, here.
Take '19
December
2021', for example (the poems are arranged and titled by their journal
date):
"this serene stillness
orange autumn afternoon—
maple leaves chatter"
or the
Kentucky
midwinter of '17 January 2022', observing:
"full Wolf Moon, wet snow
tracks of foxes and bobcats—
frozen fog by dawn"
All four
seasons come
to life, both animals and environment, with a sense of immediacy
perhaps
afforded by the ability to reference journal in-the-moment entries.
Firmly
rooted an
appreciation of the sense of place that is West Wind Farm, the home of Charles Dowling Williams, Visible Magic translates the seasonal
magic of natural Kentucky for the world to see.
Libraries
and readers
interested in the applications of haiku's strict form which go beyond
Japanese
environment and origins will find Visible
Magic a celebration of the great American outdoors and the
even greater
ability of the American poet to capture its seasonal incarnations in a
hard-hitting, beautiful manner.
Ideally, Visible Magic will be chosen by literary
teachers at the high school level and up as an example of contemporary
American
applications of the traditional Japanese poetry form.
Return to Index
Behind
Her Smile
Beverly
Golden Cuevas
URLink
Publishing
978-1-68486-483-6
$21.99
Hardcover/$12.99 Paper/$4.99 ebook
www.urlinkpublishing.com
Behind
Her Smile: The Adventures of a Tall Girl from WVA and Her Life as a
Stewardess is a
memoir about becoming an airline stewardess and being very, very tall.
It's a
story that will resonate with other women who have faced challenges in
career
and perspective because of their height, but also lends insights into a
bygone
heyday of flight attendants, when airplane travel was a very different
prospect.
As
Beverly Golden Cuevas is exposed to the wider
world outside of Columbus, Ohio, she expands her knowledge of life,
people, and
places. From the start, as she enters this strange new world, Cuevas
cultivates
a wry sense of self-humor that appears in the course of exploration and
discovery:
"The
instructors told us we had to fly out of three different airports, JFK,
LaGuardia, and Newark. In order to get to some of these, you had to use
the
subway, which was a truly scary experience in itself until you get used
to it,
which I never did. I had a terrible case of claustrophobia. Yeah, I
know, why
was I not afraid of airplanes? I guess because they weren’t underground
and
between two walls."
From
her professional edict to maintain moral and
ethical values when providing flight services, to her perspective that
all her
passengers are her guests, to be treated with equal respect (whether
they be
money-inducing travel agents or that family that had saved for a
special airplane
trip), Cuevas cultivates a sense of value and perspective that seems
missing in
today's work world in so many ways.
Readers
interested in not only the experience of
flight attendants in earlier years but in the efforts of one tall,
determined
woman to realize her ambitions without compromising her life values
will find Behind
Her Smile replete with not only personal experience, but
professional and
life assessments that give much food for thought.
There
is a world of difference between past and
present attitudes—everything from work value to flying the friendly
(and, too
often today, unfriendly) skies. Cuevas delineates these differences by
capturing her life and its flight experiences with a vivid "you are
here" feel that likely comes from the fact that Behind Her
Smile's
stories come directly from diary entries documenting events at the time.
The
result is a memoir that appeals on several
levels: as a personal history; a professional assessment of bygone
years; and
as a testimony to the power of perseverance and growth. Its saga of
opening up
to the world and maturing into love and experience is revealing and
interesting.
Libraries
and readers seeking memoirs that hold
added value for their blend of personal life events and international
flight
experience will find Behind Her Smile a fine choice.
Return to Index
A
Bittersweet Goodnight
Linda
C. Wright
Independently
Published
978-1-54398-900-7
$17.99
Paper/5.99 Audio/$1.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Bittersweet-Goodnight-Memoir-Life-Family/dp/1543989004
A Bittersweet Goodnight: A Memoir of Life, Love and
Family documents Linda C. Wright's struggle to care for her
stepmother, who was diagnosed with dementia. With little help from
other family
members, Wright was forced to not only provide care, but reassess her
ideals of
right and wrong as she embarks on an unexpected journey that ultimately
leads
to a newfound love.
There
are many memoirs about
dementia and caregiving on the market, but few capture the challenge of
caring
for a family member who is not quite embraced as fully as blood
relatives.
Wright does an exceptional job of exploring and exposing this
difference:
"June always knew she was right and no one was
going to
tell her differently. She would never ask Richard or me for help of any
kind,
not with her finances, home repairs or ride to a good friend’s funeral.
She
made her own arrangements. We gladly offered our assistance no matter
what the
problem because to us, June was family. To her we were something
different. I’m
not sure what separated us but I found through the many years I knew
her that
our relationship was like the brass ring on the carousel, coming
closer, and
floating farther away and always just slightly out of reach."
Wright
considers the glue that
traditionally held them together, the new mandates dementia brought to
their
lives and relationship, and her efforts to participate in family events
that
brought June into the fold in a different way. Readers receive many
insights
about dealing with dementia and how it proves more complex when
considering
family relationships that also reflect years of internal struggle.
Also
of special note are
Wright's attempts to understand June's condition and state of mind:
"June frequently spoke of confusion but I’m not
sure
what she meant by that. I suspected people suffering from dementia,
have a spot
way down deep inside their brain, that clearly knows the mail is
delivered
every day at noon, the bills are paid by the act of writing a check,
along with
the names in order by age of all the children and grandchildren. The
rest of
their brain however, will not allow the person to verbalize those
specific
facts, creating a sense of confusion. That is how my non-scientific
self
explains how to decipher June’s comments in a way that makes perfect
sense to
me, right or wrong."
The
result is a powerful memoir
of dementia, shifting family relationships, and doing the right and
wrong
things under pressure and impossible circumstances.
Libraries
and readers seeking
accounts of dementia that also acknowledge and explore the facets of
addressing
broken family ties or challenging relationships against the backdrop of
such an
illness will find plenty of discussion material and food for thought in
Wright's survey of what makes for family connection and love:
"June wasn’t my mother, but yes, she played an
integral part in shaping me from a young age. I had a very different
relationship with my own mother who also played a large part in turning
me into
who I am. Both taught me things about life I loved and embraced. Both
exposed
me to a dark side of themselves I wanted to turn my back on. I came out
the
other end a better person for all they gave me."
Return to Index
From
Trophy Wife
to Cosmetic Surgeon
Victoria
Johnson, MD
Yorkshire
Publishing
978-1-957262-80-2
$19.99
https://trophywifetocosmeticsurgeon.com/
From Trophy Wife to
Cosmetic Surgeon explores the
transformation of a Mississippi
housewife who has an eight-year-old daughter and an abusive husband.
Its
eye-opening story of this process serve as testimony to other women in
similar
positions.
"Once the pain
becomes intolerable, you break and
change it." Victoria Johnson
had heard this note of caution, but found herself living it in
unexpected ways.
At age twenty-eight, a visit to a cosmetic surgeon created an
attraction to the
work that translated to new opportunities and a revised vision for her
future.
Desperate
for
guidance on how to find a way out of her abusive situation, Johnson
prayed and
pursued self-help books, guidance counselors, and outside help. Her
faith drove
her to consult her sister, who helped her tackle numerous
(impossible-sounding)
obstacles towards new goals, from earning money and raising her
daughter to
attending school.
Her
wise sister
counseled:
“'How do you eat an
elephant?'
I shook my head, at a loss. 'One bite at a time,' she
said."
The
steps
Johnson took to become educated in medicine so she could take up the
reins of a
new career and life are documented in a faith-driven story that will
inspire
women who reside under similar positions and who feel that the
obstacles to
resolution are insurmountable.
From
changes in
her medical career's direction and the issues that arose in medical
education
to her pursuit of opportunity, freedom, and healing, Johnson provides a
vivid
account that demonstrates how any woman can follow in her footsteps.
Johnson
tells of
approaching bankers with logical business plans and spearheading an
inclusive
clinic environment, to pursuing answers to life conundrums, employing
an
unexpectedly raw, candid confessional tone. This permeates a story that
is as
open about personal and professional failings and questions as it is
about
pursuing solutions: "I was so scared for my patient and
appalled at my
ignorance. I felt blindsided. I needed help and information."
The
result is a
memoir that comes from real world experiences. Johnson laces her
account with
reflections on encounters with different cultures and people from other
walks
of life, cultivating a warm, encouraging, honest tone as she
re-envisions life
on many different levels.
Libraries
seeking stories of personal empowerment and transformational drive will
find From
Trophy Wife to Cosmetic Surgeon an honest survey that reveals
many
practical life lessons and approaches that other women can benefit from.
Return to Index
Growing Up
Army
Robert R. Heath Sr.
Warren Publishing
978-1-960146-55-7
$30.95 Hardcover/$18.95 Paper
www.warrenpublishing.net
Growing
Up Army:
The Story Of A Soldier, His Loving Wife, And Their Nine Adventurous
Army Brats
Traveling The World In Service To Our Country is a powerful,
enlightening
chronicle of what it means to be a family participating in Army life,
providing
a service to others by documenting the daily routines of a military
family.
This isn't your usual
two-children family. Nine kids and
two parents made numerous journeys, as military service required.
Robert R.
Heath was one of these family members, and his account of what it meant
to
"grow up Army" captures, as few other stories do, the impact of the
nomadic life that gave so much to country and, in turn, built a family
rich in
values and flexibility:
"Through
all
our lives, as Army Brats, we had to deal with the heartbreak of
constant
separation from good friends due to the normal rotation of Dad’s
assignments.
Then occasionally we had the great joy of meeting them again a few
years down
the road at another base. Growing up Army means never having roots to
any one
“hometown.”
As the third of nine "Army
brats," he learned
not only to survive, but thrive.
Family adventures and growth
experiences blend in a
multi-generational effort to draw together family history and stories
of
military associations, achievements, and life. These, in turn,
strengthen and
add historic dimensions into this story.
Readers who come from Army
roots themselves will well
recognize many of the challenges and opportunities this lifestyle
presented to
the author, while those with little familiarity with Army life but a
real
interest in how families (especially large ones) develop will find many
thought-provoking insights accompanying the adventures the family
navigated and
absorbed.
Whether presenting a child's
illicit adventure encounter
with Chinese soldiers or learning about differences between Army and
civilian
life, Growing Up Army synthesizes
the
wealth and variety of life experiences that can only be found in the
world of
"Army brats":
"Experiencing
all the differences in how other people lived has always been one of
the great
benefits all of us Brats express when talking about growing up Army."
The result is lively, fun,
and unexpected—a story that
holds the power to attract not just military families and those about
to enter
service, but general-interest readers, who will enjoy a rollicking ride
through
cultural interactions and family dynamics.
Libraries and readers
interested in Army experiences will
find much to appreciate in Growing Up
Army, which is highly recommended for a wide audience.
Return to Index
Beach of the Dead
Cynthia J. Bogard
Atmosphere Press
978-1-63988-980-8
$18.99 paperback; $9.99 Kindle
www.cynthiajbogard.com
Book 2 of the Heartland Trilogy, Beach of
the Dead, examines a murder in paradise but
opens in 1986 Texas,
where a fugitive narrates the vivid events that almost led her to
suicide.
Choosing her great-grandmother's name as a
cover, 'Ana' (nee: Jane Meyer) journeys south of the Mexican border to
escape
and build a new life, only to run head-long into more trouble, murder,
and the
challenge to not only run for her life, but dash into a different
identity with
new possibilities for her future.
The added value of Cynthia J.
Bogard's story lies in Jane/Ana's quest for a new life (however much it
rests
upon building believable lies about her past) far from the violent
influences
which began in childhood and led her to murder her lover and mentor.
Bogard
doesn't reveal
everything at once, but builds satisfying tension through stories of
discovery
and revelation. These follow the protagonist's quest for not just
redemption,
but a peaceful life—something that has proved elusive to her for a very
long
time.
This focus
on strong
character development and psychological insights adds attraction and
depth to
the story, elevating it beyond the typical murder tale. Readers become
immersed
in the murderer's life and choices, covering her reinvention as the
Catholic
bride Ana in a very different milieu.
Bogard
creates
memorable interactions between characters as Ana grows into this new
world and
attempts to both set aside her past and make her new identity a lasting
one.
The focus on how individuals flee conflict, reinvent their lives, and
face
their pasts and future gives Beach of the Dead a profound sense of discovery and recovery that
will satisfy readers
looking for more than a murder scenario alone.
Of special note is the cost of trying to
maintain relationships built on such a façade:
"I
was afraid
I wouldn’t be able to keep my facade intact. That was part of it. The
closer
we’d become, the more it had started to slip. It was as if I was on
stage,
play-acting someone else’s life twenty-four hours a day. It was tiring,
daunting, especially when the other party was trying to get to know me,
trying
to get closer. Rather than simply experiencing love and longing, my
feelings
were all mixed up with guilt for deceiving her and fear that she’d find
me out
and reject me, as would be her right. There was a deeper level to the
fear. It
wasn’t all about being found out. I knew I also feared that,
eventually,
whether it was Ana or Jane, I would be revealed as unworthy of
Thorpe’s, of
anyone’s, love. Not knowing if that was definitively true was why I
could go
on, damaged as I was. If I got too close to someone, if they knew the
real me,
it would kill that little glimmer of hope that lived inside me. The one
that
promised that, despite everything, I was capable of being loved, when
every
fiber of my being said otherwise. Lying Ana or truthful Jane, either
way I was
despicable, damaged beyond repair."
The result is powerfully intriguing, delving
into how new personas are envisioned, built, and maintained under
challenging
conditions.
Libraries, readers, and book clubs
interested in multifaceted stories that offer much food for thought and
debate
about truth and lies, identity, and growth will find real pleasure in Beach
of the Dead, which operates as both a pivot point in a
trilogy and a
stand-alone story that newcomers, too, will relish.
Return to Index
Blue Eyed
Devil
MJ McDuffie
Palmetto Publishing
979-8-8229-1759-0
$24.99
Hardcover/$16.99 Paper/$4.99 ebook
www.mjmcduffie.com
Readers of
paranormal
thrillers who enjoy intersections between political confrontation and
psychic
mystery investigations will find Blue
Eyed Devil a fine study in contrasts. It pairs a psychically
gifted FBI
agent with the conundrum faced by Widow Belle, whose husband's legacy
is
buffeting her life.
The
political winds
of change are also turbulent as several presidential elections, a
possible new
miracle drug, and the special interests of competing forces coalesce on
two
disparate individuals who find their lives, interests, and abilities
dangerously entwined.
The tale
opens in
1944, which sets the stage for events that fast forward to influence
lives in
2012, where Remy struggles with his gift of being able to perceive the
auras
that indicate adversity in other peoples' lives.
The story's
complexity embraces readers as Remy and Belle find they are facing a
formidable
adversary and evil force apparently able to undermine even their own
special
abilities.
Just because
Belle has
a unique understanding of Remy's secrets doesn't mean she is willing to
trust
him completely.
And yet, she
must:
"In her heart, Belle understood she could trust
this man with her
secret because the charming devil had trusted her with his. As a smile
formed
on her pretty face, she realized Mr. Remington Montgomery had not
confessed all
his talents. Also, willing to gamble he was a damaged man who had told
no one
in a long time about the colors he witnessed daily."
As secrets
from the
past come to light, Belle reconsiders what she thought she knew about
Remy even
as both face some of the biggest challenges of their lives.
MJ McDuffie
does an
excellent job of weaving romance, paranormal intrigue, and mystery into
the
tale, keeping readers engaged and wondering about many different
outcomes. A
myriad of challenges direct and redirect the plot, keeping it
satisfyingly
unpredictable.
From
overseas cartels
and election influencers to the outcome of forces that seem impossible
to
curtail, address, or change, Blue Eyed
Devil's ability to move between the personal and the
political lends it an
especially involving countenance that keeps its action fluid and the
characters
on their toes. Readers will find themselves emotionally engaged in a
way most
political thrillers don't offer.
Blue Eyed Devil is a top recommendation
for libraries seeking
stories that lure thriller and non-thriller readers with the added
attraction
of emotional connections and motivations. Its ability to move between
political
and corporate special interests and characters that display their own
interests
in hiding or using their abilities makes for a story that is hard to
predict or
put down.
Return to Index
Coded to Kill
Marschall Runge, MD
Post Hill Press
978-1-63758-925-0
$30.00
Hardcover/$18.99 Paper/$7.99 ebook
www.posthillpress.com
Coded to Kill represents a play on
medical terminology suitable for
its subject as a medical/techno-thriller, inviting readers to enter a
world
steeped in ethical questions of medical breakthroughs and their
ultimate costs.
At the heart
of this
story is Drexel Hospital's revolutionary new Electronic Health Records
system,
which sports the real-time medical records of every American for
instant access
through any medical system.
Sounds good.
But even
the best of intentions can go awry. Hugh Torrence views the new system
as an
unprecedented opportunity for profit and power. Until patients begin
mysteriously dying.
As computer
tekkies,
physicians, and prominent administrators in positions of power vie for
control
of the new system and answers about its underlying puzzles, readers
enjoy a
compelling novel of espionage, intrigue, and unexpected ethical
conundrums as
an ideal medical scenario falls apart.
From chief
technicians who can't seem to press the 'reset' button fast enough to
investigators who are certain that someone is harming patients on
purpose, the
fast-paced action and swirl of competing special interests creates a
compelling
story packed with high-octane action. Its unexpected twists and turns
keep
readers guessing about perps, purposes, and outcomes.
Marschall
Runge's
familiarity with the medical system and its administration lends a
realistic
atmosphere to a story peppered with red flags of warning as the
characters confront
IT, medical issues, and their personal ability to make problems vanish.
At the heart
of this
adventure lie social and ethical conundrums that will lead readers to
think
about the ultimate impact of imperfect 'perfect' systems, and the
process of managing
and accessing patient care in a high-tech world.
Libraries
and readers
looking for medical thrillers with the atmosphere of a good Robin Cook
production, the tension and feel of Michael Crichton's unexpected
twists, and
the ethical dilemmas of Patricia Cornwell's medical mysteries will find
Coded to Kill a powerful
juxtaposition
of medical and personal ethics. Coded to
Kill should ideally find its way onto the shelves of any
library and reader
serious about acquiring and imbibing the finest of medical thrillers.
Return to Index
Man-Killer
Lawrence
Kelter
Black
Rose Writing
978-1685133528
$21.95 Paper/$5.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Man-Killer-Gina-Cototi-Cases-Book/dp/1685133525
Man-Killer is the
first book in the Gina
Cototi Cases series. It provides crime and mystery readers with a vivid
character in PI investigator Gina Cototi, a Sicilian sleuth as
committed to
family and love as she is dogged about pursuing cases and truths.
In
this instance, Gina struggles with her attraction to bad boy Rocco Benelli, an unemployed parole officer
who is as dangerous as he is charming. His allure is nearly
irresistible—but it
doesn't change her need for a partner that is effective and savvy as
her
expanding caseload demands she pair up with one who is equal to her
investigative abilities.
As
she faces assassins, love, and family connections with equal
determination and
courage, Gina discovers that she stands between an evil mobster and an
invitation she can barely resist.
Lawrence
Kelter creates a memorable and powerful character and plot that moves
readers
into the charged atmosphere of Brooklyn's underworld and those who
navigate its
murky waters of corruption and justice.
Fast-paced
action pairs with family interactions and romantic interludes in a
satisfying
manner as the story evolves—sometimes in directions even seasoned
mystery
readers won't see coming.
Man-Killer is flavored
by feisty Gina's
determination and her eye for trouble, but also by a thread of ironic
humor
that introduces realistic conundrums to the protagonist's efforts:
"The mission couldn’t have
gone better, and yet something inside me begged for more excitement.
All eyes
were on the front of the building as we waited for Mura to emerge. That
fated
moment arrived when a woman knows she can’t hold her water a second
longer. “Be
right back,” I blurted."
