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Donovan's Bookshelf

July 2023 Review Issue


Table Of Contents

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


Fantasy & Sci Fi

 
20 Moon Road: An Angel's Tale
Jody Sharpe
Independently Published
9780988562042             $2.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Moon-Angels-Tale-Mystic-Book-ebook/dp/B09W75ZMNC 

20 Moon Road: An Angel's Tale adds the fifth book to Jody Sharpe's cozy urban fantasy series, continuing the theme of kindness, transformation, and interactions between angels and humans which formed the foundations of prior Mystic Bay stories. 

Here, a wide cast of characters (and their animal companions) explore their relationships, town, and beliefs in a story that opens with the ongoing friendship between Madame Norma, the town's psychic, and the angel narrator, who knows that their friendship ties are enduring and will remain strong even after death: 

"Madam Norma was the oldest and wisest psychic in town. Before she went to heaven over two years ago, she was my best earthly friend. Now that she is in the heavenly realm, our friendship still remains strong. Her spirit appears as she floats before me and she is young again, as all are who go to heaven." 

From angelic community programs and interpersonal relationships to the history of a town that embodies God's promises and reflects a prosperity that comes from spiritual connections, Sharpe creates a compelling story powered by a writer's reflections of his town's characters and world and Madame Norma's thoughtful, ongoing influences on those who reside there. 

Do angels come to children with special needs? In Mystic Bay, they do. As the truth emerges about the town's makeup, history, and mission, readers become immersed in a spiritual story of angels and beliefs that drive positive changes and kindness in the world and spread beyond the small town of angels: 

"The world now knows of the children’s sightings. It’s given believers more hope. It certainly has given all of us in our small town hope and more heart. We are trying to do the work of angels by helping others, volunteering, fostering and adopting children and taking care to rescue animals in need.” 

Sharpe's Mystic Bay series embodies hope, belief, the power of conviction and angel influences, and the acts of kindness that lead humanity on a better, gentler path. 

20 Moon Road's revelations of relationships with Madame Norma that changed lives and transformed beliefs through documented angel sightings by special needs children makes for a warm tale of revelation and discovery that explores guardian angels, lasting legacies, and blessings. 

Libraries and readers looking for blends of fantasy and spiritual examination will welcome the Mystic Bay series as a whole and this latest addition in particular, which expands the nature, purposes, and insights of Mystic Bay upon the larger world outside its borders. 

20 Moon Road: An Angel's Tale

Return to Index


Combining Both Worlds
Kim Cousins
Resource Publications, an Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers
978-1-6667-6778-0         $33.00
amazon.com/author/educa8 

Combining Both Worlds presents the third book in the Clashing Kingdoms series, and is especially recommended for prior followers. This audience will find the events, characters, and Christian themes further developed in a story replete with vivid action from the very beginning. Here, a "tigress-of-a-woman" is giving birth to a daughter when an earthquake of a different nature rips through the fabric of their lives. 

As the story evolves, it turns out that the continuing earth tremors aren't the only things affecting the community of families and survivors. Also alive and fluid are movements to leave and bring God's word into the greater world: 

“I feel like I need to tell people about Jesus while there’s still time to find him.”   
Still shaken by the invisible army, Caleb asked, “Is Jesus gonna hide somewhere?” 
Miah looked at him, saddened.  “No.  People’s hearts will grow so hard, so cold, they won’t seek Jesus anymore.  Jesus won’t shut the door.  People will.”

Christian readers who have appreciated the presence of miracles and transformation in the previous books in the Clashing Kingdoms series will find that Combining Both Worlds unfolds a greater plan, depicting an ongoing war between Satan and God which plays out not just in communities, but in the hearts and minds of men. 

Here, the battlefield is not just physical, but mental and spiritual as the characters face struggles presented on different levels connected by an undercurrent of meaning that requires slow absorption of the events. Cousins is particularly adept at capturing the interplay between physical and mental changes, employing a descriptive voice that both cements environment and connects it to the shifting internal and external worlds the characters face: 

"The Smoky Mountains seemed more scrunched together, like the folds in a closed accordion.  This folding made their course more strenuous because their path became a relentless sequence of steep inclines and descents..." 

The journey is not conducted on a singular level, but is carried out over a period of time and place that embraces encounters with angels and cements its themes and progression with many footnoted Biblical references: 

The guardian angel smiled at Juan but addressed the three humans beside Juan.  “How may I help you, Sons of Adam?”
The three men shuttered.  Juan jabbed Miah in the ribs.  Miah gulped then said, “I don’t know what to say.  We’re men of unclean lips, living among people of unclean lips.”
 

Christian readers who have both Biblical background and familiarity with the prior books in this series will find the blend of action and contemplative reaction in Combining Both Worlds to be an exquisite study in God's promises and the intersections of humanity and spiritual realms. 

Operating as a quasi-fantasy and a story of revelation and growth, Combining Both Worlds is highly recommended for Christian libraries and fans of the previous series titles that will discover in this story of the end of days a promise of new spiritual beginnings. 

Combining Both Worlds

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Earth's Ecocide: Desperation 2647
David A. Collier
Atmosphere Press
978-1-63988-865-8         $16.99
www.atmospherepress.com 

Earth's Ecocide: Desperation 2647 will appeal to climate change and apocalyptic sci-fi readers and libraries looking for broader subjects than climate change and social destruction alone. It opens a series replete with action as seventeen-year-old Livia navigates a world of global temperature increases and the rising threat and promise of AI. 

As Livia interacts with both, her world comes to life. David A. Collier injects the explanations, insights, and revelations that keep the story logical and involving, from AI explorations to Livia's own charge to stay alive and build a life against all odds: 

"Kutter recognized Nila’s emotional module wasn’t developed enough that she could experience strong human emotions like hate or love. Nor did she perceive the danger of his military deployment. Service was her primary mission, but she gathered human vocal cues, such as anger or sadness, through her biological signaling subroutines. She knew that when Kutter told her to protect his mother and sister, he meant it." 

As the struggle to become (or remain) human unfolds against the backdrop of world-changing events, teen to adult readers become thoroughly immersed in the revised stakes of navigating a world well on course for environmental destruction and human extinction. 

Livia faces as many dangerous situations from her fellow human beings as she does the climate change and AI forces at work in her world. Having longed for freedom, she discovers, after only three days, that such comes with a deadly portent of the revised reality of a disintegrating world. 

Without the military forces that usually protect her, Livia is alone ... except for the strange blue orb that appears to save her, and which holds its own game plan for the future of Livia and her family. 

Collier juxtaposes action with believable technological backdrops in this futuristic world. His attention to revealing this world through Livia's experiences, choices, and training creates a "you are here" feel to events that unfold to test her education and emotional responses. 

Twists and turns are introduced that many won't see coming, adding intrigue and surprise as Livia navigates not only the well-known aspects of her sheltered life, but the less familiar challenges that exist outside her perceptions. 

Libraries and readers might initially deem Earth's Ecocide: Desperation 2647 a teen sci-fi read, or a work of ecological apocalypse alone. But there is so much more happening here that the story is highly recommended for sci-fi readers of any age who would contemplate and discuss a scenario in which reality itself is on the chopping block. 

Its tension, twists, and thought-provoking surprises makes for a thoroughly engrossing story. 

Earth's Ecocide: Desperation 2647

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Echo of the Evercry
E. J. Dawson
Literary Wanderlust
978-1-956615-16-6         $15.99 paper/5.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Echo-Evercry-J-Dawson-ebook/dp/B0BWVCV8NF 

In most scenarios, the ability to kill would be considered a detriment. But in Echo of the Evercry, it's an attribute sadly lacking in the sisterhood that Larissa is involved with, which is charged with hunting down corrupt sorcerers who have fallen to the Evercry and slaying them. 

In this milieu, magic is something to be quashed. And Larissa's big secret is that she is not only drawn to it, but feels just as compelled to engage with and wield it as the sorcerers she's supposed to hate. 

The Evercry was an evil force that employed dark magic before it was vanquished. The history that binds this present-day perception and logic is impeccably explained from the start: 

"Any who apply themselves can learn to bend the world to their will, but magic holds within its heart the same darkness and chaos as the Evercry once did. Power begets power, and through these human vessels, slivers of the Evercry find a home. Insinuating itself like weeds through farmland, the Evercry’s appearances are subtle, but infect the unwary fields of humanity until the blight is too well rooted to be removed with anything other than death."

Larissa has well learned these lessons at her mother's knee, and is set to walk in those some precedents when her mother is called by the Fair Lady to slay her own foe. A daughter's duty to grow up to hear the Evercry and slay her own knight is thus dictated by lesson and tradition, but defied by her own heart, which encourages a very different path. 

The specter of a world governed by darkness and powerful women who are trained to come into their powers by killing foes is nothing new; but what is delightfully original here are the twists E. J. Dawson employs as shades of gray are injected into a world seemingly clear about goodness and evil forces. 

These come to fruition and are represented in Larissa as she interacts with fellow Fair Lady sisters, confronting the dichotomies that govern her life and choices and defying the history and training she's always viewed as a given: 

"They didn’t even know who they were running from. No, that was a lie. Their enemy, the one responsible for this attack, was whomever her mother was fighting. The Evervast." 

As Larissa and her band face the strongest Evercry ever known, she summons the courage to not only confront it, but challenge herself and her companions in unexpected ways. 

Larissa's growth, self-realizations, and considerations of the real roots and impact of magic and power in the world explores her changing role and reinterpretation of the history that has been handed down in the world. Ironically (and relatively unique to this story), Larissa's choices ripple out to affect her companions in unexpected ways as they reassess their own beliefs, actions, and ability to support their sister against both traditional and unconventional foes. 

These types of revelations, in which not just protagonist but the circles around her are transformed, make for an unusually evocative read which blends sword-and-sorcery action with equally powerful depictions of interpersonal relationships and revelations that rock the world. The interactive nature of the characters as they intersect is as much a draw as protagonist Larissa's process of self-discovery. 

Libraries and readers that choose Echo of the Evercry will discover its wide-ranging themes of transformation and revised perceptions about good and evil, friendship and support, and power struggles lend to thought-provoking moments that create the foundations for lively book club discussions, as well. 

Echo of the Evercry

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The Surreal Adventures of Anthony Zen
Cameron A. Straughan
Kadath Press
978-0-9686981-1-2         $8.00 Paper/$5.99 ebook
Website: www.cameronstraughan.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B088LQF344

The Surreal Adventures of Anthony Zen is a study in satire and humor that enters the fantasy realm with the bang of a nightmare and a life that teeters on the mundane until a series of events transforms it. 

