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Donovan's Bookshelf

January 2024 Review Issue


Table Of Contents

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


Fantasy & Sci Fi

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. 

The AndroBiotica File: Nearly Human

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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. 

The Redemption of Jarek

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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. 

Shield of the King

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Literature

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. 

MONARCH: Stories

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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. 

Northwest Poems

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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." 

Providence

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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. 

Riddle

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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. 

Visible Magic

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Biography & Autobiography

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. 

Behind Her Smile

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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." 

A Bittersweet Goodnight

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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. 

From Trophy Wife to Cosmetic Surgeon

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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. 

Growing Up Army

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Mystery & Thrillers

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. 

Beach of the Dead

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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. 

Blue Eyed Devil

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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. 

Coded to Kill

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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." 

Man-Killer

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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. 

Death Under the Deluge

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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. 

Lacey's Star

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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. 

One Icy Night

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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. 

The Other Murder

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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. 

Searching for Dali

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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. 

Stung

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Novels

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." 

Ambient Light

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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. 

Arms Wide Asunder

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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. 

Believe Unshattered Love

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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. The air in 1964 was hollow, empty, without aroma—ex­cept for a thin scent of blood. 

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. 

The Book of Reading

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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. 

Brighter Than Her Fears

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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. 

Brooklyn '76

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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. 

Enfant Terrible: Opening Acts

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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. 

Enfant Terrible: Headliner

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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.

Enfant Terrible: Showstopper

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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. 

First Sons and Last Daughters

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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. 

Ghost With Two Hearts

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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." 

Glass Flower

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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. 

Henry’s Chapel

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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. 

The Promise of Unbroken Straw

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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. 

The Street Between the Pines

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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. 

That Summer She Found Her Voice: A Retro Novel

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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. 

Water Music: A Cape Cod Story

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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. 

A Young Woman from the Provinces

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Reviewer's Choice

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. 

The Actor's Book of Quotes

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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. 

America vs. Americans

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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. 

Are You Ready?

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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. 

Being Medicine

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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. 

Belonging Matters

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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. 

Bisentient

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The Blackbeard the Pirate Business Book
Carole Marsh Longmeyer
Let There Be Arrgghh Press/Gallopade International
978-0-635-14129-3         $12.99 (Paperback) $24.99 (Library Bound)
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. 

The Blackbeard the Pirate Business Book

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The Buffalo Bill Business Book
Carole Marsh Longmeyer
Let There Be West Press/Gallopade International
978-0-635-14112-5           $12.99 (Paperback); $24.99 (Library Bound)
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. 

The Buffalo Bill Business Book

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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. 

Divinely Dramatic

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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." 

The Doctor Was a Woman

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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. 

Infectious Injustice

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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. 

Inspiring Work Anniversaries

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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. 

Is He Ever Going to Leave His Wife?

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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. 

Knights and Ladies, Women and Men

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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. 

The Long Man's Pillow

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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. 

Reclaiming Our Democracy, 2024 Edition

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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. 

Sacred Celebrations

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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. 

Suck a Little Happy Juice

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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. 

Thought Leader Academy

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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. 

The Vixen Amber Halloway

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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. 

Wall Street Lessons

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White Storks of Mercy: Reunion 
Joni Anderson van Berkel 
J
poniPress
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. 

White Storks of Mercy: Reunion 

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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. 

William Shakespeare’s Hamlet

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Young Adult/Children

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. 

The Crafter: A Kid’s LitRPG/Gamelit Adventure: Book 1: The Mysterious Game

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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. 

Eyes On Our Future Together

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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. 

I See You In My Dreams

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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. 

The Safety Book: Strangers and Dangers

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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. 

Santa’s Magical Reindeer: Becoming Pen Pals

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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. 

Sid Johnson and The Well-Intended Conspiracy

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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. 

Twin Power

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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 Ever

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