Libraries
and readers seeking compelling first-person crime sagas that are
vividly
rendered will find Man-Killer
exceptional for its fast action and candid character discoveries about
crime
and attraction:
"I was the moth to his
flame and in my heart I knew the day would come when I got burned. But
for the
time being, I needed to have fun and oh my God, that man was fun."
Return to Index
Death Under
the
Deluge
C.M. Wendelboe
Encircle Publications
978-1645994800
$16.99 Paper/$4.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Death-Under-Deluge-Spirit-Mystery/dp/1645994805
The sixth
book of the
Spirit Road mystery series (revolving around Lakota FBI agent Manny
Tanno) again
involves tribal interests in a murder scenario in which a body turns up
too
close to the Sioux Indian reservation. The age of the body makes it a
historical mystery—until Manny's probe reveals that the history might
not quite
reside only in the past.
As a cold
case turns
hot, Manny finds that being in law enforcement offers no immunity to
death when
a fellow officer is shot and his own life is repeatedly threatened. The
murder
may have taken place some seventy year ago, but its impact is still
alive and
kicking.
C.M. Wendelboe creates
another powerful mystery that
sizzles with not only intrigue, but a surprisingly wry sense of humor
that runs
like a thread through the story from its opening lines:
"Mel
Peel
brought the binoculars down from his eyes and handed them to Deputy Sam
Christian. “I’m only a lonely diver hired by you guys now and again and
who
flunked anatomy class in school, but I suspect those five fingers are
attached
to a wrist down there somewhere.”
The body was supposed
to stay buried in the murky waters of a submerged cabin under the
Missouri
River, but nothing stays hidden forever. Manny's probe forces him into
many
uncomfortable positions, from facing bullets to encountering old flames
that
may hold not only clues, but equally well-hidden passions.
He's armed with added-value
abilities which also feel
dubious, at times: “...my visions do not
feel like gifts. Be different if my visions were . . . pleasant, but
they’re
not. They’re frightening.”
Neither his strong
connections nor his savvy may be
enough to prevent the re-emergence of a murderer from the past, as
evidence
points out to the perp.
Though Manny's expertise and
processes received
embellishment in many books before this, newcomers to Wendelboe's
character
should not be dissuaded from taking up the story as a stand-alone,
despite its
prolific historical precedents.
It's easy to become immersed
in Manny's persona and
surroundings—and just as easy to find his dilemmas and choices
realistic and
thought-provoking. Vivid action compliments insights into murderers,
victims,
and even love.
Libraries
and readers seeking mysteries which incorporate
Native American interests and procedural intrigue will find Death Under the Deluge a compelling,
highly attractive story whose
twists and turns make it hard for even seasoned mystery readers to
predict.
Return to Index
Lacey's Star
Kay DiBianca
Wordstar Publishing, LLC
978-1-7357888-7-6
$4.99
ebook; $9.99 paperback
Website: https://kaydibianca.com/
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Laceys-Star-Pilot-Command-Novel-ebook/dp/B0CKB31PT9/
Readers seeking
Christian mystery, romance, and suspense stories will find that Lacey's Star fits the bill for all three
genres, exploring the adventures of a female pilot who confronts
thieves that
have attacked her beloved uncle.
Determined to help him, yet
facing issues of who she can
trust with this sensitive and dangerous pursuit of justice, Cassie
Deakin
reluctantly joins Deputy Frank
White
(whom she also doesn't quite trust) in the quest for answers,
inadvertently
revealing a child's murder that's been covered up for decades. Why?
And, what
does her uncle's situation have to do with this event?
As Cassie
probes
dangerous connections and territory, she finds herself ever more
immersed in
the unexpected, whether it is relationships that invite or those that
threaten.
Kay DiBianca
adds a
dash of humor to her story to enliven characters, plot, and
perspectives:
“What do you make of her?”
“She looks like the kind of person who’d wear a frilly pink nightgown,”
I said and tossed my head. “You probably know the type. A tart.”
Frank stopped by the gate. “A tart. Now there’s a word you don’t hear
every day.”
“If the nightgown fits …”
Cassie finds
that
deputy Frank seems to bring out an underlying layer of anger in her as
she
resists his advances of friendship and possibly something more. Her
reaction to
his standing her up is fiery, reinforcing her mistrust of him and the
opportunity he represents.
As she and
Frank
uncover more facts about young Lacey Alderson's death, the beacon of
promise
offered by resolution, insight, and growth shines ever greater as the
saga
unfolds.
DiBianca is
adept at
pairing mystery with personal insights that both motivate the
characters and
move them forward in their individual journeys of growth and resolution.
As the
deaths,
depression, and realizations mount, she weaves an intersection of
discovery and
growth into her story to craft three-dimensional characters whose
problem-solving abilities are challenged by the very connections they
cultivate
and contemplate in their own lives.
Their search
for
peace and justice brings with it something unexpected—redemption and
romance.
Libraries
and readers
looking for clean, uplifting reading and psychological growth in their
mysteries, as well as a feisty, proactive female character willing to
embrace
the unexpected and rise into her abilities and new possibilities of
romance,
will find Lacey's Star a winning
acquisition.
Return to Index
One Icy Night
W.A. Pepper
Hustle Valley Press,
LLC
ASIN: B0CN5C9RHB
$4.99 eBook
https://www.amazon.com/One-Icy-Night-Anniversary-Delta-ebook/dp/B0CN5C9RHB
Imagine
waking up to
a madman who is trying to kill you. Such is the opening scenario in the
Rook
thriller One Icy Night, where a
drunk
driver is transporting an equally drunk detainee, who is in handcuffs;
careening through icy streets until an ax-wielding stranger stands
before their
car.
And that's
just the
opening scenario.
As the story
unfolds,
Rook presents as a traveling female bassist in a band who confronts
betrayal, a
soon-to-be-ex boyfriend, and murder with equal competency and a
"physical
and mental thick skin" that serves her well, whether in a band or
participating in bar brawls.
Another
strength lies
in the wry sense of humor that peppers vivid descriptions and action:
"At first, I think I'm the one screaming like a
gerbil in a
blender. But no, the high-pitched yell comes from Riley. Everything in
the
vehicle bounces around and pelts us as gravity and momentum team up to
beat our
asses."
As a storm
of
physical and mental events emerges, the story moves between the
"then" and "now' of last year and today, juxtaposing a series of
confrontations and events which test Rook's ability to accept what she
has done
and how to move on.
References
to the
Quran and Bible pepper her journey. Characters who cherish a higher
power and
law intersect with Rook's self-examination to provide further moments
of
enlightenment, irony, and insights into her efforts to stop the bad guy
and
regain her power.
W.A.
Pepper's ability
to lead readers through Rook's actual hell and back lends to a thriller
replete
with unexpected moments of enlightenment and revelation.
Libraries
and readers
seeking a story steeped in conflicts of interest and one event's
lasting impact
on a young woman's life will find One Icy
Night a powerful study in psychological and spiritual
contrasts. It takes a
conflict with the law and moves it into arenas of psychological and
philosophical inspection that are gritty, unexpected, and hard to put
down.
Return to Index
The
Other Murder
Kevin
G. Chapman
First
Legacy Publishing, LLC
978-1-958339-18-3
$26.99
www.KevinGChapman.com
The Other Murder follows disgraced cable news reporter
Hannah's foray into last chances and dangerous waters as her efforts to
cover a
college student's shooting reveals underlying influences and concerns.
These
threaten both Hannah and fellow reporter Paulo, whose work for a
different
publication investigating a second murder reveals equally dangerous
connections.
The
tale opens with gunshots that most New York citizens would ignore. But
NYU
security man Joe Malone is a cop at heart, and so he can't ignore cries
of pain, gunshots, or portents of crime, even if he has retired from
the NYPD
force.
Hannah
is introduced not in the thick of this event, but as she is on the cusp
of
going on a date when her managing editor calls with a juicy assignment.
It's an
important second chance for her after the career-busting debacle of her
last effort, so Hannah is more than motivated to follow through.
Unfortunately, in
this case, following through leads her more personally into trouble and
involvements that she is ill equipped to handle with her skills as a
reporter.
(Or, is it the perfect skill set to succeed where more professional
investigators fail?)
Kevin
G. Chapman's contrast of two murders, two reporters, and vastly
different
approaches to problem-solving creates a realistic and involving
mystery. It
surveys political and social struggle in Latino and New York
Communities as
these disparate reporters join forces and differing perspectives to
follow the
clues into danger.
The
characters represent a satisfying contrast in purposes and
perspectives, the
social and political issues intersect well with the story's thriller
component
(which pairs high-octane action with intrigue and psychological
revelations),
and Chapman's attention to building a fast-paced story filled with
satisfyingly
unpredictable twists and turns creates a memorable, compelling saga.
The
characters come to life and are likeable in different ways, while their
career
challenges and unique approaches to problem-solving create a forceful
interplay
of personalities which is delightful to observe. The atmosphere of the
Latino
community is also surprisingly realistic and compellingly captured as
events unfold:
"He set his bag down on the
fountain edge to his left and scanned the area, looking for his new
contact,
but also taking note of the vendor carts. Food carts represented
safety,
because the vendors were always there and often had defensive weapons.
Plus,
there were usually patrons buying food. Safety in numbers. There were
plenty of
vendors. He saw no cops."
Libraries
and readers seeking murder mysteries that are filled with surprises and
an
unexpected, thought-provoking conclusion will not only find The
Other Murder
an excellent choice, but worthy of top recommendation to mystery book
club
audiences seeking stories embedded with thought-provoking events
suitable for
discussion and debate.
Return to Index
Searching
for Dali
Robert Lane
Mason Alley
Publishing
978-1-7322945-7-8
$14.95 Paperback/$4.99 eBook
https://www.amazon.com/stores/Robert-Lane/author/B00HZ2254A?ref=ap_rdr&store_ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true
Fans of
Robert Lane's
Jake Travis series well know the supercharged nature of Jake's
pursuits; but in
Searching for Dali, Jake's efforts
introduce the added value of characters such as Veronica Stafford,
whose phone
calendar includes mention of her projected death date.
At the heart
of her
decisions are not only physical health issues, but the disappearance of
an
original Salvador Dali painting, The Lost
Body, that she was mandated to protect for her husband.
From
repressed
memories that hold insights on many mysteries to degenerative
conditions that
spark questionable decisions, Veronica's choices instigate a series of
events. These
draw investigator Jake Travis into the art world and onto a journey
that proves
one of the more challenging in his career when he becomes involved in
Veronica's
life.
Robert Lane
maintains
the philosophical observations and tone that make the characters and
their
personalities come to life against a philosophical backdrop designed to
keep
readers engaged and thinking:
"She’d miss her natural ability to orchestrate her
surroundings.
To bend the world to her purpose. Like Dali’s clocks. She always felt
she was
gifted in that area, although now the value of the gift escaped her."
Jack's
background
working with the special forces and as a CIA agent is exactly what
seventy-two-year-old Veronica wants on her special case. Her insistence
on his
involvement with her husband and the missing painting draws him
reluctantly
into an alternative reality even he believes ("...the
sweet spot of life was a few degrees off reality.”)
From hot
art, a
painting's rightful owner, and the search to find it to the
psychological
motivations and reasoning of characters who are involved in the mystery
on
different levels, Lane returns to the first person when following
Jake's footsteps
into not just the art world, but the undercurrents buffeting his own
life and
choices.
Jake's duty
embraces
far more than uncovering a painting's whereabouts. He finds himself
charged and
challenged by those vulnerable to his decisions and their own
involvement in
the case:
"I felt an obligation to protect Carrie. For, like
the gecko in my
pocket, she knew nothing of the world she had entered. She was alive
only
because Demos didn’t know where the painting was, and his first brutal
attempt
to learn its location had, for some unknown reason, backfired."
Has his
preoccupation
with Dali led to his not listening to obvious cues about other events?
Can Jake
turn his back on the ten million dollars that's at stake in his
choices? His
family life with Kathleen and the children also become entwined with
his
mandate to locate the missing Dali and too many other pieces of the
bigger
picture and puzzle.
Lane
captures this
relationship and impacts upon it using compelling, descriptive language
that
leads to astute insights:
"Kathleen was the conductor of our lives. The baton
bearer who
kept the disparate parts graceful, fluid, and in harmony. And I? I was
a rover,
the third-chair Wrecking Crew trumpet player who, in one note, could
blare out
the entire ensemble. Everyone knows when the trumpet player screws up."
The result
is another
Jake Travis mystery that adds additional layers of understanding for
prior
readers, but requires no prior familiarity with Jake's relationships
and
approaches in order to prove equally engrossing for newcomers.
Libraries
and readers
seeking stories of suspense that profile the art world's impact on
private and
public lives will find Searching for Dali
as riveting in its exploration of self and moral values as it is in
Jake's discovery
of the real story behind a missing Dali piece that is literally worth
dying
for.
Return to Index
Stung
Cullen Scott
Papillon du Père
Publishing
978-1-915221-13-1
$14.99 Paperback/$4.99 eBook
Publisher: https://papillon-du-pere.com/
Author: https://cullenscottbooks.com/
It's rare to
see
techno-thriller writing that can appeal broadly from young adult into
adult
audiences, but Stung is such an
offering, promising a special brand of compelling appeal that hits hard
from
the start. Set in 2047, it tells of a world where everyone has a chip
implanted
in their brain at age 16.
Two
fifteen-year-olds
are about to enter favored adult status with their newly awakened
chips. But,
they are not happy about the mandate.
Talon is
just
entering his senior year of high school and is facing 'programming
day', which
will activate his chip implant and connect him to the government
network. Yet,
he has cause to worry about the event and his choices as his family
history
comes to light:
"Three years ago, his brother wrestled with the
same anxieties.
Deciding not to be networked, Wilder headed for the depths of the
surrounding
mountains, where it ended badly. Talon was supposed to be able to
acknowledge
this. That Wilder starved to death. Starving was one of the many
self-inflicted
consequences awaiting those that fled. Through many counseling
sessions, Talon
came to understand Wilder had made bad choices. The problem was, with
Talon’s
‘special day’ drawing near, he couldn’t guarantee to himself he would
choose
differently."
As
confrontations,
new revelations, and struggles emerge, the story of a kill-chip's
influence and
resistance moves between a disparate group of characters, from Talon
and Sophia
to Shadow, Drake, and General Stafford.
Each represent a segment of special agendas that flow into one another. Conflicts and the consequences of killing force each individual to confront moral and ethical decisions that challenge both the status quo and their own life trajectory.
Cullen Scott
excels at contrasting forces of government control with those that
opt for freedom at all costs, even if the choice involves death and
retribution.
The
fast-paced,
action-packed story is designed to appeal to teen audiences, but will
reach
into adult readers with its further review of the philosophical and
psychological ramifications. The chip supposedly will quash any
intention of
murder or killing, but comes with its own requirement to artificially
control
human instincts.
Scott's
choice of
contrasting changing character perspectives lends a more full-bodied
feel to
her story than other works of dystopian fiction. It adds a depth of
contrasting
clashes that review the logic and thinking processes of a disparate
group of
individuals who come to question the logic of improving life by
thwarting
murderous impulses.
Who could
resist such
an agenda?
The 'why' is
even
more intriguing as the story unfolds its unexpected, delightful twists
and
turns.
All these
elements
make Stung highly recommended not
just for teens and adult readers, but especially for libraries and book
club
discussion groups interested in stories of survival, individuality, and
the ultimate
cost of social control systems.
Return to Index
Ambient Light
Kate Stout
Saltcoats Press
979-8-9887411-0-7
$24.95 Hardcover/$16.95
Paper/$9.99 ebook
Website: ambientlightnovel.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Ambient-Light-Novel-Kate-Stout/dp/B0CJ43Y53K
Ambient Light is a novel about seven friends who have stuck
together during
their teen years, but now find new challenges in their adult choices.
Chapters take the form of six
voices that move from present-day circumstances to various pivot points
of the
past as the friendships evolve and change, creating a flow between time
and
personalities which moves fluidly between events and influences to
bring the
nature of each character's personality and relationship to life.
Begin with Adie, who reflects: "In
the end, I was the first to leave
and the last to know." Her
insights about her possible stance as the "last member of the pack"
leads to an assessment of youth relationships and adult decisions that
neatly
outline the adversities and growth opportunities involved in the
evolution of
kindred spirits.
The adult Adie has her own
family. She also has found her world shaken as COVID takes hold of her
life and
community, but her role as one piece of the seven-part group receives
center
display in an introduction that moves to progressively consider the
impact of
Sebastian, the 'glue' of their group who broke off connections to move
to San
Francisco to lead an openly gay life.
Adie, Breck, Mary
Clay, Tony, Jude, and Grady all find their lives transformed not just
by their
early friendship and the attraction and abandonment Sebastian
represents to
them, but the whirlwind of changing events that indicate his influence
on them
has waned, but not vanished.
Surreal imagery often
accompanies these reflections as each character experiences
transformative
processes and challenges in their lives that stem from these
connections and
influences.
At times, the ethereal language
reads like poetry. One example lies in one of Mary Clay's descriptive
experiences:
"Oh, the
relentless, torturing sun! Burning
burning down.
This sun I have
always revered as the engine of life in my garden and all the gardens I
have
tended since college. How I love to turn my face to it like a giant
sunflower,
feasting on its rays, lusting for it when stormy or dark skies rob me
of my
psychic fuel. Or did But not now Not today when I roast upon its spit."
The reflections each character
makes on their interconnected pasts are also astutely described, often
bordering on the philosophical:
"We reel in
our raucousness like caught delinquents and all of us take sudden
measure of
our youthful transgressions, those now fabled times made legendary in
the
lexicon of our teenaged pack."
Kate Stout's approach to
exploring these personalities and their lives makes for an engrossing
story
filled with memorable moments of revelation and interconnection.
Especially pleasing are the
hopes that emerge from the combined strengths of these relationships:
"I want to be
able to scoop up as much life as I can. And drink it down."
The LGBTQ+ considerations
embedded in the bigger picture of life changes and choices also offer
much food
for thought as the characters grow and evolve, yet retain their
original
influences and impact on one another even as they leave childhood to
enter into
adulthood.
Libraries strong in literary
fiction that explores evolving long-term friendships, life influences
and
events, and the kinds of evolutionary processes that add meaning and
ambitions
to dreams and realities will find Ambient
Light a compelling read that can be easily recommended to
book clubs
interested in stories about coming of age, long-term relationships, and
LGBTQ+
issues.
The proof of the powerful draw
of literary and psychological revelations lies in Ambient
Light's masterful insights:
"We can be
our dreams. Why not? We may be loners but that doesn’t mean we won’t
take the
world by storm."
Return to Index
Arms Wide
Asunder
S. Jay Bose
CoeurDeLion Books
979-8-9880552-1-1
$6.02 ebook/$19.95
Paperback/$29.95 Hardcover
Website: www.sjbose.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Arms-Wide-Asunder-Treachery-Redemption-ebook/dp/B0BZSX68PL
Arms
Wide Asunder:
An Epic Story of Treachery, Lust, Plunder and Redemption at the Birth
of the
British Empire in India is a novel based on real events that
took place in
India during the mid to late 18th century. It focuses on the Battle of
Plassey,
fought in 1757.
From this introductory note,
readers might expect this
historical novel requires a prior familiarity with India's history—but,
it does
not. One of the pleasures of the story lies in its ability to posit
different
outcomes from small changes in choice, action, and loyalty, and in the
author's
ability to bring the sights, sounds, and experiences of these times to
life for
readers who may have little to no prior familiarity with the events,
people,
and era under consideration.