Anthony Zen is not one for adventuring—except in his dreams. Getting up, going to work, and living with a Buddha-like cat is plenty for him, until irony and impossibilities begin to plague his life and movements: 

"Running along, he became increasingly aware of the sound of hooves behind him. Turning quickly, he encountered a large giraffe, following him closely. He didn’t know what business the giraffe had on that side of town. Quite frankly, he found the situation rather startling. After all, the entire area had been designated a ‘Giraffe-free Zone’, following the brutal mauling of a young wheel-chair bound boy by an LSD-induced escapee from a giraffe retirement home. It only takes one bad giraffe to ruin it for all the others..." 

As amazing surreal encounters build, Anthony finds that his world becomes one of struggles, whether it be with a hippo policeman, a frustrated wise man who refuses to help Boy Scouts in trouble, or scenarios that test Anthony's ability to lead a staid, quiet life: 

“Do you have a telephone I could use?” he hollered back, hoping to be heard. “I would like to call my parents and let them know where I am.”
“No, I don’t have a telephone!” the wise man screeched.
“What the hell do you think I’m running up here - a fish factory?”
The ancient wise man turned to Anthony. “It used to be real nice and quiet up here, until I wanted to get this house built. Now these damn
kids are bugging me all the time and I’ve just about …” 

Readers interested in unpredictable stories filled with thrills, spills, cheers, and surprising intersections of fantasy and reality will find The Surreal Adventures of Anthony Zen an attraction that keeps its momentum supercharged by fun encounters. 

Those who have come to feel that humorous stories too often sound alike will especially appreciate the vivid scenes and confrontations that evolve here: 

"Falling to his knees, he desperately tried to remove the sticky blueberry filling from the front of his ‘I Killed Your Mum’ t-shirt. The other gang members leaped up in a mixed state of fear, amazement and sobriety, because they suddenly realized that marijuana had yet to be legalized; however, they were also rather shaken by Anthony’s sudden show of force." 

The result is hilarious, eye-opening, thoroughly unpredictable, and embellished with a wry sense of social and psychological observation and wonder that keeps readers laughing and thoroughly engaged. 

Libraries looking for out-of-the-box fantasy and humor blends will find no better choice than The Surreal Adventures of Anthony Zen's solid and special brand of rollicking adventure that represents escapist reading at its finest. 

The Surreal Adventures of Anthony Zen

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Town of Angels Christmas
Jody Sharpe
Independently Published
978-0988562028            $9.00 Paper/$2.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Town-Angels-Christmas-Animal-Rescue/dp/0988562022 

While the fourth book in Jody Sharpe's Mystic Bay series should ideally be read by those who have enjoyed the prior books, this should not be considered a prerequisite for newcomers, who will find this urban fantasy story of holiday secrets to be compelling and freshly original. 

The premise involves a town in California that is inhabited by angels, but opens with the new mission of Angel Kenneth Heart, charged with helping a homeless man in San Francisco. He can do this by transporting Walt to Bay Star Shelter in Mystic Bay, where he volunteers. There's more going on than an angel's do-good mission, however, because Mystic Bay also keeps its secret angels close, but faces changes and threats of exposure even as more need arrives in the form of horses that need rescuing before Christmas. 

Jody Sharpe unfolds a wonderful saga that cements its plot with a first-person reflective story that builds the backdrop of Mystic bay in a seamless, compelling manner: "We angels let the humans live their lives and choose their days. We are just here living as humans experiencing friendship, and family life, guiding with the gentleness of persuasions. Once we come down to live as humans, we grow old with the rest of the folk. I guess I’m about forty something in human years, but over four hundred in angel years." 

The ways angels move, operate, and help are profiled in a gentle story of secrets that must be kept at all costs, efforts that must be fostered towards man and animal alike, and challenges faced by guardian angels who find their missions more complicated than one would expect. 

The intersection of mystique and kindness evident throughout angel Ken's moves and the special interests of those who swirl around him creates a moving story that is especially perfect for holiday reading and filled with memorable moments: 

“Listen, you are the finest man I have ever known in my life. Knowing you are an angel would help me get through my life and it would be a secret I would keep. I swear.” Klaus looks at me with tears in his eyes. Thankfully my composure comes. The Lord gives me the words.
“If I’m an angel, then I’m only an angel to some. It’s an honor to me you think of me as an angel.
“Thank You.”
 

It matters not if the reader is new to Jody Sharpe's magic or the allure of previous Mystic Bay books or is a prior fan. Both audiences will become immersed in the missions of angels and men and in the town that is a focal point for harboring kindness, discovery, and revelations of a spiritual and social nature. 

Libraries and readers looking for cozy urban fantasy reading and inviting stories of kindness, miracles, and God's work will find Town of Angels Christmas a fine invitation to consider the actions and efforts that transform lives, whether they be human or animal. 

Town of Angels Christmas

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The Yawning Gap
C.V. Vobh
Thuban Books

978-1-961425-01-9
         $14.99 paper/$4.99 ebook
Website: www.vobhbooks.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C5YVHWG7 

When COVID began, some months into the worldwide pandemic it was revealed that some very isolated vacationers out of touch with civilization had re-entered the world to find it in the grip of an unfathomable experience. Similar circumstances affect an entire village in the epic fantasy The Yawning Gap, in which Cor Volucre's home has been isolated from influences outside the wall which has surrounded it for centuries. 

Unlike other books about isolation and discovery, Cor never intended to venture beyond the boundaries of his home. It was an accident ... one which portends resonating changes as a result. Cor's mother has long set him up for believing he is special, and that one day his actions would change the world; but as time passed, he grew less certain that he was destined for something great. Now he stands on the cusp of his mother's vision for his future. 

The first book in the Wanderers Cycle follows his stumble into this destiny and strengths as Cor discovers bigger picture thinking about his village's place in an artificially divided world whose boundaries are in similar flux to his own. 

C.V. Vobh writes with a vivid hand as Cor and companion Brayleigh Mirin tap the "fires of youth" to encounter powerful tyrants, kings, and opportunities for salvation not only of kingdoms, but their own roles in a vastly revised worldview. 

The entire fragmented world is in decline, and only those who wander (such as Cor and his odd troupe of friends) hold the potential to save it. 

Cor's discoveries about his place in the greater scheme of events takes center stage in a story about a boy coming into his own and confronting the nature of reality. 

Vobh provides lyrical and compelling descriptions as characters confront forces of good, evil, and world-building or destroying entities. A misguided quest for "true equality" becomes an attempt of folly in attempting to level a playing field that disintegrates without the Elements' opportunities for 'unjust' and inequitable benefit. 

The result is a powerful saga of realization, growth, and confrontation that keeps Cor and his band of adventurers (and their readers) on their toes and thoroughly engaged in a story that sports an unpredictable outcome. 

Libraries and readers seeking epic fantasy introduction that juxtaposes not just action and tension, but character discoveries about the effects of their isolation and persistence in unraveling new opportunities will find The Yawning Gap compelling and commendable not just for its action and intriguing twists, but for a special brand of world inspection that brings with it new opportunities for transforming reality itself. 

The Yawning Gap

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Literature

Fast Fiction Volume 2: Man vs. Machine
Scotty Cornfield
Flagstone Press
ASIN: ‎B0C3BGX6S5             $10.49 ebook/$15.95 paper
Website: www.scottycornfield.com 
Ordering: https://tinyurl.com/9unxrswn 

Just how much can be written in 101 words? A lot, as Scotty Cornfield proved in his original Fast Fiction and here, again, in companion volume Fast Fiction Volume 2: Man vs. Machine. Both books pay tribute to the fact that not only can a story be well-developed in merely 101 words, but that prompts from others can set off a chain reaction of creativity plumbing the wellspring of originality to come up with circumstances and tales well worth reading. 

Perhaps at no other time in human history does the fast fiction form feel so compelling and necessary. Given the time (and, often, literary) constraints of modern readers, fast fiction lends particularly well to quick reading and long-term, thought-provoking digestion. The breadth of themes and inspections in this second book expands the novel idea and incarnation of fast fiction, inviting both literary and general-interest audiences to imbibe in a rich, heady brew of diverse experiences. 

Cornfield wrote 75 flash fiction stories for this collection, then took the same prompts he used to write his original tales and fed them into AI systems ChatGPT and Google Bard to see what computer-generated stories looked like. Humans like to have the last word, so he produced a 76th story that departs from the inspirational steam of prompt-generated flash stories to sum up the collection's 'man versus machine' duel. 

An introductory explanation not only reveals the birth of this collection's core concept, but cements the idea that, in this gathering, human-authored stories are presented alongside AI-created fast fiction. The separation between man and machine is clarified by a change in font and the AI author in parenthesis, representing a unique collaboration between man and machine that profiles both the strengths and drawbacks to AI-generated literature. 

The contrast in approaches opens with the Cornfield-generated "Don't Let the Sweet Name Fool You" and its AI version, "The Minimalist Funeral." 

Creative writing courses focusing on the question of what makes writing human will find plenty to digest throughout the collection through such contrasts. In this case, the theme of a "bad-ass" mortician whose jokes about death lead to a stunning revelation in "Sweet Name" take on a different feel in the AI-generated story "Minimalist," in which a deceased's macabre sense of humor spills over from death to educate the living. 

Both stories were created from the prompt "less is morgue," but the very different threads demonstrate how one prompt can, under different hands (or, in this case, machinery) lead to very different scenarios. Both incorporate ironic humor, but each story contains provocative messages that are driven home in 101 words and the space of virtually a moment or two of reading. 

Another intriguing contrast is created in the juxtaposition of "Another Family Teachable Moment" with the AI-created "Perhaps Not the Best Idea," both prompted by a single word: "Perhaps." These very different stories of possibility and vision again excel in the unexpected as they explore possibility in very different ways. 

As these connected prompts unfold between man and machine, a battle of wits and creative responses to words evolves that will prove especially enlightening discussion material for any classroom (high school on up) interested in exploring the wellsprings of reaction, intuition, and the scenarios and approaches that differentiate human reactions from machine-generated words. 

Or, is there a difference? 

You decide. After all, you're the reader ... and you're only human. Or, are you? 

In a nutshell, Fast Fiction Volume 2: Man vs. Machine's prompt-generated, word-driven art is flawlessly compelling and highly recommended for a wide audience, from literary and creative writing students to general-interest readers who may have little time, but great interest in inquiring, thought-provoking, surprisingly disparate short fiction scenarios. 

Libraries and readers searching for powerful examples of what the short form can do, how prompts can tap underlying creative responses, and what differentiates the approaches of man and machine will find much food for thought and discussion in Fast Fiction Volume 2: Man vs. Machine. 

Fast Fiction Volume 2: Man vs. Machine

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Ichhamoti
Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay
Translator: Chhanda Chattopadhyay Bewtra
Parabaas
978-1-946582-38-6         $34.95
Publisher: https://parabaas.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1946582387 

Literary readers interested in Indian literature in general and portraits of Bengali rural life in particular will find Ichhamoti a powerfully rendered exploration of caste, social order, and historical events that take place in the second half of the 19th century.