A somewhat
formidable-appearing cast of characters and a
family tree sets the stage with facts that will pleasantly surprise
readers
with a concurrent series of descriptions that bring the story to life
from the
start:
"A
songbird
glides into the room through the open French window and chirps softly,
as if
calling to its mate. The man sleeping inside stirs, sensing a presence,
and
stretches a sinewy, bronzed arm for the loaded revolver concealed
beneath an
old English edition of Marcel Pagnol’s Chateau
de Ma Mere, lying on the nightstand. Gripping the firearm,
the man scans
the darkness, probing for danger. Satisfied, he lays his head back on
the
pillow and stares at the extravagant mural of the Three Fates hovering
high
above him on the cathedral-like ceiling."
The story unfolds with a
special attention to character
relationships, political and military impacts on all levels of society,
reviewing the conflicts that are identified, transmitted, and perceived
between
generations:
“My
dear Anjolie,
you have grown into a strong and confident young woman, and I’m pleased
to see
that. But listen to an old man, for life’s lessons are often learnt the
hard
way, and I would not want you to make the mistakes I have made in my
own life,
particularly in this country which is still alien to you."
S. Jay Bose
is
particularly skilled at translating perceptions of belief, battles, and
fights
that revolve around faith and social encounters into the changing lives
and
motivations of a wide cast of characters who struggle with the impact
of
Plassey on their lives.
The contrast
between
different cultures, approaches to problems such as the food shortages
in Bengal
and British involvement in Indian affairs, and the intersections of
economic
and social forces at work in the country make for thought-provoking and
enlightening examinations. These will lead even non-historical-novel
readers to
appreciate the underlying currents that affect peoples' lives and
values:
“Does
not the East India Company collect all the revenues of Bengal and
set the policy of what can be grown and where, with all the powers of a
sovereign? Do we not then – as directors of the Company – have a
responsibility to do what is right by the people, as is the duty of the
sovereign?”
The result is exactly what a
superior historical novel
should achieve: a glimpse of life and the priorities and perceptions of
people
of bygone times who find their worlds upended and in conflict.
Libraries and readers
seeking solid historical fiction
writing that seamlessly incorporates the precedents and events of
history with
the lives of all involved will find Arms
Wide Asunder truly epic in its approach to surviving the
political and
social waves of change that buffeted India and the British Empire alike.
Return to Index
Believe
Unshattered
Love
L C Renie
Independently
Published
97817364981-7-0
$18.12
Website: https://lcrenie.com/
Ordering: www.barnesandnoble.com
Book 2 of
the
Unshattered Love series, Believe,
continues Dr. Alexandria Belmont's story (presented in the first book, Alexandria) about her encounter with
love and the promises and pain it portends.
Romance
readers who
also appreciate elements of suspense and discovery in their stories
(especially
those already introduced to Alexandria in the prior book) will find
this
continuation of her story to be compelling and enlightening.
L C Renie
fills in
the blanks of Alexandria's journey as her relationship with Alessio
continues
to be challenged by family complexities and the pain of the past.
Newcomers
will find
the introductory "A Look Back" (in the form of a diary entry by
Alexandria's mother) sets the stage for the events which unfold in Believe, exploring the family dynamics
and decisions which influenced Alexandria's life.
The volatile
attraction and partnership between Alexandria and Alessio that results
in
surprising revelations about commitment and emotional depth creates
attractive
surprises throughout the story:
"He gives a soft smile and leans over to connect a
kiss to my
lips. He whispers against them, “I love you, Dria, unconditionally.”
Alessio
kneels beside the bed to face me. “I’m a businessman, not a killer nor
a
criminal. But understand, I’ll kill for your happiness.”
Lost for words, I pray quietly to God that it will never get to that
point. I caress Alessio’s face and reach for his hand to kiss. Silly
me, having
the audacity to think this man won’t kill for me."
As a
complicated
scenario evolves which involves a new husband in Sicily, ex in-laws on
Martha's
Vineyard, and an ex-husband's accident which draws broken families
together to
confront moral and ethical issues surrounding survival, readers receive
an
engrossing blend of intrigue and emotional revelation that raises new
wrath,
enemies, and confrontations from broken roots.
Suddenly,
Alexandria
isn't sure about anything in her world anymore—including her vastly
revised
life or her family connections.
Readers who
absorb
the romantic portion of Believe
will
find, in this struggle, a compelling saga of a woman's growing
realizations about
what is acceptable and unacceptable in her old and new relationships.
Aside from
the steamy
romantic content, this added value comes from layers of psychic and
emotional
turmoil that create deeply reflective insights on the subjects of loss,
ownership, revenge, and belief systems.
Libraries
and readers
seeking romance-rooted stories that hold additional elements of
psychological
drive and wonder will find Believe
just as compelling as its predecessor Alexandria,
furthering a journey of love that is forced to embrace past and present
growth
and tribulations in order to fully blossom from the rich soil of
adversity and
expectation.
Return to Index
The Book of Reading
Eric Larsen
Atmosphere Press
979-8-89132-033-8
$18.99 Paper/$9.99 ebook
www.atmospherepress.com
The Book of
Reading examines paradox,
interconnected lives, and new possibilities through the lens of a
relationship
between an older man and a young woman. It introduces the setting and
influences of past and present through an intriguing introduction that
challenges readers to consider the boundaries between fact, fiction,
"what
if," and possibilities that depend on a blend of circumstance,
conjecture,
and intersecting influences.
The preface sets the story in
2028. The narrator is now over eighty years old, and reflects on events
that
exemplify six ongoing themes in his life: love, time, memory, meaning,
destruction, and evil. Keep these themes in mind, because they recur
and emerge
in unexpected ways as the story unfolds. They are also important to
note
because "...from the moment human
beings stop being able to perceive or understand meaning in themselves
or in
the things and elements around them; from that moment they become
incapable of
producing anything other than destruction and evil."
With this in mind, readers enter
a milieu in which time travel becomes relative as journeys of heart and
soul
emerge from encounters with love and experiences of the contrast and
clash
between past and present.
During these transformative
moments, "what if" and "what is" are suspended animations
in which everything is possible:
"The
translocation returned, suddenly, unexpectedly, brutally—and finally. I was wrenched away,
absolutely. I never saw, knew, felt, or sensed the existence of Eveline
near me
again. And there
was something else,
something almost as bad, empty, lifeless, and hollow as being torn from
her.
This was the fact that at the same time I was hurled forward to where
I’d
begun, into the murderous, bloody, doomed emptiness of 1964. At that
time,
Eveline and I were in West Tree, in September, in 1947. So suddenly
did the
disaster take place that I was allowed not so much as a final lungful
of the
air from that time, air that still had the scent of promise in it, the
scent of
past and future joined together.
As aged, lonely, and defeated
narrator Malcolm Reiner reviews the circumstances which led to his
involvement
with Eveline at a point in time that proved impossible to change, the
heartbeat
of a nation heading towards a tyrannical future emerges with the
concurrent
pulse of a personal transformation that always holds promise, but
seldom the
riches of achievement.
As the narrator considers the
ultimate harm he may have to do to get the nation back on track, the
moral and
ethical quandaries of his decisions come to light in a narrative that
is
eye-opening, engrossing, and replete with choices at every turn, from a
father's influence and relationship to a fellow traveler's experience
of and
control over the ultimate death of a nation.
Eric Larsen's time-hopping moves
between the personal and the political, possibilities and realities,
and
between redemption and resolution make for a thoroughly engrossing
story that
will not only captivate readers, but creates many discussion points for
book
club involvement.
Libraries and readers interested
in a story that juxtaposes individual lives with bigger-picture
thinking and
possibilities in a way that reflects the current careering course of
American
democratic interests will find The Book
of Reading compelling, thought-provoking, and hard to put
down.
Return to Index
Brighter
Than Her
Fears
Lisa Ard
Creative James Media
978-1-956183-14-6
$18.99
Website: www.creativejamesmedia.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Brighter-Than-Her-Fears-Lisa/dp/1956183140
Historical
fiction
readers interested in stories of post-Civil-War America in general and
the
changing status of women who rose to new power in the war's aftermath,
in
particular, will find this story of thirty-year-old Alice Harris (who
marries a
war veteran much older than herself) to be compelling, bringing these
times and
issues to life.
The setting
is
Asheville, decades after the war. There, Alice reflects on her life
possibilities
and future:
"At thirty years old, I’d long since abandoned the
idea of
marriage. The War had ended when I was thirteen and with battlefields
turned to
cemeteries, the marriage prospects in the South had dimmed
considerably. I
didn’t favor the title spinster, but I valued my independence.
Especially now,
as it slipped from my grasp."
A hastily
arranged
marriage may feel like her only (and last) option, but in fact it opens
the
doors to new opportunities that Alice grasps as times change and she
comes to
realize the real lasting impact of the Civil War: “The
War ripped families apart in more ways than one.”
From how
women manage
their households and lives to shifting priorities in both that lead
Alice in
unexpected directions, Lisa Ard captures the times and their impact on
women's
lives with an astute combination of historical analysis and social
inspection. These
draw readers into the families and connections that ultimately change
America.
As Alice is
drawn
into contradictory ideals, support systems, and evolving business and
political
special interests, such as the railroad's development, the process of
discovering her husband's family's secrets leads to new avenues of
choice that she
never saw coming.
Ard is
skilled at
capturing the sights, senses, and conflicts of the Civil War era.
Through
Alice's educated eyes and newfound realizations, issues of women's
freedoms and
repression come to light, with the backdrop of shifting family
relationships
cementing all with a lively sense of purpose and possibility.
Libraries
and readers
seeking historical novels of American history that feature proactive
women in
the throes of personal and political transformation will find Brighter Than Her Fears a gripping story
of a woman who faces both a lonely future and one more connected and
powerful
than she'd ever imagined. It's especially highly recommended for women
who
would absorb post-Civil War lives from a different perspective.
Return to Index
Brooklyn '76
Anthony Ausiello
South
Allen Street Press
979-8-9885810-0-0
$17.95 Paper/$9.99 ebook
Website: https://www.anthonyausiello.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Brooklyn-76-Novel-Anthony-Ausiello-ebook/dp/B0CJGXV348/
Brooklyn
'76 is a novel that revolves
around Italian
ethnicity, family ties, and America's Bicentennial, which arrives with
many
types of explosions as the family experiences turning points in their
relationships with one another and their community.
Anthony Ausiello unfolds the family's drama
against the equally turbulent influences of the times which proves a
pivot
point in different ways. Individuals, community, and family are all
tested
against the events which move from a national block party to violence
in which
individuals find themselves pitted against not only each other, but
their
ideals, past history, and present-day conundrums.
Ausiello's ability to bring these series of
explosions to life in the context of characters that discover their
relationships, obsessions, and defiances play out in unexpected ways
makes for
a story as strong in its portraits of siblings and families on the cusp
of
change as it is in capturing a national milieu that comes home to roost
in the
community and culture of Brooklyn, New York.
As the events of July 4, 1976 come full
circle, from the rockets' red glare to the physical and mental
turbulence that
rocks the family, readers will find themselves immersed in each
character's
moments of revelation and realization: "...the weight of his
reality
hung over him, threatened to crush him at any moment."
From gambling and money challenges to poor
bets, bad tips, and the intersection of luck and fate, Ausiello
captures the
trials, tribulations, and a single day's events that test family
dynamics and
community ties in new ways.
In Brooklyn '76, firecrackers
and
explosions both dominate the story and serve as a backdrop of metaphors
for the
equally powerful surges in relationships that are tested by legal and
illegal
choices.
Playing with fire has its costs, whether in
big explosions or a ripple of challenge that disperses a close-knit
family and
community: "Everyone in the neighborhood knew Big Dom.
Giving Big
Dom bad information—or worse, losing Big Dom money—was detrimental to
one’s
health."
Libraries and readers seeking books steeped
in the atmospheres of Brooklyn in the late 1970s and an
Italian-American family
whose history faces new modern challenges will find Brooklyn
'76 an evocative
story that brings these times and characters to vivid life.
Return to Index
Enfant Terrible: Opening Acts
Gwydhar Gebien
Amanda Gebien, Publisher
978-0578889818
$9.99
(paperback) $0.99 (ebook)
Website: www.gwydhar.com
Ordering:: https://www.amazon.com/ENFANT-TERRIBLE-OPENING-Gwydhar-Gebien/dp/0578889811
Enfant
Terrible:
Opening Acts opens with a stern warning that invites those
faint of heart
and mind to look elsewhere for their literary pursuits:
"Consider
yourself warned: this book is a work of catastrophically bad taste. It
contains
explicit content, colorful language, strong sexual situations, nudity,
drug
use, depression, racial and sexual epithets, misgendering, emotional
abuse,
violence, subversion of Christian iconography, an unfortunate incident
involving a nun, and the unironic use of puns. BRACE YOURSELVES."
Readers seeking a rollicking
ride, who remain unshaken by
the author's candid, wry assessment of the power and presentation of
their pen,
will find a story that surveys mid-life crisis, the tattered remains of
family
relationships, life's purpose, and love. Enfant
Terrible provides a solid, compelling foundation of
attraction made all the
more forceful for its catastrophic romp through life's mishaps.
Narrator Damen Warner, the
front man for a metalcore band
which is fading into obscurity before his eyes (and under his watch),
opens the
saga with an airport confrontation with TSA:
"I
was, after
all, standing in the security line at the Denver airport wearing
nothing but a
pair of sunglasses. Anybody who wasn’t busy covering their kids’ eyes was taking a picture on their
ubiquitous camera phones. No way it wasn’t ending up on Facebook."
Perhaps ironically, this
isn't the pinnacle of Damen's
failures, but just one example of life gone seriously awry for this
"feral," tattoo-covered, blue-haired, middle-aged man who feels he is
"three years past his expiration date."
His experiences with women
and the failed dreams he
harbors around career and love hold similar patterns of effort married
to
alluring disappointment: "The more
she pushed me away the more I wanted her."
As doubts about his efforts
to participate in
Lollapalooza (a coveted music festival for those bands and individuals
popular
and successful enough to win a coveted place on its stage) permeate his
world,
Damen seems to excel in forming complicated relationships ... even with
the two
underage daughters of a bandmate whose dream of seeing their father on
stage is
peppered by the anguish of a broken family.
Gwydhar Gebien follows the
opening act of Damen's sordid
and complex life with a close inspection of the foundations of his
character's
estrangement from his own family and roots, embarking on an
ever-downward
spiral of sex, drugs, and inappropriate choices that seem to thwart any
hope of
reconciliation or realizing his dreams.
Gebien's attention to
following the logic, as well as the
influences of experiences, of Damen's life and its downfall creates a
vivid
story in which the protagonist's search for meaning and achievement
stands at
the precipice of self-discovery and a reconciliation that he both
covets and
eschews.
As he comes full circle to
encounter the wisdom of his
Grandma Dearie and the impact of his choices, Damen realizes new truths
about
life connections and the alienating wild ride that he has perceived as
giving
him life when, in reality, it is driving him towards something much
darker.
“All
these bruises.
All these burns. I feel them like they’re my own, you know. All this
time
believing that you don’t belong anywhere, but it isn’t true: you always
have a
place here. You don’t have to be an apostate forever.”
The gritty countenance of
flawed but likeable
counter-culture characters that come together in search of purpose and
connection holds a special contemporary appeal for readers who enjoyed
Kerouac's now-dated On the Road,
and
who seek a contemporary rendition of cultural revelation and
self-discovery.
The powerfully diverse cast of characters who join Damen on his journey
further
cements the sense of modern angst and possibility to set this story's
moving
foundations firmly into the quandaries of modern times.
Libraries and readers
seeking a lively (perhaps even
radically charged) literary examination of a ribald life careening
towards both
personal disaster and redemption will find Enfant
Terrible: Opening Acts a compelling saga of pop culture and
reinvention
which poses dangerous choices and daring efforts up to its unexpected
promise
of redemption. Perfect for book clubs and reading group discussions.
Return to Index
Enfant Terrible: Headliner
Gwydhar Gebien
Amanda Gebien, Publisher
978-0578385891
$13.99
(paperback) $0.99 (ebook)
Website: www.gwydhar.com
Purchase Link: https://www.amazon.com/ENFANT-TERRIBLE-HEADLINER-Gwydhar-Gebien/dp/0578385899
Having set the stage with
the mortifying misadventures of
middle-aged character Damen Warner in Opening
Acts, Book 2 of the Enfant Terrible series, Headliner,
follows with the one-two punch of depravity and bad
decisions that continue to both plague Damen and elevate his efforts
and status
to new heights.
Driven by the desire to make
his mark on the musical
world, Damen here finds himself in a relationship with a mother with a
five-year-old daughter which holds the promise of real change while
resting on
the laurels of past experiences and attitudes that portend yet another
downward
spiral. Only, this time, he is taking vulnerable loved ones with him.
In 2012, Damen does not
stand out in the music world with
his blue hair, tattoos, and facial piercings. Indeed, it's the 'new
normal' in
a milieu fraught with others who defy standards and norms, only to find
themselves blending with others who look, act, and sound they way they
do. So
much for being different.
Having spent (or wasted,
depending on perspective) the
last thirty years of his life attempting to "punk my way out of the
norm," Damen is ready for something more. He gets that in the form of a
promising relationship that then takes a perhaps-predictable nosedive
into
jealousy and the self-destructive behaviors Damen seems to
instinctively
cultivate in reaction to any form of adversity or promise.
His life has long been one
of running:
"I’d
dropped
out of high school, formed a metal band, run away to Los Angeles, and
I’d run
so hard and for so long that I’d circled the bases only to find myself
back at
home, face down in the dirt, while life’s umpire waved his hands over
my back
and declared me OUT. Now,
here
I was at the hipster crossroads of Chicago trying to get my feet back
under
me."
As much as it seems to be
heading towards a real change
in Headliner, Damen's saga of
middle-age coming-of-age takes another downward plunge before friends
and
family lift him up into new possibilities.
From the unexpected internet
notoriety Damen experiences
as a "deranged basket case" that introduces new challenges to his
mindset and choices to a crazy Halloween confrontation with Girl Child
and
other new people in his life, Gwydhar Gebien's story rocks and rolls
through
conventional and counter culture experiences, carrying readers into a
progressively degenerative, simultaneously hopeful world.
More so than Opening
Acts, Damen presents a countenance that moves into concepts
of family and
connection even as it remains immersed in dysfunction, poor choices,
and
attractions to self-destructive ways.
Gebien's ability to lead
readers into a world marked by
social, financial, and family challenge moves full-circle into one in
which
Grandma Dearie and other family members contribute new opportunities
for
connection and possible redemption in Damen's life.
These contrasts in psyche,
place, culture, and
connection, in turn, create riveting scenes of dysfunction and love
which prove
accessible and compelling to readers who have ridden Damen's roller
coaster of
a life in Opening Acts.
The movement is inextricably
involving between the two
books, creating yet another eye-opening ride into new possibilities and
old bad
habits which details the narrator's ebb and flow of growth.
Libraries and readers who
enjoyed Opening Acts will find
equally powerful and growth-oriented the
character's movements in Headliner,
which mirror artistic and psychological growth alike to create
involving,
alluring action that is unpredictably thought-provoking and wonderfully
astute.
Return to Index
Enfant Terrible: Showstopper
Gwydhar Gebien
Amanda Gebien, Publisher
979-8988160502
$16.99
Website: http://www.gwydhar.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/ENFANT-TERRIBLE-SHOWSTOPPER-Gwydhar-Gebien-ebook/dp/B0C5Q8PZ6Q
The third book of the Enfant
Terrible trilogy, Showstopper,
continues the evolution and
expansion of protagonist and narrator Damen, who backslides into
depression and
drugs after his loved one dies.
2013 has arrived, but Damen
doesn't believe the year will
introduce any improvement over the trials and losses of 2012.
As pandemonium and events
play out on Damen's stage of
life, readers who enjoyed the ribald, rocking action in the previous
books will
find the ongoing struggles affected by a legacy in this book to be
equally
involving.
While Showstopper
could be picked as a stand-alone novel, ideally it will be read in
conjunction
with its predecessors; as such an approach provides a unified and
seamless
story line that follows Damen's evolution in many ways.
Once a blue-haired rebel,
the blue has faded to natural
straw as Damen discovers that what was an appealing look for his
musical world
pursuits presents poorly in a law office setting.
His spiral into alcoholic
bliss here is broken by his
ongoing relationship with Melody and her daughter and his efforts to
keep his
sanity, re-engage with his world, and meld the objectives of a rock 'n
roll
band life with those of family connections and new possibilities in the
promise
in love.
Hate crimes, attacks,
decaying lives, and promises of
redemption create a vivid story in which Damen is buffeted by different
forces
while maintaining an equilibrium that drives him away from alcoholic
stupors
and blackouts into unexpected vulnerability.
As Damen deals with Dearie's
legacy, he begins to understand
the connections within his family and find steady opportunities that
hold the
power to introduce new music into the chaos of his life.
Gwydhar Gebien again creates
a powerful story of
depravity, downfalls, redemption, and new possibilities that rests as
firmly on
the counterculture world of punk, alcohol, and possibilities as it does
in the
lure of family and a love which comes not just from the past, but the
promise
of future relationships.
Damen is a flawed but
loveable middle-aged character who
finds life's changes pulling and pushing him in disparate directions.
His
choices are realistic, his life compelling, and the injection of social
issues,
from Internet influences to hate crimes, creates a story that is
realistic,
multifaceted, and engaging, all in one.
Prior fans of Damen's world
will find Showstopper as involving
and wryly
humorous as the previous Enfant Terrible stories, while libraries will
find the
series as a whole not only a fine acquisition, but well deserving of
high
praise and recommendation for its astute contrast between
counterculture and
conventional lifestyles, perceptions, and opportunities.
Return to Index
First
Sons and Last Daughters
Samar Reine
Carmel-by-the-Sea Publishers
979-8-9884110-6-2
$16.99 Paperback
Website: https://samarreine.com
Ordering: https://a.co/d/g6xNZ9Z
First Sons and Last Daughters is the second book in the Pioneer
Ranch saga. The story of Peyton Chase's motherhood and artistic
achievement is
laced with a vivid, thought-provoking consideration of a threat from
within:
her cruel son.
From
the novel's opening lines, with their burst of reflective exuberance,
Samar
Reine's poetic, descriptive touch is evident:
"Peyton gazed at the raw
beauty of Abiquiu through the wide windows of her studio. The early
hour of
crushed peaches and raspberries had passed, leaving behind an aqua
desert sky.
Eagles swooping over herds of oryx and ibex mirrored her life, and she
considered what hunted her and what she chased. The people of Pioneer
Ranch—those
who had consecrated its grounds, and those who had sprung from it—were
her
solace. Her father’s words resonated, reminding her that life tried
her, and
she wondered why she still deserved to be tested. He’d say, “Hardship
foils or
is foiled, prevails or is prevailed on.” Her memory banks flooded with
the
booms and busts of her life until an incoming video call whirled her
from her
trance."
Reine's ability to capture the
flavors, sights, and psychology of her characters lends a compelling
feel to
this story of dangerous attractions, relationships, and family dynamics
that
wind from past to present, leading Peyton into new and dangerous
territory in
romance and family ties.
The jealousies, ambitions, and
special interests of each individual come to life in a story that winds
through
friendships, attractions, and adversity. A husband and wife's
relationship is
more than tested by a contentious offspring and each's own life
changes, which
are probed with a powerful pen that unfolds compelling descriptions:
“In death, we’re
free of anguish, free of everything but the love we leave behind.”
Peyton bowed
her head, her nose burning. “All that sweat, insightful advice, and his
assurance that we can overcome wasn’t wasted. It lives in us and in our
children.”
The legacies love and loss
create also contribute to the evolution of places and the ripple effect
of
lives transformed by experience as First Sons and Last
Daughters traverses family
battles and realizations
gleaned from the clash of disparate natures:
“Do you think you
need to forgive yourself for what you believe contributed to his
behavior, and
forgive me too? We might not have handled every situation perfectly,
but we did
our best. Can you accept that only he has the power to improve himself?”
The ideal of achieving a big,
happy family is continually attacked; yet underlying this goal is a
sense of
reality and correlations that are fostered by adaptation and healing.
As an addition to the series, First
Sons and Last Daughters expands
upon personalities and family connections; but as a stand-alone read,
newcomers
will find its messages astute and worthy of discussion among book club
readers
interested in evolving family dynamics and issues surrounding
adaptation.
First Sons and Last Daughters is well versed in history, a sense of
place (California and New Mexico), and the undercurrents of change that
lead a
family to important pivot points and readers to consider the lasting
impact of
disparate relationships on life meaning and choices.
Libraries
seeking a novel that exemplifies family dynamics at their best and
worst will
find First Sons and Last Daughters a powerful
addition to their
collections. It's highly recommended for its astute, poetic
descriptions of
personal demons that can even arrive in the guise and promise of family
connections.
Return to Index
Ghost With
Two Hearts
Michael R. French
Independently
Published
979-8370416842
$10.99 Paper/$9.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Two-Hearts-Michael-French/dp/B0BS8T6D5B
What
constitutes
happiness and satisfaction with one's life and choices? In Ghost With Two Hearts, Adrian is nearly
thirty and a successful
software coder, but feels he has little to show for his age.
Disillusioned in
love, by his country's progression, and his place in the world, Adrian
takes a
leave of absence. He walks out of his familiar world and journeys to
Japan to
identify and return a stolen samurai sword to its rightful owner.
Therein
begins his transformation
process as his search for self and redemption changes his outlook on
life and
its purpose.
Readers who
choose
Michael R. French's tale for its promise of ghostly attraction may be
surprised
to learn that, along with matters of spooks and spirits, are matters of
the
heart. The enlightenment process propels Adrian into an unexpected
marriage
between Eastern and Western perceptions.
From
personal and
political disillusionment and dissatisfaction to cross-cultural
explorations
and insights, the story traverses new discoveries and haunting old
habits, employing
an astute observational style that is compelling on many different
levels:
"Japanese priests, like the rest of their society,
were supposed
to strive for perfection. Mr. Watanabe, much like Emiko, had given up
on that.
I wasn’t unsympathetic. I knew from software engineering how perfection
could
be a curse, if not an outright addiction."
As spirit
Emiko
interacts with Adrian and forces him into new definitions of life,
death, and purpose,
readers absorb a very different form of ghost story that is embedded
with
philosophical revelation and self-discovery:
"He asked, “Mr. Green, are you familiar with the
concept of
wabi-sabi?” He answered his own question before I could hazard a guess.
“The
positive manipulation of light, space and all living things, in order
to
achieve balance and harmony.”
“Balance and harmony,” I echoed, with approval.
“This is what you will find in Kyoto. This is what I always come for.
Not to interact with a rambunctious ghost.”
The result
is a ghost
story, a love story, a cross-cultural exploration, and a journey that
will
bring readers into alien worlds with its questions about moral
integrity and
personal objectives.
Libraries
seeking
literary ghost stories that operate a cut above the usual haunting
display will
find Ghost With Two Hearts
cultivates
a different sense of discovery via changing character perspectives and
events
that will prove transformational to all involved. It is an easy,
exceptional
recommendation to those who look for literary accounts of
transformative encounters.
Return to Index
Glass Flower
David Procaccino
Atmosphere Press
978-1-63988-912-9
$22.99
www.atmospherepress.com
It's 1972,
and
veteran psychiatrist Jim Malory has lost his mind. Or so his wife
believes. "Vietnam has come for its due,"
and despite the fact that Jim is far from the battlefield, some
struggles of
the mind have never left.
Circling
around the
wagon of his discontent and disassociation are his worried pregnant
wife Maria
and daughter Ruthie. Ruthie really needs her father to prevent her
careen
towards disaster—not a Vietnam survivor still struggling with and
immersed in
his own demons.
It should be
noted
that the opening experiential lines of Glass
Flower can (and likely will) be triggering for war veterans.
The vivid
you-are-here recollections and scenes are extraordinary even to those
who never
went to war; much less those who endured its graphic, soul-destroying
violence
and horror.
This note
aside,
there is much more going on here than a war story alone; because
Malory's
spiraling mental struggle receives the opportunity for redemption in
the
arrival of two new patients who mirror his veteran angst and the
challenges of
being a father in a disintegrating relationship with a needy daughter.
Glass Flower is a stunning portrait in
recovery, PTSD, past and
present life connections, and the wavering barrier that separates
patient from
doctor. It reveals the mindsets of not only Jim, but Maria and others
who swirl
around him.
Its greatest
strength
lies in its ability to delineate connections between past and present
mindsets,
perceptions, strategies, and insights:
“So what happened?” This is how Nilso begins his
interrogations, just
the facts ma’am. When Jim started at the VA, he was obliged to attend
training
sessions in which the chief expounded on the art of the psychiatric
interview.
A neutral, dispassionate stance was best to snatch the truth from the
patient,
Nilso said. In certain cases, the interviewer should even avoid eye
contact,
placing one’s sightline perpendicular to the subject’s. The goal was to
exude a
calculated mildness with just the suggestion of force."
As
psychological
forces entwine and definitions of wellness and recovery shift, David
Procaccino
excels in crafting an atmospheric work about going away and coming back
forever
changed.
It's a story
that
embraces elements of history, psychology, intrigue, and discovery in
such a way
that it comes highly recommended for libraries seeking different
stories about
healing, redemption, and family transitions. Book clubs, too, will find
plenty
of issues to consider and discuss.
"One part of his life had ended, and another had
begun."
Return to Index
Henry’s Chapel
Graham Guest
Sagging Meniscus Press
9781952386220
$20.00
Paperback/$9.99 ebook
www.saggingmeniscus.com
Imagine a play in which the
narrator and audience are all participants. As it unfolds with the
dramatic
style of a stage production, Henry’s
Chapel represents a novel wrapped in the dual storytelling
methods of a
play and a work of fiction.
One feature of the story is its
expansive sentence structure, which could be deemed 'run-on' by some;
but
mirror the approaches and length of a play:
"...all that
evaporates, and in its place materializes a big bright blue clouded
sky, a big
blue-backed field of hundreds, thousands of frozen white bulbous
tumors,
perfectly evenly-spaced across an imperceptible matrix, stretching as
far as
the eye can see. We must be on the ground, on our backs. We roll over,
and
before us, we see a mother and her two kids, standing in the sun in
front of a
small, one-story, yellowish brick ranchhouse; the little girl is
holding her
mother’s right hand; the little boy, her left..."
As the narrative about an
isolated family in rural East Texas unfolds, readers receive a powerful
story
of warped relationships, incest, specters, and obsessions which play
out on the
stage of mental illness with powerful psychological undercurrents.
These are reinforced by Graham
Guest's dual attention to narrative and narrator, which talks about
scenes,
structural decisions in film production, and analysis in a manner that
places
readers in the dual roles of participant and observer:
"That Henry
is conveyed into the depths by a mining car is a ham-fisted but
nevertheless
effective (and sort of fun) metaphor, trope, figure, sign, whatever,
that Henry
is mining for something of
value. Of course, he doesn’t know what that something-of-value is..."
Unexpected humor accompanies
footnoted references and scenes to offer delightful surprises in their
depth of
movie-style description:
"We track
Luke as he bolts over to Henry, then we zoom in as Luke punches his
snout into
Henry’s crotch, roots around in it a bit, then starts licking the front
of
Henry’s pants.
“Goddammit!” we
hear Uncle Avery say, then we hear the sound of Uncle Avery’s boot
striking
Luke’s chest-cavity, and Luke flies out of
the frame with a whimper, leaving us looking at the crotch of Henry’s
pants,
inside which there appears to be some movement . . . then we zoom back
out to
our position between Henry and the mower and a shot of Uncle Avery in
his blue
gas station suit, standing to Henry’s left."
From scenarios of childhood and
Henry's evolving independence to footnoted scene references that add
connections to other movies and literary and artistic efforts,
Henry’s Chapel becomes more than a novel, but toes the
intersection between
dramatic form and delivery and fiction's narrative style.
Libraries and readers seeking
literary works that assume the guise of a film while adhering to
fictional
devices of character-building and family evolution will find Henry’s Chapel an excellent choice.
Classrooms illustrating the possibilities of literary devices and
dramatic
entanglements will find the novel worthy of debate and discussion not
just for
its subject, but its creative presentation and form.
Return to Index
The
Promise of Unbroken Straw
Ken
Steele
Yorkshire
Publishing
978-1-960810-13-7
www.YorkshirePublishing.com
The Promise of Unbroken Straw is a coming-of-age story that opens in
Boston in 1986. The narrator re-enters MIT, where he studied
engineering far
from his Oklahoma roots.
Charged
with rigorous studies and the edict to find a job to help pay his
college
tuition, the proactive and clever Paul found ways to survive and even
graduate.
Now, an unexpected event challenges him to also find new ways to
live—with
wealth.
The
present-day dilemma winds into a flashback of the past that opens in
1944, where
a younger Paul "grew from the dirt of an Oklahoma farm,
rooted in hope,
nourished by promises." He learns early on that "My
life has
been shaped by the things that have vanished."
These
include not only places and people, but the structure and definition of
success
and failure themselves as Paul achieves the impossible and moves into
an adult
world with important lessons, a strong background, and perseverance as
his
tools for surviving life.
As
the decades pass, Paul presents family relationships and experiences
changed by
life events and, ultimately, death. Circles of connection, grow,
blossom,
change, and bring with them new opportunities as Paul comes to realize
how the
walls others erected around him were mirrored in his own relationships
and actions.
As he
searches for answers and resolution, readers accompany his journey
through
time, place, and relationships and come out the other side with a
better
understanding of not just Paul, but the advice he follows, to not worry
about
what can't be controlled.
It's
a hard lesson, and one which comes along with others cemented in a
powerful
coming-of-age novel steeped in revelation, discovery, and new
opportunities for
transformation.
Ken
Steele captures Paul's adult and childhood milieus with a fine sense of
contrast between circumstances, objectives, and ultimate outcomes. His
ability
to bring Paul's changing personality and circumstances to life makes
for a
compelling story that proves realistic and inviting.
Libraries
and readers seeking stories of transformation, shifting family
relationships,
and the influence of wealth on life connections will find The
Promise of
Unbroken Straw not only thought-provoking, but especially
suitable for book
club discussion about the impact of poverty and riches on psyches and
life
trajectories.
Return to Index
The Street
Between
the Pines
J.J. Alo
Independently
Published
979-8218165369
$27.99
Hardcover/$15.99 Paper/$3.99 ebook
Website: https://jjalo.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Street-Between-Pines-Anthology/dp/B0BX5MHLYM
Horror novel
readers
are in for a treat with The Street
Between the Pines, which takes a walk on the wild side with
veteran Curtis
Reynolds, who struggles with daily life and a failing marriage until
the murder
of an elderly neighbor involves him in bigger-picture thinking.
As the story
unfolds
in this first book in a projected Southern New England Horror series,
readers
are introduced to this world via a prologue that profiles not Curtis,
but Frank
Cavanaugh. He has the misfortune of investigating an unexpected power
outage in
the basement, only to find something more has erupted into the darkness.
Curtis comes
to light
in the first chapter as a sardonic worker separated from his wife and
going
through the motions of living.
His lifelong
motto
has served him well until now:
"Be
prepared,
son… be prepared."
There's no
preparing
for impossible forces, however; and as Curtis enters a different world
of
monsters and new possibilities, the estrangement between himself and
his wife
Amy enter unexpected territory, as well. The cats which wind through
his life
and help him find new revelations will delight readers who like
feline-aided
discoveries in their fiction.
J.J. Alo
tempers the
horror component of The Street Between
the Pines with a social inspection. This approach injects
thought-provoking
scenes of choice and consequence into the experiences of a veteran
suffering
from PTSD, alienation, and life disassociation. The ideas evolve as
revelations
that test Curtis on levels he'd never anticipated when issues of life
expectancy, pollution, corporate greed, and disease emerge in the
presence of
an unprecedented threat.
Alo's
ability to
powerfully capture this veteran's slow rise into a personal power that
can be
traced back to the teachings of a good man translates to an effective,
involving story. The horror comes not just from a creature's
manifestation, but
from a waking nightmare Curtis can't seem to shake. And, there are
cats. Lots
of them wind into the story to add feline value to the yarn.
Libraries
and readers
seeking horror stories whose impact stems as much from personal horror,
redemption, and transformation as outside forces will find the blend of
psychological and social insights to be thought-provoking, compelling,
and
often entirely, delightfully unexpected.
Return to Index
That
Summer She Found Her Voice: A Retro Novel
Jean Burgess
Apprentice House Press
978-1-62720-485-9
$31.99 Hardcover/$19.99 Paper/$6.99 ebook
https://bookshop.org/p/books/that-summer-she-found-her-voice-a-retro-novel-jean-burgess/20708943?ean=9781627204859
That
Summer She Found Her Voice is a "retro
novel" of
music and self-discovery set in 1970s Baltimore, where a college
graduate who
has achieved education goals most of her small town peers can only
dream of finds
herself on a downward spiral, thanks to derailed love.
All
it takes is an ad for King Vido's Swing Band to
send Margie in a new, unexpected direction. She tours the country as
their
singer, only to find that the accompanying benefits include
re-envisioning her
moral, ethical, and personal life ambitions.
Jean
Burgess creates a memorable saga of
self-discovery, social transformation, and career-changing paradigms in
That
Summer She Found Her Voice. These explore more than one
girl's evolutionary
process, but the changes buffeting America.
Of
particular note is how past and present memories
and experiences evolve over social issues that have shaped Margie's
life:
"I
remember the local news reporting about parents ranting and raving
against
desegregation when I was in middle school. Our high school principal
did his
best to encourage the students to embrace it, but it didn’t seem that
hard to
me. All the students, White and Black, were finding our way through our
mutual
interests, whether it was sports, chorus, or the school newspaper.
Although
thinking back, the “embracing” did seem focused on a panicked message
of “Let’s
all just get along, people!” coming from teachers, who were all White
with few
exceptions, and the PTA. As long as the Black students quietly
participated in
the sports and student activities already established, and didn’t cause
a fuss,
the administrators were happy. I don’t remember receiving much
encouragement
for the White students to mingle socially with the Black kids. No one
ever suggested
we learn about their lives beyond school, what their neighborhoods were
like,
or where they went to church."
In
bringing alive the issues of Margie's life and
times for current generations, Burgess successfully documents changes
and
influences that lead to new perspectives and values in and about self
and
community.
Also
of strong interest are the newfound
perspectives Margie harbors about love's place in her life as the
intersection
of past and present become personal and potentially confusing:
"A
part of my soul sang with excitement: David
wanted me again! The sensible part of my brain chastised: He
only wants
the most available female he can find! Another part of my
head reminded: You’ve
just started an important personal journey of your own. The
deeply scarred
part of my heart warned: Remember the pain this man has
caused you, you
idiot."
The
resulting story of growth embraces both running
away and coming full circle, confronting the ability to not only speak
one's
mind, but identify goals and a personal courage that can only come from
independence. Maggie's newfound growth as a singer and writer gives her
the
courage to tackle the emotional conflicts and connections that would
diminish
her efforts to move forward and past adversity and old habits.
Libraries
will find That Summer She Found Her
Voice: A Retro Novel an especially important recommendation
for book clubs
considering women's growth processes and the kinds of relationships
which
either support or quash this effort.
Return to Index
Water
Music: A Cape Cod Story
Marcia Peck
Sea Crow Press
979-8-9865676-8-6
$19.95
Publisher: www.seacrowpress.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Water-Music-Cape-Cod-Story/dp/B0BZK6J25S
Water
Music is a Cape Cod story that opens in
the summer of
1956, when twelve-year-old
Lily Grainger "discovered the small
ways in which people try to rescue each other."