This is an era fraught with new inventions, political turbulence, and revised possibilities as rural villagers face the influence of the British empire on their lives and the social and political currents that buffet their future potential. 

The Ichhamoti is a small river that flows through the Jessore district and eventually empties into the Bay of Bengal. 

Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay's ability to capture the nature of the driving force of its story embeds his novel with a vivid "you are here" feel that requires no prior familiarity with Bengali atmosphere or people in order to prove compelling: 

"Suppose you take a boat from the quays in Morighata or Bajitpur and sail straight onto Chanduria Ghat. As you travel, you will see the two banks lined with red palte madar flowers, wild bonyeburo, clusters of water lettuce and the bright yellow flowers of wild tithpalla. Ancient banyan and pipal trees loom over the high banks, with bamboo groves and shadowy clusters of uluti, bachra, and boinchi peeking around them. The nesting holes of bank mynahs look out of frames of dainty little vines and climbers. You won’t see many houses on the riverbanks. Instead, you’ll find soft green grasslands, empty sandy banks, shrubs bright with wildflowers and forests filled with chirping birds." 

The time taken to create the foundations of this special place and time is also reflected in depictions of the people of this region, their dialogues and interactions, and their concerns about everyday life, as well as their futures. 

Bandyopadhyay laces his descriptions and encounters with the force of growth, realizations, and relationships that experience the turbulence of change. This leads to such disparate events as the task of hiding bodies, spiritual lessons passed from father to son, and the political and economic choices that involve an indigo plantation's survival or demise and its lasting impact on villagers who depend on its existence. 

The presence of these relics of yesteryear in daily lives is well-described and revealing: 

"The mansion’s rooms remained as full of large, heavy furniture as ever; the Bengal Indigo Concern had sold those along with the building and pocketed the money. Sure, the plantation had sold for a pittance, but what villager could buy a mansion full of fancy furniture at its actual value? Sending the pieces elsewhere was too expensive and too much work to organize. So, the furniture had been left as it was." 

From its depictions of wealth and power to poverty and spiritual revelations, Ichhamoti is a force to be reckoned with. Its epic contrasts between the lives of humans and the nature that coexists peacefully alongside, powered by the Ichhamoti, which "rules the area with a firm, kind hand," makes for engrossing reading that's compellingly enlightening. 

Libraries and readers attracted to epic Indian literature will find Ichhamoti a historical novel whose literary attractions are many. It deserves profile in any definitive literature collection featuring Indian backdrops, and in book club discussion groups about Bengali experiences. 

Ichhamoti

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Loverless Love: Stories
Christopher Guerin
Amika Press
978-1-956872-67-5
Kindle, $5.95; Hardcover, $22.95; Paperback, $15.95
Website: www.amikapress.com
https://www.amazon.com/Loverless-Love-Stories-Christopher-Guerin/dp/1956872671
 

Loverless Love: Stories consists of seventeen stories that focus on American love experiences over a period of fifty years. As Christopher Guerin traverses these landscapes of intimacy, readers gain insights into the connections between sex, romance, and exploitation that emerge from clashes and character realizations. 

Take the opening story 'Loverless Love,' for example. The successful Midwestern orchestra's marketing director meets enigmatic, rude business consultant Tina Hawthrone, whose brisk methodology includes an invitation for Daniel to meet at 11PM in her room to discuss music marketing strategies. 

Tina's invitation to conduct business later that night feels strange to him, but the real oddness comes from her ability to continually mix up their appointments, then pin the blame on him. Daniel is not new to relationship subterfuge, but Tina's ability to constantly sweep him off his feet with twists of intention and blame make him vulnerable to her odd approaches and needs, which include the habit of sleeping alongside a man without engaging in sex. 

As the story unfolds, readers might anticipate that the next stories will evolve in the same vein—but they'd be wrong. One of the hallmarks of Loverless Love is its diversity and ability to present very different sexual scenarios, motivations, and psychological insights in each of its scenarios. 

The tales thus assume a cloak of disparity and unexpected sexual and psychological revelations which will prove satisfyingly thought-provoking to readers looking for literary, social, and psychological inspections that embrace irony, satire, and sexual revelations. 

In contrast to the title story, for example, is 'Peaches,' about a relationship that develops from the roots of love, but which also serves as a convenient cover for a job with a shadowy government agency. 

Aaron's involvement with Peaches also represents an enigma—but of quite a different ilk than Daniel's experience with Tina in the title story. 

Aaron finds that Peaches idolizes the women who appear to represent "a woman, and a warrior." A question about what women are attracted to in a man becomes a probe into what promiscuous women are really seeking: 

“What the woman wants is love.”
“Now you’re being contradictory.”
“No. Just a little love. Loose women require revenge, which is what promiscuity is all about. I’m not talking the big ‘L,’—just enough love so that she can walk away knowing the poor dope has been hurt, if just a little bit.”
 

Some of the themes in the title story intersect with this, such as business pursuits that shadow the relationship's evolution. But Guerin injects the sexual and psychological overtones that change this pursuit, once again, into a raw story of a vivid woman who "sees things that other people don't," and whose manipulation leads to a dangerous form of attraction. 

Each story is replete in a different form of angst and inspection of love that contrasts obsessions, grace, and romance in unexpected ways. 

Libraries and readers looking for literary and psychological contrasts in approaches to love, strong women who well know what they want (often leading men into dangerous scenarios and sexual play), and enlightening tales about manipulation, control, and assumptions in conventional and unconventional romantic entanglements will find Loverless Love: Stories appealing. Book clubs, especially, will consider its inspections and contrasts of relationship quandaries worthy of discussion and debate. 

Loverless Love: Stories

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Biography & Autobiography

Foot Solider in the Fourth Industrial Revolution
Jeffrey Cooper
Independently Published
979-8-3597-4012-8                $14.95 Paper/$9.95 ebook
Website: www.jeffreylcooper.com 
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Foot-Soldier-Fourth-Industrial-Revolution/dp/B0BMSZLC45 

It's rare to see a memoir that blends a technology history into autobiographical experiences, but Jeffrey Cooper's Foot Solider in the Fourth Industrial Revolution is both, following his rise as a high-tech financial specialist and the concurrent developments that have led the world to embrace smart micro-devices in daily living. 

The story reviews Cooper's childhood in the 1950s and 60s, following how he developed the technical prowess and special interests that would lead to his financial management career at GE and then at ASML, after he was downsized. 

Cooper maintained the perspective that "some things are better left unsaid" while he searched for control over his life. Foot Solider in the Fourth Industrial Revolution challenges the notion of unsaid things and tells all—about his upbringing, his entry into high-tech circles, his evolution as a financial manager and as a person, and his constant search for jobs that would teach him beyond the high-tech finance skills he developed. 

His reflections mirror the upward momentum of technology in delightful ways: "Later in my career, I would reflect on this job and think about how I had often worked with electronics in one form or another, as almost all high-tech industries were built on a foundation of electronics which became increasingly sophisticated over the years. I would think how interesting it was that my career followed the arc of the maturation and sophistication of electronics." 

From new product development and technical specifications to navigating depression, childrearing, and the changes that came from moving away from a life partner, Cooper adopts a candid assessment and voice that links his life and choices to social and technological evolutionary processes. 

The result is a memoir that sparkles with personality, drive, and technological history. The story of how this era unfolded to impact participants active in creating widespread technological changes is fascinating, told with a depth and perspective that is rarely seen in the memoir format. 

Libraries and readers interested in engaging memoirs that link the changes of the 1960s onward with concurrent transition points in life will find Foot Solider in the Fourth Industrial Revolution compelling not just because of the era it covers, but because of its lively exploration of how a 'foot soldier' participated in this technological revolution, challenging and changing his own life in the process. 

Foot Solider in the Fourth Industrial Revolution

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Reclamation
Lona Cook
Houndstooth Press
‎978-1544520353           
$24.99 Hardcover/$15.99 Paper/$6.99 ebook
Website: www.drlonacook.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Reclamation-Evolution-Mess-Lona-Cook/dp/1544520352

"This book is about bearing witness to your life and reclaiming what we all have at our core: a connection to this divine life that is ready to unfold. A life that is working for us, sometimes in the weirdest situations and ways." 

It literally took a gun in the ribs to spark realizations about author Lona Cook's life trajectory, described in her memoir of self-help Reclamation: The Evolution of a Hot Mess. Her growth was not a singular event, but a process that actually began long before this pivot point was reached. It involved forward and backward movements as Cook considered the spiritual and psychological ramifications of making or resisting change. 

Reclamation is the story of one door closing and another opening—that of awareness.

"Do I continue on to where I was going or turn back?" 

This question, which arises after the life-changing moment in Costa Rica that almost ended all possibilities for change, is inherent throughout a process that Cook explains as being a growth opportunity: 

"The holdup was part of a bigger message that my life was off course and I was actively forcing my life in the wrong direction. At the time, I didn’t know to look at this external event as a pause or opportunity to wake up. However, a change of direction was in store for me and beginning to unfold. What I didn’t know was I could go along with the new direction willingly or kicking and screaming." 

The most intriguing parts of this memoir lie in its contrast between the "old" Lona's reactions to life and the newly aware personality willing to consider that odd events and coincidences might be messages to consider or embrace change and revolutionary thinking. 

As she progresses through new realizations about God, energy, and her place in the greater scheme of life, Cook begins to absorb the choices and flexibility involved in accepting new opportunities with newly awakened mind and heart. 

This is not a linear or clear process. Her memoir candidly describes the back-and-forth process of confronting her ego, her beliefs, and her intentions with new awareness and responsibility. 

From learning to use her voice more effectively in the world and speaking from the heart to trying to help loved ones who can't hear such messages, Reclamation is both uplifting and gritty. It adopts a poignant honesty that encourages readers to view their lives, beliefs, and driving motivations for relationships and choices in a different light. 

By couching her advice within a memoir that surveys her awakening and its processes, readers interested in self-help and awareness receive many insights into the pitfalls and possibilities of cultivating a new perspective, than translating that into relationship and life choices. 

Libraries and readers interested in self-help and awareness will be the target audience for Reclamation, but ideally it won't just repose on a library shelf. It should ideally become an active part of book club, psychology, self-help, and growth-oriented discussion groups interested in especially candid revelations about the process of growth and the bigger pictures involved in seeking transformation. 

"This snapshot we have in our moment right now is just one small sliver of what is unfolding." 

Reclamation

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When the Rivers Flowed
Marilyn Layman Mascaro
Warren Publishing
978-1-960146-17-5         $18.95
www.warrenpublishing.net 

As a child, Marilyn Layman Mascaro listened to family stories told by her grandmother. When the Rivers Flowed: An Ambitious Hillbilly And A Southern Flapper Discover Knoxville, Tennessee seeps from this foundation wellspring of knowledge to involve biography readers in the story of changing times in America, from the race riots of the 1920s to life in then-smaller-town Knoxville as it experienced sea changes in economics and social condition. 