Perhaps
the most powerful attribute of this novel
is apparent from the start of Lily's story—which is Marcia Peck's
ability to
inject compelling poetic descriptions with the supercharged duality of
observation and metaphor:
"Tides
filled and emptied our small world and I tried to figure out who
belonged to
whom. I longed to belong to my mother. But I learned that summer that
she was
like a teacup, spilled out and upside down on the saucer, and she
couldn’t
right herself. She thought she was mad at my father; she didn’t
recognize that
fiercer winds than his tore at her. All summer the storm gathered and
gathered,
took its breath from every direction we thought we knew, and lashed us
into
spindrift. And all the while, surrounding us, holding us up like the
sea we
floated on, was the music."
The
cadence of these times, the tempo of these
heartbeats, and the passions of those who swirl around Lily with their
dramas
and concerns come to life in a story that captures family life from the
viewpoint of a child desperate to rescue her parents as her father
struggles to
finish his dissertation and cope with her mother's anger.
Of
equal power and passion is the attention Peck
gives to exploring family relationships both overt and covert, and the
simmering undercurrents of love and anger that buffet Lily's life:
"Uncle
George signaled me to head for the beach and gave my mother a grateful
look,
which she returned with an accusing one. For making her turn on Gloria,
whom
she liked. For making her use Gloria as a test of my father’s loyalty.
And here
was Gloria, direct evidence that my father had not yet told Uncle
George it was
wrong to bring her here. But all this was lost on Uncle George."
Against
the backdrop of Cape Cod's beaches,
cottages, and natural world, these relationships simmer and blossom
into new
experiences and maturity that Lily grapples with as much as she
explores her
new world's nuances.
Water
Music is a fine example of how a family's
life and
trials can be elevated to philosophical and psychological levels beyond
the
mere telling of a story or any semblance of a coming-of-age realization
from a
young person's viewpoint.
Peck's
ability to capture and craft the nuances of
these lives makes for a particularly evocative, engrossing story that
ebbs and
flows with the tides of Cape Cod and those who live with change.
These
moments of power are prevalent not as rare
gifts, but throughout Lily's story, creating a memorable read that is
impossible to put down:
"Tonight
her job had nothing to do with me. All this she could save for another
time,
when we weren’t at Uncle George’s cooking supper, washing dishes,
making our
best effort to disprove that when the two shells of an oyster are split
apart,
the oyster dies."
Libraries
and readers of contemporary family life
fiction who look for stories steeped in a sense of time, place,
personality,
and family dynamics will find Water Music an
extraordinary standout. It
also deserves strong recommendation to all manner of book club reading
groups,
from those interested in modern women's fiction to others considering
the
descriptive elements which elevate a story from mundane to exceptional.
Return to Index
A Young
Woman from
the Provinces
Jo Ann Kiser
Atmosphere Press
979-8891320727
$27.99
Hardcover/$18.99 Paper/$9.99 ebook
www.atmospherepress.com
A Young Woman from the Provinces will
appeal to readers of
contemporary women's fiction who especially enjoy stories of maturity
and
friendships. It follows the experiences of Geneva, who moves from her
home in
backwoods Kentucky to the allure of New York City—there to hone a
career,
friendships, and possible romance that lead her ever deeper into growth
and
change.
Jo Ann
Kiser's poetic
voice adds depth and metaphor to the atmosphere from its opening lines,
which
are captivatingly descriptive:
"We had lived in the gray house on Sarvis Creek for
a long time. A
Golden Delicious tree grew in the backyard, a cherry tree at one side,
and at
the other end of the garden, near the toilet, a Red Delicious tree
stood. To us
savages on the back porch, spring meant nothing but itself. Suns ran
across the
sky. Blood scudded through our veins. Green buds festooned the trees.
If the
plowed earth in the garden was a somber brown, the rest of the world
was composed
of pastels.
As the
senses of
place change radically around Geneva's choices and living situations,
readers
follow her with this early influence in mind as she approaches big city
living
with the down-home sensibilities of her upbringing.
As the
family moves
from place to place, Geneva assumes a flexibility of perception and
purpose
that do her well in adulthood, lending to her ability to navigate
unfamiliar
territory and people.
Kiser embeds
her
story with family influence and relationships. These follow Geneva for
much of
her efforts, adding contrast to the pivot points between childhood and
adulthood.
Excited by
new work,
surroundings, and opportunities, Geneva still is charged with better
understanding her life's influences and trajectory even as she falls
into and
out of love, moving through different career opportunities and the
myriad of
people they introduce.
When her
journeys
carry her to foreign lands, Geneva reflects on her experiences and the
growth
opportunities they embrace:
"In some sense now I was reimagining myself as an
American, a
traveler of the twentieth century, belonging to an era when humans had
set foot
on the moon, an individual belonging to no one place and yet to one
place, the
landscape of childhood, and, beyond that, to the landscape of the mind.
Libraries
interested
in contemporary literary novels that follow a young woman's journeys
through
different landscapes of family, friendships, and evolving choices will
find A Young Woman from the Provinces
a powerful
narrative that ultimately considers the need to be loved and the
movement from
being a "hillbilly" to an active participant in a bigger life and
world.
Return to Index
The Actor's
Book of
Quotes
Mike Kimmel
Ben Rose Creative
Arts
978-195305713
$24.99
Hardcover/$17.99 Paper/$9.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Actors-Book-Quotes-Performing-Professional/dp/1953057136
The
Actor’s Book of
Quotes: Words of Wisdom for Performing Artists adds to the
Professional
Actor Series with guidelines that are not general, but created and
directed
specifically to actors already practicing their art.
The quotes from actors and
non-actors come from all
professions and disciplines, thus providing a fuller-bodied,
multifaceted
collection of reflections that expand the actor's repertoire of
inspiration and
knowledge.
Reflections may come in
deceptively succinct packages,
such as Henry Fonda's admonition that "the best actors do not let the
wheels show," but contain the punch of thought-provoking insights that
motivate actors to dig deeper into their profession and approaches to
it.
As businessmen such as F W
Woolworth and philosophers
such as Homer add their reflections to words by Harriet Tubman, Hilary
Swank,
and Elvis Presley, actors seeking wisdom in the form of, perhaps,
morning
admonitions to begin their day will find this book easy to consult and
absorb.
Its diverse collection,
created specifically for the
actor's heart and mind, offers quotes that can come to mind throughout
an
acting endeavor or day.
The result is a perfect
choice for gift-giving year-round
for that singular, hard-to-please actor of any age who will benefit
greatly
from these reflections. The Actor’s Book
of Quotes also will prove an attraction to library
collections looking for
something different to add to their drama sections.
Return to Index
America vs.
Americans
Eric Wade with Phil
Herel
Forefront Books
978-1-63763-236-9
$26.00 Hardcover/$13.99 ebook
Website: www.AmericaVsAmericans.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/America-vs-Americans-Capitalism-Capitalist/dp/1637632363
America
vs. Americans: How Capitalism
Has Failed a Capitalist Nation and What We Can Do About It promises and delivers a hard-hitting
assessment of modern America in all its failings and success. But wait:
there's
more.
Eric Wade doesn't just point
out the obvious: he delivers
the unexpected with an in-depth solution he calls American Laborism: a
proposed
new economic system that addresses many of the failures capitalism has
created
throughout American society.
It's no light proposal to
replace a seemingly
tried-and-tested (even if it does hold epic failures) system like
capitalism
with something new. It's even a greater challenge to adequately
describe its
basic tenets and how it will work.
But this is a job Eric Wade
and Phil Herel confront
head-on in a hard-hitting book that is especially widely recommended
for
college-level students of economics and political systems.
Is this the end of America,
one of their chapters asks?
The answer here is: it is the beginning of something new. And birth
always
hurts.
Especially thought-provoking
are the titles of chapters
that contrast and maintain why capitalism AND Marxism have both
ultimately
proved failures; albeit in eerily opposite ways. Capitalism "failed
because not everyone has capital" while Marxism "failed because some
people do have capital."
After analyzing these
failures of competing systems, Wade
and Herel provide the nuts and bolts of a new proposal that promotes
labor over
capital, making the case for an interactive system of services based
not on
money exchanges, but system integration.
Wade is honest about the
fact that not all will buy into
this ideal just as, now, capitalism is not everyone's cup of tea:
"...we
can’t
just stop trying to help. Many of us believe we have a moral obligation
to try
to bring the poorest of our fellow citizens up to a better life. And
yes, we’re
well aware that certain poor or homeless people may simply refuse to
participate in American Laborism’s safety net."
From promoting a newfound
honesty in military spending to
reign in abuses to disincentivizing people and companies who cheat on
their
taxes, this proposal of a new American Laborism approach promises much
and is
worthy of consideration by anyone who would analyze renewal-focused
ideas.
It's unusual to see a raw,
candid honesty about the pros
and cons of this new system rather than a "rah-rah" feel of
self-congratulation that too many economic and political proposal
titles
assume.
And yet, this is one of the
standouts of America
vs. Americans: its ability to not just propose alternatives,
but to admit
where such applications might fail to reach their own visions of
perfection.
Libraries
and schools
will ideally choose this book as a key container of debate material
that will
prove essential to fostering students as interested in solutions as in
identifying problems in American economics and politics.
Book clubs, as well,
will find its contentions, vision, and analysis worthy of debate as
policies,
systems, and traditional thinking alike are confronted and assessed for
new
possibilities.
Return to Index
Are You
Ready?
Dr. Kimberly Harms
Muse Literary
978-1-960876-18-8
$25.99
Hardcover/$15.99 Paperback/$.99 eBook
https://www.amazon.com/Are-You-Ready-Build-Legacy-ebook/dp/B0CHG23HD5
Are You Ready? How to Build a Legacy to Die For
is a self-help
study in death and living legacies. It advocates a piece of the process
too
often omitted in books about dying and estate planning—the emotional
component
of supporting those who will be left behind.
More than
one kind of
emotional legacy can be left. The possibilities include love, physical
mementos, friendships, education, and coping methods for experiencing,
expressing, and sharing grief.
The "death
prepper" who would leave more than physical gifts will find that Dr.
Kimberly Harms covers a surprisingly wide range of possibilities. These
should
ideally be an intrinsic part of death planning, from the gifts to be
found in
sharing grief at life's end to the lasting value of decisions on
remains, and
ceremonies.
Case history
examples
and family circumstances permeate the account, encouraging readers to
assume a
proactive role in planning their own legacies, from choosing a favorite
obituary picture to expressing remorse or regret through an apology
letter.
Dr. Harms
presents
these examples and choices in three parts of her book. Part 1 addresses
the
nuts and bolts of leaving behind a positive, meaningful legacy for
survivors;
Part 2 provides research and insights on different belief systems
surrounding
the death experience; and Part 3 is a workbook inviting readers to
organize and
prepare personal legacies to leave for loved ones.
Are You Ready? How to Build a Legacy to Die For
both embraces and
far supersedes the typical book about death, dying, and funerals. It
cements
its insights with lists of supportive resources and case histories,
building new
avenues for discussion, reflection, and action.
These
elements make Are You Ready? How to Build a
Legacy to Die
For both a resource-packed reference that should be in any
general-interest
library, and a workbook highly recommended to any involved in legacy
planning.
Return to Index
Being
Medicine
Juliet Trnka
Muse Literary
978-1-960876-31-7
$25.99
Hardcover/$15.99 Paper/$.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Being-Medicine-Shamanic-Mystical-Manifestation/dp/1960876317
Being
Medicine: A
Shamanic Guide to Mystical Wealth + Manifestation is
recommended for libraries and readers seeking books about spiritual and
entrepreneurial leadership processes; especially those collections
strong in
consciousness and applications.
Juliet Trnka
discusses a range of subjects that are important to this process, from
considering
a life lived in surrender to eschewing compulsory action and reaction
in favor
of deeper, more meaningful excitement:
"To live in
surrender is to live a life of true audacity, because most of humanity
is still
living out the stale routines and habits of lack. Living in the
frequency of
surrender allows you to become truly generous, because you are tapped
into the
limitlessness of the Divine. The foundation of your life is no longer
one of
loneliness, struggle and anxiety. You are enfolded in the riches of
this
moment."
Although it
embraces
philosophy, psychology, and spirituality, Being Medicine is
not a book for those unwilling to also embark
on the transformative journey of self-actualization. It accompanies its
admonitions in the above areas with practical applications that readers
on a
path to change will find specific and useful:
"By
strengthening your skill and intimacy with receiving, you awaken and
catalyze
your inborn capacity to make ceremony anew, to curate proper refuge.
You contribute
to the full metabolization of your life."
Poems pepper
the
passages on dreams, life-embracing possibilities, and daily insights on
manifesting a life more loved and vivid than the usual step-by-step
progression
of followers who do not reflect:
"Gradually
you will allow yourself the grief of recognition that others will not
choose to
live this way. You will remember that you can love them anyway. You
will
remember that you can love you anyway. You will move like thunder
across the
land of your life, and you will also become the thirsty soil sated by
the rains
the storm brings."
The
resulting
reflections offer opportunity for not just debate and discussion among
book
club, psychology, and health and healing groups, but for those on
personal
journeys on the path to creating a better life.
This is why Being
Medicine is highly recommended for
those looking to take a more
active role and part in living their lives to the fullest—and why it
also
should be part of any general library seeing popularity with book group
reading
and leadership efforts.
Return to Index
Belonging
Matters
Julie Ryan McGue
Muse Literary
978-1-958714-81-2
$25.99
Hardcover/$15.99 Paper/$5.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Belonging-Matters-Conversations-Adoption-Kinship/dp/195871481X
Why should readers not
directly involved with adoption
consider picking up Belonging Matters:
Conversations on Adoption, Family, and Kinship? Because its
subject is ultimately
about the methods of bonding and connection that are created not just
by
adoption, but by the ideal of family closeness. This notion should be
expanded
upon and embraced in more than one way, fostered by the concepts
touched upon
in Belonging Matters.
From the mechanics of open
and closed adoption
opportunities and issues raised by locating a birth mother to advice to
adoptive parents facing difficult questions (and answers) about
creating
kinship, Belonging Matters
addresses
all kinds of connection conundrums and issues that begin with adoption,
but the
book also expands outward into different kinds of family relationships.
Julie Ryan McGue
packs her discussion with case history examples of adopted children,
parents,
birth parents, and her own experiences as she involved her adoptive
parents in
her search. These varied examples serve as touchstones of information
and
insight with all kinds of perspectives about the process of creating
and
maintaining bonds of kinship.
Candid revelations about
this process illustrate how
adoptive parents react in different ways:
"While
my
adoptive parents did not issue any ultimatums, they did not offer me
any
assistance beyond handing over my adoption papers. When my birth mom
denied my
request for contact, my adoptive mother said, “That’s unfortunate. I
was
looking forward to meeting her.” At the time, I appreciated her show of
support. It felt genuine."
Readers coming from personal
experiences with adoption
will find plenty of insights into all manner of psychological
experiences on
all sides; but it's those interested in how family bonds are actually
maintained, the differences between blood and adoptive relationships,
and the
choices adoptive children and parents face at all stages of family
bonding who
receive especially thought-provoking and useful insights. These will
attract
and educate anyone interested in the foundations of strong family
relationships, whatever their wellsprings of origin.
As adoptees (and the author)
share reunion experiences
here, readers receive many disparate insights into the emotional
complexities
of family connections.
Libraries and readers
interested in a combination of
memoir and insights on adoption and family will welcome the opportunity
to
discuss many of the contentions and experiences outlined in Belonging Matters. It can serve as a
communication point for adoptees, adoptive families, birth parents, and
anyone
interested in the intersection of family bonds and love.
Return to Index
Bisentient
Patrick O'Connor
Blackbeard
Independent Press
978-1-7391136-1-2
$29.99
Hardcover/$13.42 Paper/$2.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/BISENTIENT-Realm-Book-Patrick-OConnor/dp/1739113616
Bisentient combines alien invasion sci-fi
with mystery and thriller
elements. These enhance a riveting story which starts out as a medical
thriller
and then moves into unexpected territory most readers won't see coming.
The last
thing
cameraman reporter Mason Plater anticipated from his job was becoming
involved
in a cult's attempt to build a dangerous secret weapon which will
change the
world.
He's worked
on many
documentaries and revealed numerous puzzles, but his latest encounter
on a coma
ward with a patient who mysteriously awakens momentarily leads to
questions
that seemingly have no answers. This portends further forays into
dangerous
territory as Mason delves into a dangerous experimental device.
Patrick
O'Connor
builds tension slowly and steadily as Mason moves from a light mystery
to
becoming mired in a political struggle that teeters on the edge of
occult
influences and bizarre motives.
Risks are
taken to
implant humans with untested chip technology, an entity's growing
strength
demands haste and sacrifices unprecedented in human history, and the
changing
roles and mandates of not just Mason but supporting characters like
British
Home Secretary James Carver add a heart-stopping tension to a
delightfully
multifaceted story that introduces moral and ethical quandaries and
bigger-picture
thinking:
"He thought he knew what was at stake. Then at
other times he felt
as if in a dream or a form of madness. No-one should have to live such
a double
life. The pressures of perhaps the most difficult
and thankless role in British politics and this. The
unfathomable weight of responsibility for the fate of...what? The
country? The
West? Civilisation? Humanity?"
From
cross-country
rallies to revelations that rock the worlds of right-wing and left-wing
conspiracy theorists alike, O'Connor is particularly adept at
juxtaposing the
irony of likenesses between opposing forces where only chance proves a
dividing
line between their values.
As the
conflict
escalates between "agents of the devil" and those who believe
themselves to be on the side of good, readers will find Bisentient
as compelling for its many characters and opposing sides
as for its underlying blend of intrigue and alien encounters.
Libraries
and readers
seeking vivid, action-packed stories that excel in contrasts between
ideals and
forces will find Bisentient a major
attraction.
Return to Index
The
Blackbeard the
Pirate Business Book
Carole Marsh Longmeyer
Let There Be Arrgghh
Press/Gallopade International
978-0-635-14129-3
www.Gallopade.com
The Blackbeard the Pirate Business Book
is highly recommended
reading for anyone who thought business books to be dryly
predictable—from
adults to even high school students who will find the business savvy
and humor
blend attractive and accessible.
Traditional
business
books abound, but the real treasure lies in finding a book such as
this, which
cultivates a special blend of enlightenment and fun for budding
entrepreneurs that
results in lessons cemented by appealing examples and pirate-centric
references.
Hard-core
businesspeople may not understand the need for such a mix, but for an
inkling
of how this combination works, consider the links Carole Marsh
Longmeyer makes
here between Blackbeard and employee management:
"Blackbeard did not always have an easy time
getting the right
people in the right seat on the right bus (or, rather, ship), but to
stay
afloat, move on, collect prizes, and do it all again and again, he had
to
ensure his crew was collectively competent enough to do the job.
Everyone is
dispensable; that’s a hard thing to learn. You may love an employee,
but they
may love another company and a raise you can’t match. There may be
things you
do not like about a particular employee, but the skills they have are
essential
and so you keep them on. With personnel, if it’s not one thing, it’s
another.
Blackbeard found the same!"
Managing an
office or
business is a lot like managing a pirate ship. There are rebels,
political
forces, good and bad employees, and the challenges of everyday routines
and
unexpected events. Young readers, especially, will find this
dovetailing of
pirates and business to be enlightening.
Equally
unexpected is
the blend of business savvy and business memoir which cements practical
management advice with references of how the author and her co-pirate
and
business partner husband managed their own ship, navigating treacherous
waters
and making savvy decisions along the way:
"When Gallopade was just a dinghy, we had no
insurance. We knew we
risked financial catastrophe each day if either of us, Captain Carole
or
Cowboy-Pilot Bob, got hurt, much less if anyone fell on our premises.