Readers seeking regional histories of cultural and social evolution in America could find no finer mirror of experience than Knoxville. Mascaro demonstrates this with a riveting blend of American history and local influence that brings these times and experiences to life through her family's history and involvements: 

"On the job, his rural background often gave him an advantage. Sometimes Woodruff’s Hardware issued credit for relatively inexpensive purchases, so its delinquent bill-payers could stem from the city’s large population of Appalachian migrants, whom Earl treated with kindness instead of disdain. He didn’t mind visiting the city’s shantytowns in order to collect payment. While navigating the narrow alleys and tenements, he accepted the residents’ mountain accents and could conjure up one himself." 

Of particular interest are the contrasts in class and social status that influence Earl and Marie's relationship early on. These are reflective of both community sentiments and the morals of the times: 

"Clearly proud of his family’s holdings, Earl assumed that Marie’s family enjoyed a similar situation, if not better. Just as her childhood freckles had faded, so had traces of her hardscrabble origins. Stylish and more widely traveled than Earl, she displayed a lively mind and avid interest in the world. In the early twentieth century, however, accomplishments and initiative were commendable, but background and breeding really mattered. As an ambitious man who was aware of pervasive prejudice against Appalachian people, Earl knew that marrying well would increase his social standing. Marie knew her background could thwart her desires as it had with her previous boyfriend." 

Readers who would better understand the history and culture of the South and the political and economic forces that shaped it should begin with the personal stories narrated and contrasted in When the Rivers Flowed. Its ability to bring these times and influences to life makes for a stroll past newspaper headlines and into the lives of individuals who navigated the Great Depression and the social changes that buffeted their worlds. 

The resulting tale is compelling, personalizing history with lives that both reflect and defy some of the influences of their times. Libraries seeking biographies of proactive individuals who both represent and depart from their Southern roots will find When the Rivers Flowed a powerful story that belays any thought that Knoxville's history or lives are staid. 

When the Rivers Flowed

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Mystery & Thrillers

Flood of Memories
Bonnie Oldre
‎Gatekeeper Press

978-1662936074            $15.99 Paper/$4.99 ebook
https://bonnieoldre.com/ 

The second book in the Beth and Evie mystery series, Flood of Memories, presents another mystery that draws Beth Williams and her best friend Evie Hanson into a murder involving a dead elderly woman, a missing will, and a painting that holds secrets. 

Beth's astute observational skills mark her as an investigator with the unusual ability to connect the dots even as reality shifts: 

“Each time Evie and I have gone into her house, these past couple of weeks, something different was going on with the painting. First, it was gone. We could see a darker spot on the wall where it had been hanging. I sort of remembered it being there, though I never paid much attention to it. Then, when we went to pack up her books, it was hanging there again. But the next time we saw it, it looked like a slightly different painting.” 

Evie's research reveals clues that lead Beth and her friend on an unexpected journey through history, special interests, and a secret worth killing for. 

Readers who enjoy art-based intrigue will especially appreciate this story's progression through the art world as Beth and Evie find themselves off balance and immersed in artistic realms well outside of their areas of expertise. 

Bonnie Oldre steeps her mystery in the culture and aura of 1960s Minnesota, juxtaposing the changing milieu of Davidson City with clues that bring together historical and modern conundrums. 

Readers thus receive a story nicely steeped in a sense of place, times, and purpose. All these elements add to the growing tension and intrigue that lead Beth, Evie, and their readers into a mystery replete with dangerous confrontations and eye-opening developments. 

Libraries and readers seeking a cozy mystery atmosphere replete with intrigue, powered by amateur female sleuths who employ every deductive reasoning device available to arrive at the truth, will find Flood of Memories a fine expansion of the characters in the prior Silent Winter Solstice, who continue to evolve their skills and solidify their community connections here. 

Flood of Memories

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The Girl Who Knew Death
Norm Harris
The Wild Rose Press, Inc.
978-1-5092-4231-3         $11.66 Paper/$4.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Death-Spider-Green-Mystery-Thriller-ebook/dp/B09SVF6XVJ 

The fourth book in the Spider Green Mystery Thriller series, The Girl Who Knew Death, requires no familiarity with its predecessors in order to prove engrossing, although readers who come from the prior events will note that Fay continues to evolve and grow from her experiences. 

Here, Kat, who was rescued by Fay and is her adopted daughter, must face her destiny and is just coming of age into her role as a princess when she is thrown into an Egyptian prison. Katrinka manages to escape with the help of young Latina American Embassy Guard, Marine Corporal Lopez, forcing Fay to once again navigate stormy international waters in an effort to save her. 

The angel of death claims Lopez’s soul early in the story, when she falls asleep in the taxi—but this is not the end of her involvement. Lopez's death has a purpose that involves Fay's life and Katrinka's deal with the devil. As more characters discover Lopez's real identity and mission, a struggle between mortal souls and angels ensues. 

As Katrinka finds herself in flight, she and Fay also attract the attention of demon Mazikim, who introduces further confrontations and impossible dilemmas as the two women struggle towards freedom and an elusive truth that will change their lives and relationship yet again. 

Like its predecessors, The Girl Who Knew Death excels in the fast-paced action, unpredictable twists, and injections of extraordinary encounters that are the trademark of author Norm Harris's special brand of female-driven thrillers. 

The foray into paranormal suspense realms is even more developed in this latest venture, which will prove seamless to prior readers of the series and delightfully surprising to newcomers who might have anticipated a thriller platform alone. 

These women are power points in their own right. Far from being a delicate princess, as one might expect from her looming title, Kat's clever strengths are acknowledged as being equal to Fay's abilities: “Lady Katrinka is what Sasha said. She is a tough, intimidating, and uncompromising badass. And she did escape from prison using only a pen.” 

As Kat steps into her roles as adopted daughter, a Russian military agent, and an uncommon friend of Azrael, the Angel of Death, readers receive a powerful story that weaves elements of time travel and paranormal encounters into the center of the international intrigue that powers the plot. 

Libraries and readers seeking thrillers that dance on the edge of genre boundaries with tantalizing forays into unpredictable realms that defy logic and ordinary life progression will find The Girl Who Knew Death continues to expand the series as a whole, but stands delightfully well on its own as a compelling novel of intrigue and new possibilities for Fay, Katrinka, and those around them. 

The Girl Who Knew Death

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Horse to Water
Peter Bailey
Independently Published
979-8385535255            $9.54 Paper/$.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Horse-Water-Peter-Bailey/dp/B0BW1YLZ6L 

Horse to Water opens with an evidence video presented at a trial in which DCI Miles Archer narrowly escaped the bombing of his car at New Scotland Yard police headquarters. DCI David Taplin has been handed the task of uncovering the perp, even though his murky relationship with Archer places him in the uncomfortable position of trying to identify the bomber who threatened a man who once betrayed him. 

As Taplin comes to realize the crime involves more than a single incident, placing him in the crosshairs of a threat to greater London, the two men face the current threat with a bow to past circumstances that led to their clash and present-day connections: 

“Well, I’m sure I can rely on you to do a professional job despite our differences,” Miles said through the fake smile.
“Oh yes. I’ll do a bang-up job, possibly without dropping any junior officers in the shit.”
 

Mutual loathing opens the story, but its driving force lies in the motivations, mystery, and events that not only bring two disparate personalities together, but forces Taplin to come to his enemy's defense in an unusual manner. 

Peter Bailey unfolds a tense work of psychological suspense against the backdrop of terrorist and police activities as the game unfolds to deeper, ever more complex levels. 

The game being played between Archer and Taplin is one that involves each man in a dangerous dance between not only one another, but their professional abilities to unearth answers about both the bombings and their relationship. 

This blend of psychological and investigative suspense dovetails intrigue on two different levels, thoroughly involving readers in a story packed with unexpected revelations, twists, and scenarios that keeps characters and readers on their toes. 

Between motivations for fiery killings and the upset of a delicate balance of power that raises further questions, Horse to Water evolves a special sense of justice, revenge, retribution, and issues. These place Taplin at the center of a web of lies and their impact on his future. 

Libraries and readers seeking thrillers that evolve a fine sense of political and personal entanglements and murky motivations before a surprise conclusion is revealed will find Horse to Water filled with delightful moments powered by not just intrigue, but a situation that may prove impossible to resolve. 

Horse to Water

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Revenge
Jerome Silbert
Independently Published
979-8988208303            $14.95 paper/$2.99 ebook
https://tinyurl.com/2burj83h 

As follow-up to Jerome Silbert's mystery stories Paris Gone Dark and A Bomb in the Palace, Revenge continues to explore a case based on the retired defense attorney author's experiences in Illinois with the Siberian Liberation Army (SLA). The early (and real) terrorist group's activities are woven into events in all these books, and Revenge picks up where the prior stories left off, making it especially recommended for readers who enjoyed these vivid explorations. 

Retired Chicago police officer Billy Dee Jackson and his wife Janine have just returned from Paris, but they're barely off the plane when they receive the terrible news that someone destroyed their home only hours earlier. It's an unwelcome homecoming for the couple—and a vivid reminder that the terrorism they faced in the past has come home to roost. 

When Billy's detective friend Jack Sheppard joins him to investigate, both become immersed with two people they know, Susan Dumont and Jack Monte. At the same time, Dumont and Monte struggle with one another and their dance of revenge, which reaches out to embroil others in conflict. 

In the old days, the retired cop was drawn into murky international intrigue by a bombing he and Sheppard investigated. History reinvents itself here as events lead back to the forces Billy thought he'd left behind in Paris. 

“It’s the little things that lead to something big.” 

In this case, connections keep sparking new conflict, forcing Billy and Jack to engage with dangerous forces that have their own special interests at heart. 

Jerome Silbert moves between Billy and Jack's perspective and the perceptions of perps who operate under different rules and possibilities. This adds a special dimension of inquiry and ideas to the story that embeds it with life as events play out and new possibilities emerge: 

"As Dumond advised, 'Think it through.' She played through the various scenarios regarding Jenko and concluded that if he was dead, it was a gain. All the ones who could talk about the bombed house and murders were themselves, forever silent. She let out a sigh of relief. But, then this Pappy. Was he alive? What did he know? Dumond would often say, 'Information is the coin of the realm.' How does she find out without jeopardizing herself further?" 

As SLA connections involve the two detective friends in yet another cat-and-mouse game, readers will find the constantly shifting revelations absorbing, satisfyingly unexpected, and intensely action-packed. 

Thriller and mystery readers who like their crime stories accented by real-life cases, replete with strong characters whose concerns range from tying bombings to specific individuals or groups to juggling survival with motives for revenge, will find Revenge a powerfully rendered story. 

Libraries who have its two predecessors in their collections will want to add Revenge's additional world-hopping intrigue to their shelves, while readers who appreciated the blend of intrigue and high-octane action in the previous books will be happy to learn that Billy and other characters continue to grow as they face new challenges here. 

Revenge

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Novels

The Alphabet Woods
Jenny Poelman
Warren Publishing
978-1-960146-27-4         $33.00 Hardcover/$19.99 Paper
www.warrenpublishing.net 

The Alphabet Woods follows fifty-seven-year-old Key North's move to rural North Carolina, which represents a sea change from her former ordered, staid lifestyle. The move brings with it a reintroduction to new environments, people, and old acquaintances that change when they enter this world, bringing with them new realizations that Key is forced to absorb from the start. Her responses to those who eschew her remote choice are pointed and humorous, reflecting much of the tone of her journey of self-discovery: 

“I’m not technically in Troy. I’m four miles past it, on the edge of civilization. I’ll try to get word to you of my well-being now and then when the traveling tinker comes through and can take my ciphered missive.” 

The story opens not with Key's move, but with little boy Wain's struggles with a monster that lives and is accepted in his own home. It's a monster he can't avoid: 

"Why wasn’t Cal at work? Wain never would have come in the kitchen if he’d known, because the scariest version of his mother’s boyfriend was out today. There were others: the Cal who barely tolerated or simply ignored him; the jovial, pretentious Cal (only if other people were around and he wanted to impress them with his fakey fathering skills); but worst by far was the nightmarish monster who appeared with a fourth or fifth drink in hand, looking for ways to torment and terrify." 

The child abuse scenario which evolves may prove a trigger point for sensitive readers, but is an intrinsic part of a story that evolves new connections for Key, Wain, and those who inhabit this community of interconnected lives. 

Jenny Poelman ties seemingly disparate threads of threat and opportunity with the psyches of individuals of all ages who at first seem lost, but demonstrate that they are, in fact, survivors of extraordinary circumstances. 

Key's increasing involvement in Wain's life and a mystery that holds answers to questions that could change everything makes for a moving story of life connection replete with thought-provoking moments of revelation and confrontation: 

"...it doesn’t matter whether you were drunk or sober. Your actions toward Wain were the actions of a monster. And he’s paying the price.” 

As magical realism influences too-real lives affected by substance abuse and new connections, readers will appreciate this vivid story of a middle-aged woman who transforms her world, only to find that her new environment introduces conundrums she never anticipated. 

A literary work of middle-age transformation and evolving friendships that rest on uncertain and unusual foundations, The Alphabet Woods is highly recommended for libraries and readers seeking memorable stories of struggles to learn and efforts to translate life lessons into real change. It unfolds gifts that arrive from unexpected circumstances and from taking leaps of faith, powered by the music of the soul and the strength and connections involved in taking risks, and is highly recommended for a wide audience of thinking readers. 

The Alphabet Woods

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The Arrows of Mercy
Jill MacLean
Tellwell Talent
978-0-2288-8732-4
$26.00 Hardcover/$17.00 Paper/$3.99 Kindle
Website: https://jillmaclean.mywriting.network
Ordering: www.amazon.com 

Historical novel readers interested in 1300s Europe will find The Arrows of Mercy brings this milieu to life as it introduces the return of archer Edmund from the French battle of Crécy  and siege of Calais. Now he faces new conflicts in the form of a brutal, resentful older brother, condemnation from the local priest, and spirited encounters with three very different women, which test his mettle and ability to return to civilian life and serfdom. 

Jill MacLean writes with a vivid tone of immediacy that captures Edmund's perceptions about his world and his shifting place in it: 

"He was indeed one of the thousands of archers who slaughtered French knights on the slopes of Crécy, though he doubts he was as frightened then as an instant ago, waiting for Bart’s rage to be unleashed for an ill-judged collision. Two years since his conscription into the king’s army and him shrunk to a helpless little-un in fear of a beating." 

The battles Edmund avoids and those he chooses to engage in (or is forced to face against his will) engender passages that immerse the reader in Edmund’s life and times. 

The dialogue is rich with inflection and local lingo, yet easy to understand: “Them withies wouldn’t keep a chick in a coop – did you forget how to be cottar while you was killing Frenchmen for the king?” Bart laughs. “Your hand a-shake like a poplar leaf, you might as well drop your knife now ’n’ save me the trouble o’ wresting it from you. Ah, little brother, hard as you tried, you never could stay out o’ my way.” 

Lessons learned from war and times of peace, turbulent though they may prove, are imparted in passages that capture Edmund's changing relationships and newfound realizations: “We all got scars, Edmund, inside and out, war or no war..." 

How Edmund reconciles his military service with the difficulties it causes in his home, and his efforts to change his future in a world poised on the brink of further disaster make for an involving story. The Arrows of Mercy will particularly attract those interested in tales of survival, plague, and power struggles between nations and within families. 

The social, religious, and political influences affecting Edmund's world require no prior background in the events of the 14th century. All that's needed is an initial interest in daily life in medieval times, in order to appreciate the nuances of a once-ordinary life in Berkshire rocked by war, pestilence, and a deed that Edmund eventually realizes was "...both his most terrible and his most merciful," placing him in the dual role of hero and—possibly—villain. 

The thought-provoking contrast between moral and ethical conundrums makes The Arrows of Mercy a strong recommendation for libraries looking for a powerful historical novel with a compelling plot and intriguing messages about war, family conflict, and the ultimate sources of peace. 

The Arrows of Mercy

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The Cost of Living
Daisy DeMay
Atmosphere Press
978-1-63988-876-4         $18.99
www.atmospherepress.com 

The Cost of Living tells of Sara, who faces losing everything. The opening lines of her story reflects the reality of many a reader: "I truly believed I had prepared myself for the inevitable. Unfortunately, I underestimated how I would react when confronted with chaos and deadly destruction." 

Such a situation doesn't have to embrace war or natural disaster. It can some from the heart, from a physical storm that love and marriage become when their initial hope turns into despair. 

That's the situation Sara finds herself in at the opening of this story, as she reflects on the events that have brought her to this place and the transformations experienced by a couple that once "...believed love could conquer anything the world threw at us." 

Curveballs come in many guises and unexpected moments of revelation, as Sara reveals during a probe of her abusive past and the possibilities in her present and future relationships. 

More so than most stories about manipulation, abuse, and recovery, Sara's tale embraces not just the circumstances of her life, but how it got to this point and, perhaps more importantly, what it takes to leave it all behind. 

Spectacular comparisons between threats that come with concurrent danger and beauty are presented in the form of perceptions about the world's opportunities and adversities: “Yes, it is spectacular out here, but amongst all the beauty you have found is the sound of the sirens going off to let us know this is dangerous. We have to get to the basement.” 

Three years of marriage brings the storms outside indoors, taking them to heart in a manner that transforms Sara. All it then takes is realizing connections to past patterns in order to break them—but this involves total destruction before recreation can take place. 

The experience will strengthen if it doesn't kill first, and the sea change in attitude that Sara undergoes during this process provides compelling insights readers will appreciate: "I wasn’t trying to understand what was left. Instead, I was searching for a way out." 

Daisy DeMay creates an evocative, moving story about the costs of past abuse, present-day revelations, and future options. Readers should anticipate not only emotional storms that could trigger emotional responses, but explicit sexual scenes as Sara, Adam, Sam, and others become survivors in different ways. 

DeMay introduces some surprising twists to anything readers might anticipate as predictable, from literally mindful connections to facing the end of one world and the beginning of another. 

Whether she's talking about disaster, survival, or interpersonal conundrums, one thing to be said about The Cost of Living is that it redefines the notion of freedom, escape, captivity and survival on many levels through vivid, thought-provoking scenes that embrace both action and strong characterization. 

Libraries and readers seeking stories of transformation and revised purposes will find The Cost of Living a compelling interplay between characters that face their pasts and consider the ultimate price of being a survivor. Each character aims to restart their world and everything around them with newfound insights and visions about their purposes and relationships. 

The Cost of Living

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The Flaws in Our Prayers
Magdelana Stanhoff

Ling Artist
9788396242686            
$20.99 Hardcover/$12.99 Paper/$3.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Flaws-Our-Prayers-novel/dp/8396242682 

The Flaws in Our Prayers is a novel about two self-reliant, determined single adults who have different ways of avoiding romance and the possibilities and conflicts love brings, until a chance encounter melds their lives into a different (and dangerous) trajectory. 

Sebastian Litomski is a thirty-four-year-old man who "avoids clingy females" and believes that love is not a goal, but a weakness. Kim Hana has methodically avoided any possibility of love in her life since she left her homeland with her small daughter. 

Readers might predict the intersection of these two stalwart personalities at this point, but what they won't see coming is a set of circumstances that doesn't just bring them together, but introduces further adversity that seems to both support and conflict with their feelings about romance and love. 

Magdelana Stanhoff presents a revealing story of two disparate couples powerful in their independence and intrinsically flawed in their logic. She juxtaposes this foundation with life events that traverse cultures as Kraków residents Yoon Sori and Filip Socha also find their lives unexpectedly joined against all odds. 

As these two love stories evolve, readers receive thought-provoking events and realizations that focus on building trust and new realizations and going against cultural and social lessons to adopt new ways of viewing and moving within the world. 

As each character learns to trust and grows both within and outside the relationship, readers will enjoy satisfying revelations that also arrive steeped in irony: 

“Isn’t it what you always wanted? A woman who abhors shackles? And here she is, just as you wished, and she seems to value her freedom even more than you. Aren’t you happy?” 

The contrast between these personalities, their cultural influences and origins, and the forces that bring them together makes for a satisfying dual unfolding of love. This will appeal to readers interested in thought-provoking contrasts between love and issues of freedom, convention, and trust. 

Libraries and readers seeking romance stories that evolve in creative and unexpected ways, injecting wry twists of humor and irony into the process of discovery, will relish this story of lives that intersect in unexpected manners. 

The Flaws in Our Prayers is especially delightful in its survey of how these choices impact not only the couples-in-the-making, but friends and future generations. 

The Flaws in Our Prayers

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German Days
Steven Clark
Independently Published

979-8840621165            $16.99 Paper/$4.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/German-Days-Steven-Clark/dp/B0B71CCPP7 

German Days is a novel of a 1970s tour of duty in Germany that changes GI Patrick Walden's life and perceptions. But, more than a story of romance or cross-cultural encounter, it offers a deeper probe into the German Psyche which revolves around an obsession over a missing work of art and an effort to regain both it and a sense of country and purpose. 

Over six hundred pages of detail might initially portend a challenging reading effort, but German Days is in fact a gripping story that carries readers through history, politics, intrigue, and romance with a heady grip of fascinating changes and facts that keeps the story not just well grounded, but hard to put down. 