When we
finally cobbled enough loot together, the first thing we did was
purchase
health insurance. From then on, we added logical and needed insurance.
We don’t
like insurance either, but it’s a business necessity. Find a great
insurance
provider and listen to them."
Seasoned
business
managers who want predictable straight talk may eschew the pirate
references
here, as well as the appealing and fun designs and illustrations by Lee
Barrow
that pepper the book; but it's the wannabe entrepreneurs of all ages
who dream
high but balk at some of the nuts and bolts of practicality who will
find most
appealing this unusual and appealing format.
Grounded in
references that seem to appeal to a younger reader, yet married to the
practicality of business experiences that will educate many an adult, The Blackbeard the Pirate Business Book
is recommended for classroom and group discussion for any budding
entrepreneur.
Return to Index
The Buffalo
Bill
Business Book
Carole Marsh Longmeyer
Let There Be West
Press/Gallopade International
978-0-635-14112-5
Website: gallopade.com
Ordering: gallopade.com/The-Buffalo-Bill-Business-Book-P16222.aspx
Like The Blackbeard the Pirate Business Book,
Carole Marsh Longmeyer's The Buffalo Bill
Business Book crafts a unique approach to the usually-dry
topic of business
savvy, winding history and thought-provoking perspectives into a mix
that
proves excitingly, refreshingly different.
This notion
is
cemented by lively language that will lead many an adult businessperson
to
reconsider both business and history in a new light:
"It was not hard to imagine Buffalo Bill as a boy
of the West,
hunter and trapper, Army scout, guide and Indian fighter. It was hard
for me to
separate the man from the myth. And even more difficult— after learning
about
his life as an aggressive, astute entrepreneur, businessman, marketer,
and so
much more—to imagine how he pulled off his globally successful Buffalo
Bill’s
Wild West Show. Ok, you ask—how hard could it have been? I own a
business. I
run a business. It is one with lots of products, personnel and details
out the
kazoo. Oh, you say: “I do that, too.” Well, I think Bill could run
rings around
Amazon, Apple, AI, and almost anyone else A to Z. YOU try [in the
mid-1800s!]
packing up and shipping out cowboys, sharpshooters, Indians and other
performers, staff, plus all the paraphernalia they need—stages, lights,
cameras, action, horses, horses, horses, bison and other critters, and
all the
tack and food and pooper-scoopers and what not—across
the sea to London and Paris, not to mention traipsing
non-stop around the United States."
Her links
between the
Buffalo Bill museum she toured and loved and the impact on her own
business's
challenges (which appeared diminutive in comparison to trials of the
past) are
thoroughly engrossing and will give even the most staid business
manager pause
for thought as Longmeyer brought
her history lesson home to reconsider present company challenges:
"It made me
look
at my own 40+ year old company (that I brag about so much) a little
closer. “Hey,
marketing: Where are our wild and dynamic graphics and larger than life
headlines?”
“Sales—you say you can’t get to Ohio? Well, listen to this…”
“Personnel, you
think you got problems? Try keeping sharpshooter Annie Oakley in
check!”
“Shipping…really?…wrap a few boxes, call Fed Ex. What if you had to
ship live
bison, horses and camels across the Atlantic?”
Readers of
all ages
who would start, restart, form, or reform their own entrepreneurial
effort will
thus find in The Buffalo Bill Business
Book an appealing, uncommon read that embraces the business
book, memoir,
autobiography, and history production in a new, refreshing manner.
The lessons Longmeyer absorbed from this history museum
and Buffalo Bill's efforts and examples prove just as enlightening and
necessary to today's business environment, whether the business under
discussion
is starting out, small, medium, or already well-established.
From good business practices
in handling debt to business
performers, contracts, and rules and regulations, Longmeyer handles all
topics
with consistent and revealing references to Buffalo Bill historical
precedents,
adding her own reflective lessons. This bridges the gap between
yesterday's
efforts and today's modern perspective, adding her own business
challenges and
revelations.
The result is a business
book much livelier than most,
embedded with Wild West history and the exciting flavors of discovery,
and
holding a chatty, appealing tone. It is highly recommended for not just
business library acquisition, but for interactive book club and
business
discussion among all types of readers, from would-be entrepreneurs to
young
adults just beginning to consider the business world's possible
attractions.
Return to Index
Divinely Dramatic
Sandra L. Young
The Wild Rose Press
978-1-5092-5187-2
$5.99 Digital/$18.99 paperback
https://sandrayoungauthor.com/
What do vintage fashion,
mystery, and ghosts have to do with romance? Plenty, if it's a
production
created by Sandra L. Young, who follows her first title in the series (Divine Vintage) with a story that
reflects a "surreal mashup" of circumstances and characters. Vintage
fashion expert Marcy Alexander's involvement in costumes
for a community
play uncovers a deeper dilemma involving romance and a querulous ghost.
Marcy is
used to
seeing and categorizing auras, as well as navigating the uncertain
waters of
costuming history and matters of the heart. However, as events careen
into
circumstances beyond her control, Marcy comes to feel that her
expertise and
special sensitivity may not be strong enough to cope with events which
mark her
"virgin initiation into the theater" with challenges that are
unpredictable and demanding.
Marcy is
also a
culinary artist. As she hones her skills in different ways and focuses
on
addressing onstage baggage and blowups, she finds herself on
treacherous ground
as she patches up performances and solves problems that evolve beyond
her
levels of expertise.
Sandra L. Young does a fine job
of capturing the aura of ghostly encounters, pairing them with romantic
interludes and challenges. She follows Marcy's strengths and forays
into new
arenas of volatile relationships not only of her own making, but
between her
parents.
Drama on- and off-stage permeate
Marcy's life, leading readers into decisions and consequences which
provide a
satisfying juxtaposition of ghostly mystery, vintage fashion, and
emotional
undercurrents. These affect present and past characters in memorable
ways.
Young's ability to create
connections between disparate figures that are caught off guard by
events
beyond their control makes for a solid read that will satisfy mystery,
romance,
and historical fiction readers alike.
The flavors of theatrical drama
and interpersonal relationship challenges that come together as the
story
unfolds reveals a satisfying progression of events that swirl around
spirits
left in limbo and the impact of unsolved mysteries.
Libraries looking for
multifaceted blends of paranormal, romance, and historical fiction will
find
all these qualities come to life in Divinely
Dramatic. It's a vivid,
highly
recommended read which can be chosen either as a stand-alone for
newcomers or
as another segment of intrigue and revelation for prior followers of
Marcy's
many abilities.
Return to Index
The Doctor Was a Woman
Chris Enss
TwoDot
9781493062928
$26.95
Hardcover/$25.50 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Doctor-Was-Woman-Physicians-Frontier/dp/1493062921
The
Doctor Was a
Woman: Stories of the First Female
Physicians on the Frontier is a women's history that
profiles ten selected
female doctors who made their marks and helped patients in the days of
the Wild
West.
From Wyoming and Nevada to
California, these women did
more than treat gunshot wounds. They fought lung disease, pioneered
dental
techniques, often became the first women to practice medicine in their
areas,
and overcame much male resistance to the notion to achieve their goals.
Chris Enss outlines history
in a reasoned manner,
presenting instances where women were as prejudiced about the notion of
female
physicians as their male counterparts:
"Lillian
had
difficulties with female patients too. One elderly woman in town
frequently
asked Dr. Heath to make house calls but had no intention of paying her.
The
woman was a minister’s wife, and Lillian felt her behavior should have
been
better than the average person’s. She only responded to the woman’s
calls for
help a handful of times. Eventually, she refused to continue seeing her
because
the minister’s wife refused to compensate her for her services because
she was
a woman doctor."
Thus, personal biographical
sketches weave into community
and Western history in a manner that represents all the perceptions,
reactions,
and influences on female physicians of the times.
Enss
also includes footnoted
references to source materials and notes to document this background,
including
a 1921 tuberculosis symptoms public health report and how women such as
Dr.
Sofie Herzog (who was employed by the railroad to treat its workers and
patrons) made names for themselves against all odds.
Black
and white vintage photos
pepper the story, bringing these people and times to life.
The
Doctor Was a
Woman reads with the drama of fiction and the authority of
well-researched
nonfiction. It is highly recommended for women's history collections,
American
history holdings, libraries attractive to medical students and
researchers, and
general-interest audiences alike. Its powerful stories are sterling
examples of
early women who succeeded, yet are rarely mentioned in the chronicles
of
medical or American history.
In the aforementioned Sophie
Herzog's case:
"Although
Sofie was employed with the railroad, she continued to maintain her own
practice. Not only did she treat those suffering with everything from
deep cuts
to pneumonia, but she was also intent on finding cures for more serious
ailments such as smallpox."
Return to Index
Infectious
Injustice
Justin
Cook
Fulton
Books
979-8-88731-972-8
$53.95
Hardcover/$41.95 Paper/$9.95 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Infectious-Injustice-Survival-Corruption-Incarceration/dp/B0CKC1PVP9
Blistering
attacks on the American incarceration system are not unusual, but what
sets
Justin Cook's passionate discourse Infectious Injustice: The
True Story of Survival and
Loss against Corruption, the COVID-19 Disaster inside of San Quentin,
and the
Dumpster Fire that is Known as Mass Incarceration apart from most others is his attention
to eye-opening details about prison management. This not only
identifies
injustices, but results in concrete advice on how inmates can survive
them.
This
one-two whammy of information delivers on two fronts: it serves as a
social
wake-up call to identify and condemn the actions, choices, and
consequences of
the American prison system, and it informs readers about various
survival
options that both address these issues and reveals how to not just
change, but
survive their impact.
Another
stark difference between this and more distancing analyses of justice
systems
is that Cook pours his heart, soul, and prison experiences into the
story to
meld memoir with nonfiction analysis. The result is far more personal
and
compelling than either approach could have achieved on its own, in
contrast to
other books that walk a thin line between political correctness and
real,
gritty experience.
In
this, Cook has succeeded in achieving what Papa Hemingway advised
fellow
writers: to "...write hard and clearly about what hurts." And, it
should be cautioned, it is never easy for readers to absorb such a
candid
discourse of pain. Nobody said prison justice issues were easy, and no
book
outlines the concept and process as strongly as Cook's.
Even
though Cook's personal mandate is to "...strip out the
subjectiveness,
suck it out like poison out of a snakebite, guaranteeing the truth
survives,
even if it kills me in the process," his story of what
transpired in
prison as COVID came crashing in to change everything is not only
personal, but
political. It comes with an added, unexpected attraction: wry and
probing
humor.
With
that, readers enter into a world where subjects are fluid, moving back
and
forth with life experiences rather than logical progression. This
mimics both
the attraction of the internet and the ability of the mind to jump from
place
to place as if time traveling, creating an intriguing series of
insights,
confrontations, and revelations that prove more accessible and
appealing for
their defiance of logical time progression.
As
Cook penetrates the inner sanctum of the "cesspool" that is San
Quentin State Prison, he cultivates a gritty, glaring tone as he
captures a
culture that most people outside of the justice system do not fully
understand:
"The prisoners were trading
drugs for Reese’s cupcakes, a hybrid between the cupcakes and Reese’s
cups. The
COs were watching and laughing, like we were all stupid monkeys
throwing shit
at one another. This place was staffed by miserable people with
miserable
lives."
From
a daily diary of increasing misery to later observations of prison's
impact on
inmates, Cook's chronicle is both hard to read and impossible to put
down:
"My brain was having a
heart attack. After being here awhile, you could tell who were the ones
that
would make it, who had to break in order to survive, and who would try
to kill
themselves."
Justice
is not torture. Its ideals also do not overtly embrace such realities
as
political influence and manipulation—at least, to outside eyes. But,
Cook
points out many disparities between ideals of prisons and justice and
the
realities of political and monetary influences on their processes, such
as that
of condoning an in-prison drug program that insists inmates take drugs
encouraged by greedy profiteers outside the prison.
Cook's
dialogues capture the nuts and bolts of these political influences,
connections, and resistance attempts:
"I don’t need Suboxone. You
are just trying to get credit for getting people on this federal
funding
program, but it’s addictive, so I will just get it and not take it,” I
said.
“No, if you are prescribed it,
you must take it.”
“Okay, so I could get it and not
swallow it, then sell it, just in order to get into the class. Is that
your
objective?” I said.
How many other people is she
doing this to?
“No, you can’t. You will get
written up,” she told me.
Her behavior seemed to violate
the underpinnings of democracy itself, but anger wouldn’t fix anything.
“I don’t need chemical treatment
at this point. I’m not taking naltrexone or disulfiram. I need
community
support with cognitive behavior therapy and daily goals. I did this
before
coming here. It works,” I said.
She seemed begrudged, offended,
and shocked that an intelligent thought came out of an inmate’s mouth
and
perturbed that I questioned the authority of a doctor.
“Do you want it, yes or no, sir!”
she said, yelling now."
Ideally,
Infectious Injustice should be required, assigned
reading for inmates
and those who have any interest or involvement in a prison system.
Candid and
glaringly controversial, its experiences, contentions, and damning tone
combine
with passionate arguments and examples to create a set of moral,
ethical, and
psychological insights. These will prove critical for discussion and
debate
among a wide circle of readers, from book clubs interested in memoirs
of prison
experience to social justice and injustice classes, political science
students,
and anyone with a concern about fighting fear, repression, and
incarceration
disasters that operate undercover, in open defiance of democratic and
humanitarian principles today.
Return to Index
Inspiring Work
Anniversaries
Rick Joi
Quintriple Publishing
979-8-9883454-4-2
$39.95
Hardcover/$29.95 Paperback/$19.95 Audiobook/$9.95 eBook
Website: www.workiversary.com/book
Ordering: www.amazon.com/dp/B0CP83YZ7K
Inspiring
Work
Anniversaries: How To Improve Employee Experience And Strengthen
Workplace
Culture Through The Untapped Power Of Work Anniversaries creates,
promotes,
and discusses the idea of 'work anniversaries' designed to "celebrate
the
work each of us does." Why is this so important? Rick Joi explains
everything in a book designed to inject gratitude into a society too
often
mired in expectation and entitlement.
The ideal centers on how we
contribute to others' lives.
Recognizing these contributions, however they purport to be compensated
for
monetarily, is an important part of re-affirming the interconnectedness
of
human beings and their ability to contribute to the greater good above
and
beyond the drive for financial gain.
This is an important
difference to celebrate because, as
Joi teaches, the finer art of connection and gratitude too often has
been
eroded by the presence and effect of money on the life transactions
through
which one human being contributes, in whatever way, to another's
health,
safety, or sense of comfort.
The concept of work
anniversaries isn't new; but
traditionally, they have been under-celebrated—perhaps because they are
largely
under-reported and misunderstood. This is where Joi's title assumes its
greatest impact, promoting organizational and individual pursuits which
empower
employees through meaningful appreciative gestures and recognition that
goes
beyond a bonus or raise.
Joi casts a critical eye on
many large company approaches
to such celebrations:
"Among
larger
organizations with big budgets, it’s popular to hire a vendor that
automatically sends employees a link to a catalog of generic items they
can
choose from for their work anniversary. They just click on something,
enter
their address, and a week or two later their “gift” arrives. This is
appealing
to many organizations because they can check off celebrating work
anniversaries
without putting in any effort themselves. The vendor handles
everything. No one
at the organization had to get involved at all! Remember from Chapter 2
that reducing
effort is one of the forces of mediocrity? This is an example of that
force in
action. But while this solution is great at reducing effort, it’s
simultaneously expensive and bad for workplace culture."
Business
managers here receive the nuts and bolts of how
better to express employee appreciation. While Inspiring
Work Anniversaries's
intended audience is the business leader, individuals
interested in honing,
participating in, or expanding the concept of a work anniversary also
receive
important keys to understanding relevance, meaning, and impact in
making
appreciative gestures.
This is why Inspiring
Work Anniversaries
should
ideally be made an intrinsic part of not just a business library or
reader's
list, but for any individual who would better understand the mechanics
of
transmitting real, meaningful gratitude to the efforts of those around
them to
make life easier, more positive, and more significant.
Return to Index
Is He Ever Going to Leave
His Wife?
Martess Dowling
Ultimate World Publishing
978-1-922828-97-2
$21.95
Papedr/$6.39 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Ever-Going-Leave-His-Wife/dp/1922828971
"As
much as
the evidence weighs heavily on him not leaving his wife and family, the
aim of
this book is not to pass judgment or tell you what to do. Instead, it
is to
give you informed choices to better understand the why
of things and then help you decide what is best for
you."
Is
He Ever Going to
Leave His Wife: The Answers to the Questions You Desperately Want to
Know is
written not for the wife, but for the "other woman" who may be
grappling with her role and future possibilities. Readers at a
crossroads in
their relationships with previously-involved men need a book that is
candid
about all kinds of possibilities.
Is
He Ever Going to
Leave His Wife covers all the bases of possibility, from
cheaters to
polyamorous relationship realities, and how narcissistic behaviors
affect
everyone involved.
Chapters review the basics
of relationship challenges
with an eye to considering the attraction and detriments of an affair
with a
married man, reviewing common perspectives of all who become involved
in such
an affair.
The idea is to probe the
underlying motivations,
expectations, and desires of everyone in a love triangle, offering
realistic
insights into what typically happens under such conditions.
Of particular note and
importance are the focuses on
"what to do" and "what not to do" that outline and identify
complex issues readers may not have considered in the quest for love
and
connection.
There are a myriad of
concerns to be addressed when one
becomes involved with a married man. No other book outlines all the
possibilities, options, and logical choices like Is He
Ever Going to Leave His Wife. Readers who still believe such
a relationship
is viable and important need to absorb the warnings and paths outlined
in this
book. Extensive research and interviews with women who shared their
experiences
creates a solid compendium of data that "the other woman" will find
invaluable.
Libraries and book
discussion groups revolving around
women's issues and relationships should consider Is
He Ever Going to Leave His Wife a key acquisition. It's
highly
recommended for any collection or dialogue strong in relationship
psychology
and women's growth and healing.
Return to Index
Knights and Ladies, Women
and Men
C.J.S. Hayward
CJS Hayward Publications
978-1731239594
$20.00 Hardcover/$15.00 Paperback/$5.00 ebook
https://cjshayward.com/klwm
Knights
and Ladies,
Women and Men comes from the pen and promising enlightenment
of C.J.S.
Hayward, joining others in his 'Best Works' series that synthesizes his
thoughts and Orthodoxy approach to life and spirituality into
digestible
contemporary subjects that ordinary readers can easily absorb.
"Vive la différence!"
C.J.S. Hayward outlines this
sentiment in his
introduction to the survey, then celebrates and supports it in chapters
that
juxtapose seemingly disparate subjects, from archaeology and the works
of C.S.
Lewis to linguistic and moral discourses on inclusive and exclusive
language,
reading romance books, and devising fantasies about what life should be.
Orthodoxy thought connects
these seemingly disparate dots
into a unified theory of spiritual reflection that will especially
serve
readers who seek religious, philosophical, and moral examinations in
writings
about everyday life events and experiences:
"The
idea of
making plans for your life, and then trying to make life conform to
your
dreams, is inside and outside of romance a recipe for not enjoying
circumstances where you can be truly happy. Part of the Orthodox
understanding
of Providence is that God gives his children situations of happiness
that we
would never even have dreamed of."
From theological reflections
on the subject of
contraception to women's perceptions, rights, and treatment, Hayward
creates a
wide-ranging inspection filled with thoughts both provocative and
perhaps,
among some circles, even controversial.
This, in turn, provides
opportunities for not just
personal enlightenment, but group discussion and debate that also sheds
important light on the connections between Orthodox thinking and daily
living
in general, and women and men in particular.
The result complements and
elevates Hayward's writings as
a whole, and is highly recommended for libraries seeing prior interest
in
Orthodoxy works in general and Hayward's discourses in particular.
Return to Index
The
Long Man's Pillow
Julie
Castillo
Regal
House Publishing
978-1646034512
$18.95 Paper/$9.49 ebook
https://regalhousepublishing.com
The Long Man's Pillow comes from a Cherokee concept that is
brought to life in a story not about Native American legends and
interests, but
modern-day global crises.
A
terrible nation-wide drought is not the ideal time to inherit rural
land, but Vicki's
inheritance not only arrives at an inopportune moment, but serves to
isolate
her in a strange community at a time of a national crisis that
reverberates
onto her personal land ownership challenges.
As Vicki grapples
with adversity from disparate arenas, from another's attempt to grab
her land
to emerging water rights issues that place her in the center of a storm
of
special interests and ecological issues, readers receive a realistic
story of
global climate change issues that come home to roost in individual
choices and
struggles.
Julie
Castillo creates a compelling tale as Vicki is forced to confront the
underlying impact of her land and its attraction to others. The
decisions she
is forced to make move her well outside her comfort zone of action and
reaction, changing her personality as well as her values and
perceptions:
"I’m not myself. The Vicki
Truax I know is far too much of a coward to do what I’m doing. The
sensible
Vicki thinks things through. Whoever I am now isn’t even sure of what
she’s
going to do next."
As
explosions both emotional and physical play out, Vicki finds not only
her courage,
but new convictions about the role her land and choices will play, not
only in
her own future, but in the community around her.
Castillo
spices Vicki's encounters with a wry mix of humor and enlightenment
that
enhances events with Vicki's first-person revelations:
"Irony of ironies, when I
lived in Baltimore, I could be anonymous whenever I wanted, and when I
slid the
bolt to my apartment door, I could count on being left alone. Now here,
on the
side of a West Virginia mountain, where you’d think there’d be hardly
anyone
around, I can’t get a moment’s peace."
The
resulting saga is gripping and thought-provoking. It elevates the genre
and
perception of 'cli-fi' as being more immediate and real than the usual
focus on
impossibilities.
Vicki's
experiences with a changing world are all too possible. This makes The
Long
Man's Pillow an engaging attraction for readers who see the
lasting effects
of environmental change evolving in all kinds of community scenarios
and
individual experiences.
Libraries
and readers seeking compelling stories that juxtapose high-octane
action with
thought-provoking intrigue and character revelations will find The
Long
Man's Pillow excels in a sense of realistic drama and life
changes. This
makes it perfect for book club and group discussion, as well as
individual
reader pursuit.
Return to Index
Reclaiming
Our
Democracy, 2024 Edition
Sam Daley-Harris
Rivertowns Books
978-1-953943-34-7
$32.95 Hardcover/$9.99 ebook
www.rivertownsbooks.com
Reclaiming
Our
Democracy: Every Citizen's Guide to Transformational Advocacy
revises a
2013 call to action, revamping not just its message, but its advocacy
insights
for a new era and generation.
Sam
Daley-Harris reinforces
the point that it's not enough to make donations and consider them
replacements
for active advocacy. In modern times, especially, political action
needs to be
personal and engaged; not just in the form of a check contributed to a
particular group.
The prior
rendition
of this treatise was titled Reclaiming
Our Democracy: Healing the Break Between People and Government; but
in
creating a new call for action for 2024, this book cultivates a more
assertive
tone that offers concrete stories of how advocacy and proactive groups
are
making a difference in tackling such big issues as poverty, racism, and
climate
change.
The tone
here is one
of defining the concept of 'transformational advocacy' in action:
"What is common to these stories—the 40 years of
RESULTS’ advocacy
contributing powerfully to a nearly 66 percent reduction in global
child
deaths, Mike Robinson’s first-ever meetings with elected officials
leading to a
briefing of a committee chair and his staff, and CCL’s yearly tally of
1,350
meetings with Congressional offices and 4,100 media hits—is that they
all
reflect the work of organizations that are committed to
transformational
advocacy. They came from organizations that are willing to make big
asks of
their volunteers and deliver something powerful in return."
By
documenting not
just the promise of action, but its results, Daley-Harris cultivates a
"can do" attitude that peppers the ideals with real-world examples of
advocacy in action.
These
success stories
come from a wide variety of efforts. His participation in the process
of
bringing issues to national attention, fostering the kinds of
influencers that
resulted in concrete changes, offers invaluable case history keys to
success
that will pave the way for others following the democratic footpath to
social
and political improvements.
From the
cultivation
of active citizen lobbyists who prove influential and transformative to
concrete tips on how to employ their proven methods of influence, from
LASER talks
and engagement methods fostered by RESULTS
volunteers, Daley-Harris produces just the kind of book that is
essential for
supporting calls to action. The book is highly recommended for any
reader
interested in advocacy specifics and democracy in action.
Libraries strong in
political and social advocacy titles will find Reclaiming
Our
Democracy: Every Citizen's Guide to Transformational Advocacy
an essential
collection addition, but it will prove especially effective as assigned
reading
in all kinds of discussion groups and situations, from political action
seminars and book clubs to groups interested in how grassroots
democracy can
grow and become transformational in its approaches.
Return to Index
Sacred
Celebrations
Elizabeth Barbour
Empower
Press/GracePoint Publishing
978-0-9724686-9-5
$22.95 Softcover/$9.99 eBook
Website: www.GracePointPublishing.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CLTXRL56
Sacred
Celebrations: Designing Rituals to Navigate Life’s Milestone
Transitions comes
from a life coach who first makes the case for why rituals are needed
to
celebrate and reinforce transitional points in life, then outlines the
types of
rituals that are possible for all forms of change.
From birth and death to
moving, divorce, and daily
living, these rituals, big and small, offer readers opportunities for
connecting in celebrating and sharing moments of life.
Initially charged with
creating the ritual for her
mother's passing, Elizabeth Barbour designed and facilitated not one,
but two
ceremonies, and in them found the strength, inspiration, and healing
from her
efforts to be transformative.
With clarity, honesty, and
revealing tenderness, Barbour
translates her experience for readers who can then glimpse the actual
impact
and meaning that rituals hold and promise to those who organize and
participate
in them:
"We
have
access to ministers and rabbis and other holy people to help facilitate
funerals because it allows space and time for the family to grieve and
feel all
their emotions. But for some crazy reason, I had decided that Mom’s
first
send-off should be fully planned and executed by me, her only child.
What was I
thinking? Slowly, my circle started gathering and my jangled nerves
calmed down
with each hug I received. More than thirty women arrived from all
aspects of my
life in Houston, neighbors, church friends, book club members,
networking
colleagues, clients, and Zumba dance buddies—only three or four had
actually
met my mother. They all gathered for
me. This diverse group of women all enjoyed meeting one
another, and my
home and my heart overflowed with the rich sounds of women talking and
laughing
together."
Each example in her book
outlines the possibilities
ritual can introduce to virtually any facet of life. They are
opportunities for
connection and healing that only come from organization, purpose, and
spiritual
and psychological intention, and apply to many surprising life changes
that readers
initially won't associate with ritualistic applications, such as
divorce:
"I
proceeded
to move through my condo one room at a time and I lit a ceremonial fire
in
each. There is something deeply primal and oh-so-powerful about fire as
a tool
for transformation. Using a large Pyrex bowl, I put in a little bit of
Epsom
salts and rubbing alcohol, and then I lit a match. I had a bowl of
water nearby
in case the fire got out of hand. With each tiny fire, I forcefully
spoke out
loud the things that I was ready to release from my marriage."
The result is a lesson plan
for life that does more than
outline ritual possibilities, but embraces them as part of the act of
letting
go, moving on, or releasing negative energy to make room for the
positive
forces of support and healing.
Ideally, Sacred
Celebrations shouldn't be limited to spirituality or new age
collections
(which will be its most likely audience), but will be incorporated into
general-interest libraries and selected for book club and discussion
groups
from all walks of life, from spirituality to psychology circles.
More so than most books
about celebrations, Sacred Celebrations
translates the act
and ritual of healing to everyday life, making it a top recommendation
for
libraries seeking a wider-ranging approach to better living.
Return to Index
Suck a Little Happy Juice
J. Scott Coatsworth
Mongoose on the Loose/Other
Worlds Ink.
9781955778596
$16.99
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/suck-a-little-happy-juice-j-scott-coatsworth/1144199271
Suck a Little Happy Juice: An
Irreverent, By-the-Skin-of-Your-Teeth Guide to Being an Indie Author offers
a treasure trove of humor
and writer's advice that reviews details J. Scott Coatsworth wished
he'd known
about being an indie author before he entered into the fray of
publication.
From
"holy shit moments" to tricks and tips for keeping creative juices
flowing, Coatsworth opens each chapter with a philosophical observation
before
moving to the nuts and bolts of not just writing, but creating a
'brand' and
staying true to its intention.
Aspiring
fellow authors might think that, with all the literature on the market
about
the process, there wouldn't be room for yet another. But, there clearly
is, if
it blends a wry sense of humor with candid assessments of processes,
promotion
values, and positive and negative paths to success that authors often
experience.
Suck a Little Happy Juice
is the kind of advice title one
wishes every aspiring writer had in hand. Whether it's addressing
getting ready
to write or giving concrete examples contrasting tepid writing with
captivating
alternative approaches and revisions, Coatsworth sets aside ethereal
advice in
favor of the concrete examples writers need in order to prove more
effective
and hone their skills.
One
example is a passage about an aspiring starship captain. Coatsworth
advises
that "In fictional characters, a
little damage can make things far more interesting." He then
provides
a powerful contrast example of how the concept can be developed more
fully,
moving from a "warm, fuzzy, heartwarming" creation to a
better-developed plot in which "This Riane is much more interesting,
with fault lines to explore (and exploit). These can become both
motivations
and self-imposed blockades that your characters must find a way to
overcome."
His
ability to delve deeper into the process than most writer's guides to
delineate
the approaches that support superior writing and publishing efforts
sets Suck a Little Happy Juice
apart from
most others on the subject, offering solid examples on everything from
how to
choose a superior title to becoming involved in community events and
mentoring
fellow authors.
Each
tip reviews the specifics of success and failure. Each section blends a
wry
sense of humor with a solid examination that fosters understanding and
growth.
Its unconventional approach comes from its foundation in blog writings
and
Coatsworth's acknowledgement of the bigger picture in publishing:
"What we do as writers
matters, and it can change the world in ways small and large."
If
libraries and readers were to select just a few titles on the subject
of
becoming an author, Suck a Little Happy
Juice should be at the top of the list. Its irreverent joie
de vivre and
thought-provoking examples will save authors a lot of time and wasted
effort,
pointing out the milestones of various kinds of success that come not
just from
putting pen to paper or fingers on keyboards, but setting the mind in
motion to
adopt better writing habits, approaches, and results.
Return to Index
Thought Leader Academy
Sara Connell
Muse Literary
978-1-960876-38-6
$33.99 Hardcover/$15.99 Paper/$5.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Thought-Leader-Academy-Through-Mission/dp/1960876384
Thought Leader
Academy: 10x Your Impact and Income
Through Your Mission and Message isn't just a book:
it's a program
developed by Sara Connell to guide fellow coaches and entrepreneurs to
make the
most of their leadership abilities.
Now, Connell's message isn't
new. There are many other
coaching books and guides on the market that boast of doing the same.
What
differentiates Thought
Leader Academy from
many of its peers is an approach to the process that offers proven
strategies
and tips for honing one's ability to increase impact and income in an
exuberant, uplifting way, as a thought leader.
"Have
you had a Resonance moment? Felt the
tingling, demanding, that won’t let you go no matter how hard you try
to push
it away, this is my destiny? Was there something you came across that
grabbed
you by the spine and said, “You will follow me, you must follow me. For
this
you have come!”
From childhood trauma to her
first book deal that landed
her on Oprah, being published in the New York Times and founding
Thought Leader
Academy to help others overcoming inner blocks to become the leaders
they are
meant to be, Thought Leader
Academy is more than a memoir or self-help guide.
It's a strategic
program to help readers publish books, speak on stages, build
communities, and
monetize their missions.
The journey is powered by
Connell's own life experiences
as well as those of others:
"I
knew this transformation was not going to be
subtle. I could feel that, like recovering from an addiction or
summiting a
high mountain, it would require radical new thinking, behaviors,
habits, and
action. What I found is that it required an uplevel of my identity. I
went for
this work from every possible direction, investing in coaching,
mindset
work, spiritual practice, new styles of meditation, neuroscience
techniques."
The uplifting nature of her
subject is tempered by
realistic assessments of what makes thought leadership difficult work,
ultimately challenging and productive. Her assessments of these pivot
points of
transformation and new possibility creates a dialogue of step-by-step
approaches
to giving, learning, and pushing the boundaries of success.
Readers of Thought Leader Academy should,
like AA, be "willing to work the program" presented here. The roadmap
is proven, but the work itself is up to the reader who takes action on
Connell's Thought Leader Academy.
Libraries seeking
inspirational self-help guides to
leadership will want to highly recommend her approach to various
discussion
groups, from entrepreneurial circles to book clubs interested in not
just
ideals, but programs that hold both the promise and the nuts and bolts
of
active change.
Return to Index
The
Vixen Amber Halloway
Carol
LaHines
Regal
House Publishing, LLC
9781646034666
$18.95 paperback, $9.99 ebook
https://regal-house-publishing.mybigcommerce.com/the-vixen-amber-halloway/
In
The Vixen Amber Halloway, a woman
whose
husband cheats on her becomes obsessed with the other woman, Amber
Halloway.
The story of stalking and revenge comes from a wife who teeters on the
edge of
insanity as she charts the progression of her own demise.
From
its opening paragraphs, the story socks a one-two knockout punch of
realization
that gives evidence of its hard-hitting strength:
"Some have questioned my
sanity. Only a mentally imbalanced woman, they say, would spy on her
estranged
husband and his lover from a tree. Only a delusional woman would
believe that the
husband would one day return, when the evidence—viz., engagement to his
lover,
before the ink on the divorce papers was even dry—was demonstrably to
the
contrary. Only a woman unconcerned with how she is perceived by the
outside
world, by former spouses and law enforcement circles alike, would
commit her
observations of the husband and his lover to eight consecutively
numbered
spiral-bound notebooks, producing, in three months’ time, a
comprehensive,
incriminating document that would serve to confirm the prosecution’s
theory
that she was a spurned wife with rancor in her heart."
As
the fragile line between revenge and insanity is crossed again and
again,
murder and abandonment evolve into a dark comedy in which spurned
ex-wife
Ophelia concocts a panacea for her anguish and finds it bitterly too
effective.
Driven
by a family penchant for behaviors that are less than appropriate
reactions to
life adversity, Ophelia (aptly named) navigates the dissolution of one
relationship and its replacement with controversy and confrontation.
Carol
LaHines excels in a wry blend of humor and darkness which bleeds from
her words
in a flow of ongoing power and shifting perceptions as Ophelia and Andy
spar:
“None
of your business,” you had
the audacity to assert.
None
of my business.
You could obtain a restraining
order upon one-sided averments that I had stalked and harassed you,
invaded
your privacy, and caused a scene at the Minnie Ha-Ha (omitting any
mention
whatsoever of your purpose in being at said motel, in my happening upon
you in
flagrante delicto, wrapped in nothing more than musty bed sheets); you
could
demand marital support, maintaining that as a salesman your income was
sporadic
and subject to fluctuating demand in the fickle market for medical
supplies;
you could try to force a sale of the house and to make off with half
the
proceeds—my mother’s legacy, the only thing of value she ever left me.
Yet I
could not question your bona fides in demanding the entire set of
anodized
cookware. I was not entitled to know where you were currently living,
or with
whom."
The
rage, betrayal, and efforts towards a macabre form of redemption that
play out
on these pages is breathtaking in its descriptive psychological draw
and
surprising in some of its twists and turns of plot.
LaHines creates a vivid story of a woman who embarks on a campaign that leads her further into darkness, taking readers by the hand in a dangerous invitation to join in the journey.
While
libraries will find it easy to recommend The
Vixen Amber Halloway to readers of contemporary fiction who
look for a blend of vivid description and powerful insights, it's
women's
literature and psychology groups who will find The
Vixen Amber Halloway highly worthy of assignment, debate, and
discussion.
Return to Index
Wall Street Lessons
James E. Demmert
New Insights Press
979-8986016351
$30.00 Hardcover/$15.99 Paper/$9.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Wall-Street-Lessons-Overcoming-Greed/dp/B0CJYXRDQG
Wall Street Lessons: Overcoming Fear, Greed,
and Being Your Own Worst Enemy is a
deep dive into investment
strategies that takes a much different path to building wealth than the
usual
financial advice on investing.
James E. Demmert offers an
unusual insight in his
book—that the human brain is not wired for investing. This perspective
contrasts boldly with the innuendos of most investment strategy books
that seem
to assume that the drive to invest is built into the human psyche.
Demmert
supports his argument by reviewing how 12 psychological blunders are
often made
by investors, based on investment choices
made with their emotions rather than based on a rational investment
approach.
The problem with typical
investment decisions is that
they are driven by either fear, greed, or both, which causes a
shoot-from-the-hip
response. Such blunders lead people to either take more risks than they
can afford or reject opportunities to make good financial
decisions. For
example, one of the blunders Demmert discusses is the “crowd effect,”
also
called the “herd mentality.”
Although the market is
generally efficient, the crowd
effect can sometimes motivate people to follow what thousands or
millions of
others are investing in, creating a temporary market bubble due to
“irrational
exuberance.” Such behaviors, assumptions, and errors that negatively
impact
investment choices are analyzed in detail in the book, along with a
review of
traditional investment theories on Wall Street that simply no longer
work, such
as modern portfolio theory.
To counteract fear and greed
investing, Demmert offers
comprehensive guidance on rational investing according to a set of
fundamental
principles and specific steps that investors need to take to minimize
their
risks while maximizing their profits over the long term.
Packed with charts, examples
from Demmert's work
with clients, and keen insights into understanding how the stock market
works
in patterns aligned with economic cycles, Wall Street Lessons is
filled with practical advice for better investment strategies. This
makes it a
top recommendation for business, novice investors, and financial
discussion
group audiences interested in improving their knowledge of stock market
investing and wealth building.
Return to Index
White Storks of
Mercy: Reunion
Joni Anderson van
Berkel
JponiPress
979-8-218-19785-8
$19.95
Website: www.whitestorksofmercy.com
Ordering: www.amazon.com
The second
book of
the White Storks of Mercy trilogy, Reunion, is
recommended for readers
who appreciated the evolution of Book one, Formation,
set in a world
where fantasy and reality entwine. The foundation of that introductory
story
revolved around the myth of the legendary White Storks of Mercy, a
coterie of
time-traveling peacemakers who assume the forms of both birds and
women.
Reunion
continues the transformative experiences of the White Storks of Mercy.
Their
leader, Great and Honorable Zendala, takes them on new missions of
mercy
replete with numerous challenges as the storks continue their quest to
inspire
loving kindness and acceptance of diversity in humanity.
Joni
Anderson van
Berkel crafts a superb blend of mythology, mystery, history,
and fantasy
that works well in this second book, which will receive applause and
attention
from fans of the prior story as well as new readers.
The author
engages
her audience with action-packed scenes that include insights on how
past
choices and their consequences continue to resonate in the future,
affecting
the Merciful Ones and everything they encounter.
Excellent
perspectives on good, evil, and redemption follow Reunion
just as
strongly as they did in Formation, as Zendala
confronts the reality of a
loving reunion with her sister, Reba, the ancient Egyptian Siamese cat,
that
goes awry.
Concluding
on a
further note of possibility and transformation, White Storks
of Mercy:
Reunion is a 'must' for libraries strong in mixes of
mythology,
fantasy, history and mystery, and will delight both newcomers and prior
fans
with its rich adventures and intersections between acts of mercy and
survival.