The story's opening in 1937 with an encounter with Hitler sets the stage for its focus on the Tannhauser sculpture and its allure. Clark employs a deft hand to capturing Hitler's psyche as he establishes his power and control in many disparate worlds: 

"Iffland wondered if Hitler saw the sculpture as a dangerous animal or worthless trash. His probing, rich brown eyes neither angry or dismissive as they studied, Hitler slowly walking around to catch all dimensions of the work, much like a physician studying his patient. Or a hunter his prey." 

The Tannhauser's representation of "A man caught between spiritual fulfillment and worldly temptation" is also representative of the German psyche and entanglements that move from its past to present-day events. The notion that war is eternal and that German strength must be represented above any indicators of weakness permeates the story as events consider transformation, duty, business, and spies who are everywhere through the ages. 

The rescue and restoration of this work of art is key to healing on many different levels. As Steven Clark surveys the changing milieu of German's past and present worlds, he brings readers into a thoroughly engrossing story that is more than a treasure hunt, but incorporates the excitement of discovery. 

German Days will serve well as a leisure read, but also is highly recommended for book clubs considering contemporary works about the German psyche and its history. 

Ultimately, libraries will also want to recommend this book for its wide-ranging examination of the Tannhauser legend's rebirth and resurrection under many different hands and special interests. 

German Days

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Jock Sniff America
Marcus Herzberg
Oren Village, LLC
978-1-7333020-5-0                $19.95
www.marcusherzberg.com

Jock Sniff America is a fictional satire of professional sports moral and ethical challenges and the evolution of narrator Magnus Haycock's entry into the circles of the "jock sniff elite." 

The story opens with a family Thanksgiving. Magnus is on the cusp of new adulthood, and has encounters with family and others where he 'pretends he is an adult' while navigating the oddities and complexities of the professional and business world of sports and community engagement. 

The subtle irony and satire replete throughout this account shines, from Magnus's last name to the cultures he explores which revolve around popularity, sports, politics, and incarceration. 

The holiday season has itself become a joke and a parody to Magnus, who is both tired of the expectations and shallowness of the season and taking a trip to sign new talent that calls into question his own abilities and perceptions. 

Marcus Herzberg's romp through American morals and culture offers the feel of Catcher in the Rye and other classics of young adults exploring the nuances and ironies of the adult world, commenting on their shifting roles and disappointments after the action begins. 

Where Holden Caulfield's primary focus is in Catcher is losing his virginity, Magnus's challenge involves losing his attitude and perceptions about sports and his place in the world. He realizes "the course of my life could be forever affected by the choice I am about to make." The impact of his decisions and the forces motivating and guiding them makes for thoroughly engrossing reading as Magnus steps up to the plate of addressing double-edged sports swords and making his mark on the world. 

The story opens with his big dreams of taking over the world. It closes with the baby steps of possible romance and life-changing approaches that reflect Magnus's newfound maturity and revised thoughts about his place in the greater scheme of things. 

Libraries and readers seeking a vivid coming-of-age story about professional sports, athletics, and a young man's growth as he explores both familiar and unfamiliar cultural influences will find Jock Sniff America not only a compelling journey, but worthy of book club recommendation. It can be used in discussions about bigger-picture thinking, growth, and satirical examinations of American sports culture. 

Jock Sniff America

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A Persistent Echo
Brian Kaufman
Black Rose Writing
1685132626           $20.95
Website/ordering link: 
https://www.amazon.com/Persistent-Echo-Brian-Kaufman/dp/1685132626 

The reason why most historical fiction appeals to a relatively specific, narrow audience with a basic interest in facts is because too many genre reads are more concerned with numbers than emotional draw. That's why Brian Kaufman's A Persistent Echo stands out from the crowd, drawing readers to the 1897 life and experiences of August Simms, who is drawn back to Rhome, Texas by the lure of a mysterious airship which has been spotted in several places in the area. 

Simms chases dreams and possibilities. His investigations and experiences come to life with a "you are here" feel that Kaufman injects into the story to bring setting and adventure to life from the opening lines: "Like images in a tintype, the sun, the train station, the vegetation beyond the platform, and the dusty sky appear in shades of yellow and brown. Rhome, Texas. He has arrived." 

August deems this place as close to home as he's ever been. He's spent his days wandering and adventuring, but at his age this is about to come to a full-circle end: "August sniffs the hot air. The locomotive stinks of coal and oil.  He’d boarded the train in Folsom, New Mexico, riding the “Denver Road” into Texas. He has traveled all his life, as far east as Russian Armenia and as far west as the Solomon Islands. Today, his hips and back tell him that his traveling days are at an end." But, wait...there is something more. One more search that brings delightful mystery and interpersonal connections that August never saw coming. 

August's survey of news stories, his association with friend and fellow investigator Ackerman, and his ability to track down eyewitnesses and news reports are translated into dialogue which is one compelling feature of the story:

“What made you think he was a scientist?”
Scully downs the last of his whiskey. “He had that faraway look.”
August waits.
“You know. That faraway look, like his head’s too full of thoughts and about to explode.”
 

Humor and revelation are juxtaposed neatly via such dialogues and encounters, keeping readers thoroughly engaged in the history and mystery which unfold. 

Kaufman keeps the emotional draw intense, whether it's over evolving discoveries or the death of a beloved horse. He also maintains the undercurrent of humor which runs like a river throughout even the most serious scenes, even those involving a tribute to a loved beast of burden: “We humbly ask your blessing for Bullet the horse, who lived the sort of life any Christian man or woman might strive for. He was loyal, hard-working, and uncomplaining. Most of all, he was a good friend. As Bill here took care of him over the years, we ask that you watch over him now.” He takes a deep breath. “The world you created, Lord, is not perfect. Otherwise, horses like Bullet would live longer lives, and men, perhaps, would live shorter ones.” 

From scientific revelations to secret histories about wars and their behind-the-scenes influences, A Persistent Echo harbors the power to attract by both action and thought-provoking passages about historical, scientific, and social developments that translate nicely across history to modern times. 

A Persistent Echo is a powerful story of revelation and discovery that assumes many countenances: a historical probe, a mid-life man's adventure, and a philosophical discourse in pursing truth and justice. It's a powerfully rendered novel that holds the rare ability to traverse genres to attract a wider audience of reader than the 'historical fiction' label portends. 

It's highly recommended for readers who look for can't-put-it-down adventure and life reflections alike, making it especially notable for libraries that look for original, refreshingly intriguing reads that book clubs will find of special interest: 

"His life strikes him as a progression of noble failures in the service of justice. He might as well have tried to hold back the moon, for all the good he’s done. The world resists change." 

A Persistent Echo

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Three People, Three Countries, One Path
Cara A’court
Atmosphere Press
978-1-63988-852-8         $14.99
www.atmospherepress.com 

Three People, Three Countries, One Path is a spiritual novel about three individuals who think their life course is set, until circumstances bring them together in a journey certain to affect their perceptions and lives. 

Many novels have featured such revelations, but Three People, Three Countries, One Path holds the special ability to unite the microcosm of individual choice and belief with bigger-picture thinking reflecting the lives and shifts of those who believe their destinies have been set. 

One of these is narrator Pinia, a Buddhist monk who has achieved the pinnacle of faith and lifestyle. Or, so he thinks. The monastery he inhabits has survived many changes—but so far, he has not. Nothing draws him or feels like home like the temple life. Or so he believes. 

Life has a funny way of transforming even the most staid life, and so his studies of the ways of The Buddha and the path to Nirvana seem to lead him in a singular direction—until it doesn't. Pinia's ambition to become a Lama is interrupted by a deadly fire, sending him into a world far from these sacred, tranquil walls. 

Reconciling purposeful disaster with the ways of Buddha and karma is no light venture: "The fire and rage of the energy did not discriminate. It was fuelled too much by its own pain and hurt. Even now, knowing the complete story I cannot understand the karmic or universal reasons for such an atrocity." Nor is leaving everything familiar (including beliefs) and heading into the uncharted waters of fostering two children, Lakishma and Loysin. 

But Pinia is skilled at rising to causes, and so his venture into his father's life and the secrets which have powered his transformation and beliefs leads to revelations that shake his foundations even more than the fire that began his journey. 

Cara A’court weaves social, spiritual, and psychological observations into her story to create a powerfully compelling saga of good and bad choices and the influences that both define and direct them. 

She injects the ongoing spiritual concerns of karma, juxtaposing them with rich social inspection as the threat of slavery and China's authority mingle with personal direction and journeys, injecting social and political issues into Pinia's efforts to survive and foster his young charges against all odds and powers. 

These rich intersections of social and spiritual drive create not only much food for thought, but topics suitable for wide-ranging discussion in book groups, Buddhist spiritual circles, and Asian history and culture students. 

In order for a novel to achieve such broad attraction, it must arrive steeped in a personal touch that introduces topics readers may not be familiar with, such as the political entanglements that touch abutting nations. 

Three People, Three Countries, One Path does so with an inviting first-person focus that contrasts the intersection of these disparate lives, creating a story rich in philosophical, spiritual, and social inspection. This requires no background in any of its beliefs or history in order to prove compelling and thoroughly engrossing to a wide audience. 

Three People, Three Countries, One Path

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Tom Sharp: The Man and the Legend
Charlie Steel
Condor Publishing Inc.
978-1-931079-61-7         $12.99
Website: www.condorpublishinginc.com
Ordering: www.amazon.com 

Tom Sharp: The Man and the Legend sounds like it will be nonfiction, but is a novel that portrays and embellishes the life of a notable 1800s Western figure whose actions are almost bigger than words. In true keeping with the factual focus of a historical novel, Charlie Steel bases these stories on real events, but also in keeping with a storyteller's flair for tall tales and drama, he adds the fictional touches that keep them thoroughly engrossing and compelling. 

These treatments result in a Western legend whose exploits challenge any fictional Western dramas and many a biographical sketch as fictional character developments meets the Wild West frontier of historical research, running head-on into the stereotypes of Indian and White relationships and charging through them like a tornado. 

As the tale opens, Private Tom Sharp lies somewhere in a camp of wounded soldiers. General Sterling Price of the Army of the Confederate States of America is searching for him to reward him for his valor. His battle days are over, but his adventure is just beginning in many ways, because Tom is fulfilling a long-held dream by choosing not to go home, injured, but to head West. 

Sharp defies his upbringing and training in more than one way as he embarks on his new life after war, encountering Indians and refuting the common notions of their inhumanity and psyches to forge uncommon relationships which earn even their grudging acknowledgement: “'Take the weapons,' said Sharp, 'and protect yourselves and the children.'
'Hard to say thank you to white men,' said the Indian woman."
 

Charlie Steel builds the reputations of all races and both gender through the perceptions and reactions of Tom and those around him as he forges new pathways to connection and understanding while exploring matters of wilderness and the heart. 

His gift for storytelling lies in how he paints with a colorful hand heavy to understanding the human reactions and feelings of all characters, no matter their race, color, or gender. 

This makes for a series of encounters that not only opens eyes on Tom's influences and why he appears so enlightened in the face of so much prejudice around him, but allows readers to absorb that the Wild West contained not unified figures of any race, but a disparate group of individuals who each harbored their own choices and reasons for undertaking journeys and relating to the unfamiliar, changing world around them. 

More so than most Western novels, Tom Sharp's ability to build understanding from these contrasts and historical precedent lends to a story that is as educational and thought-provoking as it is adventure-filled and character-driven. 

From the conjoining of families and cooperative efforts to build lives and connections to the forces that try to drive them apart, Tom's world is buffeted by social and political forces as well as romance and family influences. All these facets keep his life and experiences well rooted in thoroughly absorbing, action-packed scenes that keep shifting even as Tom finds his equilibrium and place in the West. 

From the powerful specter of Raine, an Indian woman who becomes a teacher called upon to stand up to a father and wife abuser who enters her classroom to kidnap a child to how bad and good men evolve under the same conditions, Steel creates a host of characters surrounding Tom Sharp who bring their own battles and concerns into his life. 

Libraries and readers looking for Western fiction that sparkles with thought-provoking contrasts in belief systems and behaviors, and which defies the usual stereotypes of all kinds of Western figures, will find Tom Sharp: The Man and the Legend not only a powerful addition, but worthy of high recommendation to book club readers examining historical fiction's potential for revitalizing and revising Western history traditions. 

Tom Sharp: The Man and the Legend

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Reviewer's Choice

An Open Secret
Chris Enss and Deadwood History, Inc.
TwoDot

‎978-1493061464            $19.94 Paper/$15.49 Kindle
www.rowman.com 

An Open Secret: The Story of Deadwood's Most Notorious Bordellos is a top recommendation for American history library collections interested in 19th century events in general and South Dakota history in particular. 

It narrows the focus to South Dakota's bordellos and the madams who operated them, using the historical novel format to capture real-life events that shaped the culture and nature of the small town of Deadwood, South Dakota. This town was burned to the ground, yet its survivors persisted against all odds, facing hardships and abuse during battles the town's women fought. 

An Open Secret's candid look at the profession of prostitution during these times and the impact it held on men and women's lives embraces historical fact without glorifying it. This choice brings the motivations, struggles, and people of the town to life through the eyes and experiences of madams who fostered reputations as tough but fair managers. Readers will be surprised to note their efforts didn't ruin young girls, but actually supported them in different ways. 

Rowdy patrons, murders, and gamblers all come to life as Chris Enss explores the world of Deadwood and its people, adding vintage photos that bring this milieu to life. 

The choice of pairing historical fiction's action and vivid descriptions with facts embracing Deadwood's history and culture results in a special brand of regional history that will prove surprisingly accessible to a wide audience, from history readers to those who enjoy 19th century settings and rollicking good stories based on vivid characters and events. 

Libraries strong in historical novels that center on 19th century American history will find An Open Secret's powerfully compelling examination of prostitution, bordellos, and the madams who ran them to be an involving, enlightening experience that is highly recommended for book club discussion groups, as well. 

An Open Secret

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The Blossoming of Women
Karen Roberts with Dana Jaffe
Gaia & Friends Inc.
978-0-9746449-0-5         $25.00 print/$9.99 ebook
Website: www.theblossomingofwomen.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Blossoming-Women-Workbook-Growing-Older/dp/0974644900 

The Blossoming of Women: A Workbook on Growing from Older to Elder is a collection of practices for transformation that considers the practices and contributions of women Karen Roberts considers "elder" (those in their sixties, seventies, and eighties). 

It invites women to consider the differences in perception, experience, and opportunity that lies between "old" and "elder," and it provides a hallmark of time and possibility that suggests paths away from the grief and depression that aging can bring. 

This is achieved via tips, reviews of common traps, and road maps of choices made by other women who have eschewed the Narcissistic views of aging and entered into more giving, world-embracing perspectives. 

Roberts's vividly thought-provoking insights will lend especially well to women's book reading groups (and any woman's group, in general): 

"The transformation from older to elder requires an ability to turn away from the many distractions of modern culture, distractions that are deeply embedded in beliefs about our uselessness in old age. The expectations of old age in modern culture keep a person, a female in particular, from moving into a new identity. A Western attitude assumes respect for a woman solely based on youth. Older women wither away from self-criticism, grieving loss of beauty, family, or career. Lacking cultural appreciation for age and the wisdom that comes from aging, older people fail to appreciate themselves. This is an unretractable loss for us all. I believe you become an elder when you accept your age with appreciation and honor your responsibility to others. When you take on a role as artist or teacher, healer, or spiritual guide to assist those in your community to develop their gifts, you are an elder." 

Filled with life-supporting insights about these pathways, what they look like, and how they are achieved, The Blossoming of Women surveys a new age's ripe potentials, cementing them with biographical sketches of women who serve as examples of the fruits of this process. It concludes each feature with questions women can use for self-inspection, reflection, and discussion, such as: "What aspects of her crisis, the death of so many close to her in a short period, seem similar to your dark place?" 

If only one book on women's aging were to be selected for a library collection, it should be The Blossoming of Women: A Workbook on Growing from Older to Elder. Filled with inspirational and educational opportunities, it promotes a different vision of elder years and retirement that translates not to retiring from life, but entering into another phase of efficiency and meaningful thoughts, actions, and choices. Beautiful nature images throughout support the gentle feel and uplifting spirit of these stories. 

The Blossoming of Women

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Broken
Fred M. Kray
Live Oak Press
979-8-9872138-1-0
$26.95 Hardcover/$17.95 Paper/$7.99 ebook
Website: https://fredmkray.com/
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Broken-Suspicious-Alydar-Racings-Golden/dp/B0C2SBZ6YQ 

Broken: The Suspicious Death of Alydar and the End of Horse Racing’s Golden Age should be in any library strong in horse racing stories and history. It's the true story of champion stallion Alydar's mysterious injury and demise, assuming the tone and trappings of a crime investigation while delving deeper into the horse racing world and history of the 1990s. 

Perhaps the most intriguing part of this survey is that its author is an animal law attorney who approaches the subject not from the usual standpoint of participants in the horse racing community, but as a lawyer who weaves together court proceedings, evidence, and interviews with over twenty eyewitnesses. This testimony and these insights piece together the truth of an event which tainted the horse racing world forever. 

The true crime story reads with the passion and immediacy of a dramatic novel, featuring the ability to draw readers from outside the true crime genre: 

"A cool Lexington night. Calumet’s stallion barn. The night watchman in charge of protecting almost $50 million worth of Calumet’s horses is gone, let go six months earlier. Now one man, Cowboy Kipp, is responsible for making the rounds of the entire 762-acre farm, leaving five of Calumet Farm’s most valuable horses—Alydar, Affirmed, Secreto, Mogambo, and Capote—alone for up to an hour each night." 

Fred M. Kray's approach lends captivating tension to the facts that evolve as the mystery unfolds. This should even attract mystery genre readers with a sense of exploration and discovery that is compelling. 

Personalities, both equine and human, are also profiled in the course of an investigation which remains vivid throughout: 

"His groom, Paul Pryor described Alydar as a playful horse: “I would go out there and clean his water tank. He seen me and come running up there and wanted to play with me. I’d get out there and clean his water tank and he would come out and splash water on me…If there’s a mud puddle out there, oh gosh he loved to get muddy. I might have a couple carrots in my back pocket, and he’d get the carrots out and shake them, and was always messing with me. Gave him a carrot, and he’d follow me to the gate and play around and jump around and he’s just a big baby. ” When Pryor heard Alydar died he was heartbroken. “I loved Alydar.” 

The fact-focused nature of this event, Kray's emphasis on the legal proceedings and investigative probe into the horse racing world, and the progressive discoveries that emerge all make Broken a top recommendation not just for true crime collections or libraries looking for exposés about the horse racing world, but for mystery readers and legal thriller audiences looking for a rollicking good read that puts Dick Francis to shame. 

Broken

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Expletives Not Deleted
Leon Acord
Larilee Entertainment
9798449228505             $3.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Expletives-Not-Deleted-Leon-Acord-ebook/dp/B0BXJ14YQQ 

Blend memoir with political humor and hard-hitting insights about performance and politics for the feel of Expletives Not Deleted, which opens with the admonition that "I’ve been trying very hard lately to not become a grumpy old queen. I fear I’m not being entirely successful." 

What is life like after sixty? Leon Acord pulls no punches in saying that it isn't a picnic, despite the proclamations of (usually younger) people that "sixty is the new forty." 

"On second thought, I have every reason to be grumpy." Leon Acord reflects powerfully on the forces that affect his aging process and future, presenting a lively survey of social and political changes that have coalesced with aging to render him both less effective on some physical levels and more powerful than ever in a literary and activist sense ... as is demonstrated in Expletives Not Deleted. 

His romp through performing arts and film and his considerations of connections to everyday life and political challenges creates lively, evocative reading. 

As he surveys gay culture, creates lists of references that readers can use to bolster their own perceptions and realizations, and asks questions that likely lie in the minds of most modern Americans, his writing serves as an invitation for inspection and change: 

"What the hell is happening to us? It seems the very foundation of society is not only cracking but crumbling. At record speed. In front of our very eyes." 

His connections between media influences, underlying lessons of film and culture, and the evolution of his psyche provides an intriguing contrast between a singular life and the society that shapes and influences its moral and ethical fiber: 

"From my earliest exposure to the comic books, I also appreciated that Wonder Woman’s mission set her apart from all the other spandexed superheroes and made her truly unique. She wasn’t the world’s greatest detective, out to strike terror in the hearts of criminals, like Bats. She wasn’t the guardian of the universe and enforcer of truth and justice, like Superman. She wasn’t thrust into her role by events outside her control – like the demise of her planet, or murder of her parents, or a bite from a radioactive spider. She chose to be the hero." 

Herein lies the real nuggets of wisdom, controversy, and revelation of Expletives Not Deleted—its close connections between personal evolution, the social and political influences that tailored a young gay man's life and career, and the explorations of such seemingly disparate subjects as aging, gay culture, and political paradoxes. How does one remain happy and engaged when the world seems to be falling apart? 

These subjects make Expletives Not Deleted a lively, likely controversial, and wholly discussable read recommended for a broad library audience, especially book clubs interested in the intersection of personal and political evolution. 

As fun as they are to read, these comic essays represent a growth opportunity for those who would look more closely at the elements contributing to social change and individual enlightenment, making Expletives Not Deleted a unique, highly recommended exploration. 