Return to Index
William
Shakespeare’s Hamlet
Gideon Rappaport
One Mind Good Press
979-8-218-11259-2
$48.00
www.onemindgoodpress.com
The first
question
that comes to mind when considering Gideon Rappaport's William
Shakespeare's Hamlet is: why should an edited, annotated
work of this classic be chosen for classroom study and student
edification over
the Bard's original piece just because it's accompanied by teacher
enlightenment?
Quite
simply, Gideon
Rappaport's survey streamlines the original work, allowing teachers the
opportunity to highlight Shakespeare's classic in a more efficient,
different
manner designed to augment (not replace) both the original masterpiece
and the
teacher's efforts.
Perhaps more
so than
most of Shakespeare's literary works, Hamlet
is widely misunderstood and misinterpreted. With Rappaport's analysis
in mind
and hand, the focus is on the underlying assumptions about human nature
which
have long permeated traditional analytical approaches to the play.
Where other
discussions might bring to light obscure possibilities in Shakespeare's
approach and plot, Rappaport points out that any such interpretations
are
likely critic-imposed, and not an intentional device the Bard employed
in
creating his characters and their very clear dilemmas. After all, his
audience
was not one of intellectuals alone, but the common man. Deliberate
obscurity on
the author's part would have muddied the waters too much for the play
to assume
the status and appeal it held, both in its times and to future
generations.
Rappaport's
close
attention to outlining what the play meant and its impact during
Shakespeare's
times holds not only alternative, necessary enlightenment for modern
readers,
but provides insights into the critical processes which have done
injustice to
Shakespeare's classic over the centuries, introducing themes and ideas
which
actually were not part of the Bard's original intention or work.
Rappaport
maintains
and points out that "...too many
interpreters in modern times have missed the mark by substituting their
own
ideas for the meanings that Shakespeare has actually given us." He
then creates five set principles to guide a re-interpretation of Hamlet which sets the story in a better
historical and cultural light.
It should be
noted,
at this point, that this is no light endeavor, but a line-by-line
interpretation which juxtaposes each piece of the play with a facing
interpretation on the same page. This allows for deep and close
inspection
appropriate for students of Hamlet and scholars, who will find that
many of
these comments provide fuel for further discussion and debate.
One example
is
Rappaport's interpretation of a dialogue between Hamlet and Polonious ("Polonius: Upon my honor—
Hamlet: Then came each actor on his ass—"):
"Upon my honor: an
oath confirming the truth of the
news.
Then came … his
ass: Perhaps a
quotation from an
older ballad, as at lines 407–408, 416, and 418. on
his
ass: on
his donkey. ● Hamlet pretends that Polonius
means the actors have literally ridden in upon him
(“upon my honor” = on me, cf., “your honor” or
“your majesty”) and implies thereby that they have
ridden each on an ass (= fool), thus calling Polonius
an ass. Polonius misses or ignores the point, perhaps
taking it, as Hamlet intends, to be more evidence of
nonsensical madness."
The result
is an
in-depth, powerful analysis of Hamlet
that not only focuses on and returns the Bard's original intentions to
modern
audiences, but explains why they were misinterpreted in the first place.
Libraries,
students,
and scholars who would go beyond another Hamlet analytical study to
consider
the successes and failures of literary interpretation itself will find
Rappaport's study William Shakespeare's
Hamlet an invaluable work of analytical art. It should serve
as a creative
foundation for any teacher or student of historic literary works in
general and
Hamlet in particular.
Return to Index
The Crafter:
A Kid’s
LitRPG/Gamelit Adventure: Book 1: The Mysterious Game
Dan Sugralinov
Translator: Kenes 'Kenny' Sugralinov
Independently Published
979-8862684476
Hardcover - $18.99, Kindle - $3.99, Paperback - $15.99
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Crafter-LitRPG-Gamelit-Adventure-Mysterious-ebook/dp/B0CJ891W1H
The Crafter: A Kid’s LitRPG/Gamelit Adventure: Book
1: The Mysterious
Game isn't just an adventure story. It juxtaposes worlds of
reality and
fantasy, inviting kids to absorb a format which embraces different
worlds in a
creatively unique manner.
Kenny is a
young
optimist challenged by changes in his life; not the least of which is a
move to
Kansas:
"Kenny strongly believed that everything would
eventually be okay.
This belief remained with him, even when his dad stopped living with
them at
the apartment in New York City, and he and his mom had to leave."
Here, the
world of
Minecraft computer gaming and everyday experience intersect in unusual,
challenging ways as Kenny applies life lessons to navigate fantasy
worlds,
real-world bullies, and obstacles that can equally lead to either
prizes or
disasters. His employment of schooling and knowledge to navigate this
unfamiliar territory adds another, unexpected dimension to The Crafter. This expands its themes,
interests, and power as Kenny
learns how mushrooms may hold a particular form of magic that offers
solutions
beyond their botanical science.
Even for
optimists
like Kenny, there are days when nothing goes right. But he can't hide
from
bullies forever—even in the gaming world.
As Kenny
grows his
abilities and tries to counter his reputation as an outsider, he
grapples with
the challenges of making friends based on events that place him in the
eye of a
storm over conformity, demonstrating his knowledge and abilities:
"He could almost feel his reputation with the
bullies improving.
He wasn’t their favorite, but he was making progress."
Realistic
assessments
of relationships between kids and adults inject notes of real
problem-solving
and quandaries into a tale which is just as centered on emotional
growth as it
is on puzzle-solving and games. Opportunities for enlightenment appear
in many
different forms and on many levels as the story unfolds.
Kenes
'Kenny'
Sugralinov translates this story from the Russian, giving young Western
readers
a vivid introduction to the new Fantasy Metauniverses series which
fulfills its
promise of tackling subjects alluring to readers of fantasy and
real-world
dilemmas alike.
There are
dragons,
curses, the momentum of entering different gaming levels, and
encounters which
change Kenny and his real-world relationships in genuine ways.
Libraries
and adults
seeking compelling fantasy for middle grades and older which rests on
game
concepts and experiences, yet elevates the action to new levels that
dovetail
with real-world issues, will find The
Crafter action-packed, thought-provoking, and attractive. It
appeal into
gamer circles that usually eschew reading books, cultivating themes
that invite
classroom and group discussion.
Return to Index
Eyes On Our
Future
Together
Julianna Pinkhasova
Atmosphere Press
978-1-63988-937-2
$26.99
Hardcover/$17.99 Paper/$8.99 ebook
www.atmospherepress.com
Rosie is in
her
senior year of high school and is on track to attend her dream college,
but has
been forced to transfer to Spiritville High after her private school
burned
down. This event returns her to a bad situation where she attends
school with
previous stalker and classmate Jason, who can't stay away from her.
Rosie has
developed
mantras to help her move forward since the events of eighth grade—among
them
the idea of "Mindset: A person’s way
of thinking and their opinions. Including how that person sees
themself and how they see their outer
reality. In simpler terms, the way I see myself and think of myself
will
reflect how others see me. So, if I feel sure of myself, others will
feel sure
of me too." As she discovers in Eyes
On Our Future Together, however, it will take more than
mindset and determination
to evade Jason's ongoing presence in her life.
Julianna
Pinkhasova
crafts a powerful story that will reach mature teen into new adult
audiences,
following the saga of a proactive character determined to overcome
adversity
and threats to create a positive future. As Jason steps up his threats
and
presence in her life, so Rosie remains determined to elude and thwart
him by
any means necessary.
It's a
deadly game
she plays, because Jason holds his own increasingly angry fantasies
about
different possibilities with her, which is stymied by her resistance:
"Rosie is messing with the wrong guy. If she
would’ve been more
compliant, it wouldn’t have come to this, but now she will pay the
price."
Part of what
makes
this story so vivid is the contrast between Rosie's ideas of how to
survive and
Jason's fantasies that justify his attitude and actions. Chapter
headings
clearly mark these internal dialogues within characters, creating
revealing
inspections and insights which probe the methods of survival and
validation on
both sides.
To add to
the
emotional rollercoaster, Rosie finds herself lured into Jason's
dangerous game,
overcoming her own resistance to his allure to enter into a fantasy
which holds
dangerous consequences for her future.
Can she love
him against
her will and her ability to place her survival first?
Pinkhasova's
ability
to capture the nuances of predator, victim, and the tangled
relationship which
emerges between them provides important cautionary notes to teens who
are
formulating their own relationships and dealing with various forms of
insecure
or predatory behavior patterns from their peers.
That's why Eyes On Our Future Together needs to not
only be on the shelves of any high school library, but chosen for group
discussion in a variety of settings; from book clubs to young adults
cultivating relationship questions and survival skills as they enter
into
adulthood.
Libraries
and readers
will find Rosie's character realistic, her predicament believable, and
the
outcome of her choices with Jason eye-opening and worthy of discussion
and
debate. This vivid story will appeal both as a leisure read and as a
bigger-picture key to understanding life relationships, attitudes, and
the
danger signs of destructive relationships and attitudes.
Return to Index
I See You In
My Dreams
Laura May
Creative James Media
978-1-956183-36-8
$16.99
Website: www.creativejamesmedia.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/I-See-You-My-Dreams/dp/1956183361
I
See You In My
Dreams provides readers with a powerful story that holds
trigger warnings
for sensitive psyches. These include violence, abuse, and explicit
sexual
scenes. However, those interested the world of adult situations and
books will
find the realistic encounters and confrontations in I
See You In My Dreams to be thought-provoking, worthy of
discussion group pursuit.
Narrator Cassie, a Florida
high school student, leads a
double life. By day, she is a normal teen in the modern world; but at
night she
experiences the life of seventeen-year-old 1920s girl Riga.
As the line between reality
and fantasy begins to blur
and spill over from nighttime experiences to daytime living, Cassie
encounters
handsome Russian twenty-something Daniil, who further complicates her
life,
moving from being a new neighbor to becoming something more influential
in her
shifting world.
Cassie already has her hands
full, but this complication
adds a series of conundrums to her encounters as Daniil/Daniel
introduces some
horrifying possibilities into her already-complex dilemmas.
Laura May crafts a sense of
slowly evolving challenge and
horror that will grip readers of all ages with a story that is
unpredictable. It
moves from possibilities to impossibilities with equal attention to
juxtaposing
fantasy with reality.
As Cassie stands in the
middle between forces and suffers
for her position, the true extent of physical and psychological horror
come
into play to create immersive, unexpected events. These challenge both
Cassie
and her followers to consider the cost and methods of surviving
adversity in
more than one way.
As dreams and nightmares
spin together, the people she
loves are pulled apart and away. Cassie battles her deepest desires and
comes
to realize her unique role in holding her world together and loving the
men and
women who become part of it.
Libraries and readers
looking for edgy stories will find I See You
In My Dreams the perfect
choice for making the move into mature subjects, experiences, and
better
understanding alternative processes of love and healing.
Return to Index
The
Safety Book: Strangers and Dangers
Yael Feder
Schocken Children's Books
978-9651911415
$10.99
Paper/$2.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Safety-Book-Strangers-Dangers-Concepts/dp/9651911417
The
Safety Book: Strangers and Dangers is a
picture book that documents
safety lessons not from a child's perspective, as one might anticipate,
but
from the viewpoint of a watchful Mommy who oversees how her children
interact
with the world upon picking them up from school.
From
how to interact with service people and
strangers to accepting or rejecting the physical overtures of
acquaintances,
this book is filled with wise ways of approaching the world, keeping in
mind
personal boundaries and acceptable and unacceptable behaviors.
As
the wise mother narrator observes the daily
challenges her kids face from the actions of their peers, she imparts
words of
wisdom that read-aloud parents and picture book audiences will find
important
discussion points:
“If
you don’t like being hugged, you can just say: ‘I don’t like that,’” I
said."
From
the dangers of opening a door to a stranger
without asking his identity to understanding what makes good and bad
people in
the world and how to deal with them, the combined efforts of a loving
mother
and father move from the outside world into the home.
Asya
Aizenstein's engaging illustrations add to the
educational experiences Yael Feder cultivates as everyday experiences
during a
family walk turn into important reflections and lessons about safety
and
personal feelings.
The
result is a much more multifaceted, useful
discourse than most children's books about 'stranger danger', and is
very
highly recommended above others on the subject as an interactive
resource to
begin discussions about all kinds of safety concerns for kids ages 4-8.
Return to Index
Santa’s
Magical
Reindeer: Becoming Pen Pals
Michele Monaco
Mascot Kids!
978-1645439707
$19.95
www.sleighbellcity.com
Santa’s Magical
Reindeer: Becoming Pen Pals deserves
year-around acclaim for its
compelling story of the Famous Eight reindeer's search for kids who
believe in
Christmas magic. This year, three reindeer decide to add a quest for
pen pals
into their search parameters, and embark on a journey to locate some
very
special young writers.
Prabir Sarkar adds
compelling illustrations that bring
this picture book story to life, enhancing the personas and quest of Prancer, Vixen, and Dasher's quest for
young literary friends.
Three
sisters are the
first participants chosen for the special pen pal program—but they
aren't the
list.
As the three
reindeer
expand their magical reach into other kids around the world,
connections are
made and joy is spread via the written word.
Michele
Monaco's
survey of how magic happens year-round can be used as an example of the
power
of the pen to form connections and attraction among all ages.
The Famous
Eight who
participate in this effort share pen pal stories around the fire and
find their
coming holiday plans enhanced by these efforts.
Parents who
choose
this story as a read-aloud will find kids ages 4-8 will welcome the
bend of
Christmas fantasy and insights on the elements and foundations of
friendships.
Libraries interested
in picture books that promote both seasonal warmth and year-long
attraction to
forming new friendships will find Santa’s
Magical Reindeer: Becoming Pen Pals an
inviting, attractive recommendation.
Return to Index
Sid
Johnson and
The Well-Intended Conspiracy
Frances Schoonmaker
Independently Published
979-8-9868429-8-1
https://fschoonmaker.com
Teens who found the prior
adventure (Sid Johnson and the Phantom Slave
Stealer) to be compelling and
attractive will find equally engrossing the new Sid Johnson saga in The Well-Intended Conspiracy.
The story opens in Council
Grove, Kansas Territory in 1856.
Sid and his family are headed West after the family's farm and its role
in aiding
freedom seekers are compromised. Sid struggles with a vastly different
life
than his familiar farming experiences, from handling a yoke of oxen to
eating
beans around the campfire. These are a far cry from his last civilized
meal of
"a hearty dinner of prairie hen stew and dumplings." Every facet of
his life has changed.
What remains the same are
the vivid struggles with
conspiracy and plots which follow the family to their new destination.
Frances Schoonmaker excels
in creating a saga that melds
history, mystery, and a "you are here" feel to the wagon train
experience, bringing its trials and encounters to life in a vivid,
dramatic
manner:
"Sid
held his
breath. “Now!” In one smooth motion, Mrs. Reid dropped forward, hands
on her
husband’s shoulders. He grasped her under the arms and swung her out
over the
angry water and into Mr. Wood’s arms. The horse never stopped."
She also adds reflective
insights about prejudice and growth
opportunities that create insights about the peoples and ethnicities of
the
times:
“You
know, I’ve
heard folk call teamsters no-good thieves. Some may be. But that hasn’t
been my
experience. I have a hunch it’s because they’re mostly Mexicans. I
reckon
they’re no better or worse than the rest of us. Take Hernandez. He’s on
a tight
schedule, but he stopped out of human kindness.”
As teen readers absorb Sid's
adventure, they also receive
lessons in history and interpersonal relationships. These enhance the
educational and psychological insights embedded into the story.
From Sid's increasing and
different responsibilities and
inner worries about his choices and their consequences to discoveries
that
alter his perceptions, readers gain an excellent blend of intrigue and
insights
that range from changing environments during a wagon train's journey to
the
inner turmoil its participants face.
A fine sense of place and
atmosphere follow Sid's
movements through early American West landscapes:
"They
had
their first sighting of the Rocky Mountains, two unmistakable, dusty
blue
mounds in the south: the Spanish Peaks. Day after day they seemed no
closer until
clouds hovering over the southwest horizon came into sharper focus.
They
weren’t clouds at all, but the snow-topped peaks of the Sangre de
Cristos. Just
before they turned south toward the Spanish Peaks, they could see the
tall,
deep violet silhouette of Pike’s Peak to the north."
Between his little sister
Cora's kidnapping to the
discoveries he makes about the Kaw Nation and the tribes which are
being
displaced and killed along the Santa Fe Trail, Sid experiences many
challenges
and growth opportunities. These provide particularly rich fodder for
classroom
discussion and historical analysis of the pioneer experience, with its
requirement for kids to step up into new responsibilities.
Libraries and readers
seeking historical fiction that
embraces intrigue, discovery, and growth will follow Sid's journey to
California in The Well-Intended
Conspiracy with avid interest, whether the book is chosen for
its leisure
read attraction or for its living history.
Return to Index
Twin Power
Benjamin Young, M.D. & Kiyanda Young, M.D.
Twizzler Bees Entertainment
978-1-7360151-0-0
$10.95
Paper/$7.95 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Twin-Power-bond-greatest-strength/dp/1736015109
Twin
Power: Our Bond
is Our Greatest Strength contributes to a picture book series
about twins
that celebrates the unique relationship twins share. It comes from the
parents
of fraternal twins who seek to transmit a message of positivity into
the world.
Imre Papp brings their
vision to fruition with
large-sized, appealing color images of the twins, complimenting the
story of
twins Simone and Sebastian, who were born together but look different.
Looks aside, the Youngs
delve into the reality of what it
means to be a twin, from the inherent partnership it promises to the
attraction
of holding equal energy levels, double the effectiveness in sharing
jobs and
play, and twice the mental ability as they work and think together to
solve
problems and confront the world around them.
Many are the lessons and
illustrations in Twin Power, which
may cause non-twins to
wish their siblings were the same. But, the purpose of this book is to
promote
understanding, not jealousy; and in this, Twin
Power more than succeeds with its positive, enlightening
inspections of the
special connections between twins.
Libraries seeking lively
stories about helping, sharing,
and confronting life together will find Twin
Power a winning lesson in positivity and sibling connection,
as well as an
enlightening book about the ways in which twin relationships differ
from other
siblings.
Return to Index
Twin Power: The Best Snow
Day Ever
Benjamin Young, M.D. & Kiyanda Young, M.D.
Twizzler Bees Entertainment
978-1-7360151-2-4
$10.95
Paper/$7.95 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Twin-Power-Best-Snow-Ever/dp/1736015125
Readers of the introductory
picture book Twin Power will find
this second
adventure, Twin Power: The Best Snow Day
Ever, equally compelling. It moves away from the initial
book's
introductory definition of twin relationships into an adventure that
immerses
twins Simone and Sebastian in an outdoors encounter with winter and
snow.
But, first, they need to
tidy up inside.
The action revolves around
the cooperative sharing the
twins employ to achieve their goal of play faster, emphasizing how
"twin
power" can speed the chores ("...they
must clean up their room—an easy job when the twins work together.").
It isn't all fun and games,
here. A learning opportunity
arises from defeat when a wise father reminds his complaining twins
that
"...they can do anything if they work together."
Emphasizing the message of
love, friendship, and
cooperative efforts, Twin Power: The Best
Snow Day provides lessons in sibling relationships for twins
and non-twins
alike.
Parents who choose Twin
Power: The Best Snow Day as a read-aloud book have the
opportunity to
reinforce these perceptions as the story unfolds to reveal the real
underlying
power of being a twin—and a loving sibling.
Libraries seeking stories that teach the very young about the value of cooperative efforts and thinking will find Twin Power: The Best Snow Day and its predecessor hold value and lessons that rise far beyond edification on being a twin.
Twin Power: The Best Snow Day EverReturn to Index