Expletives Not Deleted

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Hidden Price Tags
C.J.S. Hayward
C.J.S. Hayward Publications
979-8366654579            $11.99 Paper/$2.99 ebook
Website: cjshayward.com
Purchase: https://cjshayward.com/hpt1 

Hidden Price Tags: An Eastern Orthodox Look at Technology's Dark Side and Its Best Use: Volume One: Start Here... is not only unlike any prior book that C.J.S. Hayward has written about Orthodoxy, but offers a serious piece of wisdom about technology that outlines a problem many authors have addressed, but resolutions few have proffered. 

It comes from one who owns and uses this technology, but has successfully reined in its employment and filled the gap created by its absence with strategies for cultivating a more meaningful grip on life, spiritual reflection, and activities far from technology's allure or grasp. 

Following The Luddite’s Guide to Technology and How Can I Take my Life Back from my Phone?, this book both embraces and expands the contentions of both as it reflects further and deeper on the hidden price tags of technology, how to limit and alleviate them, and (perhaps most importantly) how to replace them with approaches to life and spiritual thinking that embrace Orthodoxy beliefs and approaches to better living. 

Although much of the material is reflected in the prior books and represents typical Hayward theological inspection, this contribution to the series offers a far richer vein of argument that makes the case for reasoned abstinence and a better utilization of the time and space created by the absence of technological devices. 

Discussions refer to C.S. Lewis and others and evolve on levels of historical reference, psychological inspection, social issues, and spiritual impact as they invite thought-provoking responses from readers: 

"Cars are one of many technologies that, when introduced, caused future shock. It’s taken as normal by subsequent generations, but there is a real sense of “This new technology is depriving us of something basically human,” and that pattern repeats. And perhaps, in a sense, this shock is the pain we experience as we are being lessened by degrees and slowly turning from man to machine-dominated." 

From the perils and place of social networking to how human connections are made, Hayward offers an all-inclusive grasp on the nature, impact, and methods of technology as they reflect and extend human nature, often creating the very divisions they were meant to alleviate in the human condition. 

Hayward's reflections and connections, scholarly and heavily footnoted as they are, offer much food for thought and ideally will be utilized as fodder for debate and discussion in all kinds of groups, from everyday readers to Orthodoxy followers. His insights on technology offer new, powerful grasps on the finer art of its deployment and unexpected impact: 

"There are many things whose marketing proposition is escape, and they all peter out and leave us coveting more. They are spiritual poison if they are used for escape. There may be other uses and legitimate reasons—iPhones are, besides being “avoid spiritual work” systems, incredibly useful—but the right use of these things is not found in the marketing proposition they offer you." 

Hidden Price Tags contributes to a series heralded by The Luddite’s Guide to Technology and How Can I Take my Life Back from my Phone?, both containing and expanding on the initial concepts presented in these books to focus on strategies for injecting meaning and spiritual foundations back into life after the vacuum is created by tempering  and limiting technology's allure. 

Libraries interested in expanded Eastern Orthodoxy's applications to reading groups of all kinds, from philosophy to spiritual thinkers, will find Hidden Price Tags: An Eastern Orthodox Look at Technology's Dark Side and Its Best Use: Volume One: Start Here... encourages many opportunities for debate. 

Hidden Price Tags

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In Search of I
Avi Raa
Independently Published
979-8392250196           
$32.47 Hardcover/$22.96 Paper/$9.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Search-I-Alchemy-Meditation/dp/B0C2RPBJKG 

Readers who would better understand the process, history, and foundations of meditation will find Avi's In Search of I a solid starting place for understanding. It nicely supplements the many books on the market about how to do meditation, opening with the all-essential question of why meditation is a worthy, enlightening venture. This touches upon not only its promise, but its usual approach to transformation: 

"Meditation affects everything - it touches every single dimension of life, and at the same time, it doesn't change anything ... Meditation transforms our emotional landscape, our self-perception, our inner dialogue, cognitive processes, and the way we relate to the world. Yet, it leaves us absolutely free, for it operates not at the level of thoughts, but someplace deeper." 

Avi's exploration is absolutely essential as a start to the process because those who embark on meditative efforts typically are not as well grounded in what to expect from the effort as they should be. 

Chapters unfold the rich possibilities of meditative approaches, choices, and results, reviewing its mindset, processes and impact with a careful attention to considering both the benefits and challenges of embarking on a meditation routine: 

"As you progress in your meditation journey, you will begin to realize that many of life's challenges are rooted in your lack of clarity and understanding of the inner mechanics of life. This realization can feel like a sudden jolt, as if someone has shaken you out of a deep slumber. The process of observing and learning from your thoughts during meditation can be arduous and frustrating, with moments that leave you feeling overwhelmed and emotional, even to the point of tears. But it's important to keep in mind that these obstacles are simply thoughts - they have no real power over you." 

Avi's diversion from the usual "how to" themes running through too many similar meditation guides allows for a far better understanding of not just the routines of meditation, but what to expect from its practice. 

The real magic and potential of meditation lies not in a goal-oriented approach, but in a celebration of the moments involved and the adventure of self-discovery and growth that evolve not from a set course of action and anticipated results, but from the flexibility of remaining mindful, open, and cognizant of surprises that emerge from the meditative experience. 

Avi readily admits the challenges involved in setting aside preconceptions, routines, and expectations of results: 

"When meditating, one of the biggest obstacles to overcome is the urge to compare yourself to what's happening in the external world. It can be easy to see others engaging in exciting activities and boasting about their achievements while you're simply sitting in stillness. Your mind may try to convince you that meditation is the only thing you're doing, even though it's just one aspect of your life. It's important to recognize that the mind is always trying to distract you from your meditation practice." 

The result is a discourse that should ideally come first, putting the 'why' before the 'how' as In Search of I explores the promises and potential pitfalls of embarking on a meditation journey and shows how best to embrace its possibilities. 

While new age libraries and readers will be the most likely audience for this discussion, ideally, In Search of I will gain attention from book clubs and groups interested in pursing meditation in its best form, who would better understand both its historical connections and the legacy it passes down to those who imbibe. Its importance in delving into the heart of meditation's processes cannot be overstated, making In Search of I a top recommendation for anyone and any collection interested in self-help, personal transformation, and journeys of enlightenment. 

In Search of I

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Judaism Disrupted
Rabbi Michael Strassfeld
Ben Yehuda Press
978-1-953829-37-5         $24.95
http://www.BenYehudaPress.com 

Judaism Disrupted is a re-invention of Judaism that challenges Jewish readers to convert ... not to another religion, but to translate the basic principles of the Torah in a new light so they receive better attachment to social and moral issues, caring for the planet, and acknowledging how religion too often fails God. 

Think 'disruption', and accompanying visions of anarchy and destruction come to mind. While it's true that, too often, something must be destroyed in order to allow new opportunities, in this case Judaism is not under fire, but facing a transformative process that better connects community with spirituality, and spirituality to new ways of thinking and engaging. 

“Why would you want to be a rabbi?” This is a question Rabbi Michael Strassfeld is often asked when he attaches his title to his name. The far better question, he maintains, is: "Why would you care so much about Judaism as to actually devote your professional life to it?" 

Judaism Disrupted answers both questions—but more importantly, it draws clear connections between core issues affecting humans around the world and key principles of Judaism. 

Why bother or care? Because, as Strassfeld maintains, "Judaism is actually about how to live a life of freedom." That's something we all say we want, but few claim to feel—especially in recent years. 

As Strassfeld examines the basic principles of prayers and rituals, he unfolds layers of belief and assumption within them that invite readers to think about and open discussion amongst themselves and within their communities: 

"Time is a key element of our lives. The challenge is not its management, but the understanding that we shape time by making certain days significant. Shabbat and festivals are ways we overlay structure and meaning on the astronomical course of the universe." 

His analysis of the underlying principles of routines and values that people often take for granted provides a fresh, contemporary flavor to Judaism which enriches it, keeping it in line with modern thinking and experience. 

These are specific insights tied to principles which have too often been translated with past experience in mind, not present-day and future thinking. The analysis provides not just for thought, but starting new visions of how Judaism can better apply to contemporary world problems: 

"For centuries, the emphasis has been on settling the land (yishuv ha-aretz) in a world where human habitation seemed tiny compared to the vastness of the earth. The story of America and the ongoing settlement of its frontier is a specific example of this process. Our situation is now very different. There are no vast unexplored or unsettled areas. It took over two million years of human history for the world’s population to reach one billion people, and only two hundred years more to reach seven billion. The world no longer needs to be settled – it needs to be protected. How can Judaism frame a response to the environmental crisis? Can we use the word sin when we pollute this world? When we destroy the ozone layer, we haven’t actually hurt another person, but we have hurt the world. I want to suggest that we reinterpret a biblical category that has basically fallen into disuse: tum’ah/impurity." 

Judaism Disrupted will drive Jewish people to turn back to their religious roots for revised, different answers. It will also encourage non-Jewish people to consider how spiritual thinking can both enlighten and provoke social challenges. Gratitude, mindfulness, blessings ... it's all here, reformed in a new light that offers hope and transformative thinking. 

While Judaism Disrupted will be featured in and chosen by Jewish libraries and thinkers, its real power lies in its ability to reach beyond Jewish readers alone to challenge the hearts and minds of any spiritual theorist. 

For this reason, it is hoped that Judaism Disrupted will be included in a wide range of collections, from general-interest libraries to those strong in social issues and philosophical subjects. Ideally, it will become an intrinsic part of debates and considerations of how Judaism's core principles can be seen in action and better employed to solve world issues, changing traditional methods of viewing self and connections to others. 

Judaism Disrupted

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Maximize Your Healing Power
Sharon E. Martin, M.D., PhD
Findhorn Press
9781644116609             $18.99
www.findhornpress.com 

Maximize Your Healing Power: Shamanic Healing Techniques to Overcome Your Health Challenges blends allopathic medicine with shamanic and energy medicine techniques, and will appeal to libraries and readers interested in new age and alternative medicine and spirituality blends. 

Scientific and spiritual insights merge in a playing field that proposes new applications for symbolic medicine wheels, intuitive explorations, amplifications, and rituals—techniques that will prove especially effective for those already involved in visualization and symbols of awareness and mindful thinking. 

This audience, especially, will appreciate the focus on energy healing which lends a different flavor to the process, considering ways of connecting consciousness to spirit in an effort to boost inherent healing power and overcome conscious and subconscious barriers to physical healing and mental growth. 

This duality creates a powerful interplay of healing potentials from internal and disparate resources that are reinforced by case history and personal examples that will sound familiar to many: 

"For a long time, one of my best friends would start her conversations with why she didn't want to work anymore—because she was too old. What she meant was she had progressed far enough in her life deserve retirement, but what she stated was that she was growing old. After a few years of these kind of statements, and of me grumbling that she should stop saying these things, she developed an autoimmune disease that significantly limited her movement and functionality. She acted as if she was old and felt old. Shifting your perception of disease and limitation so that it is a condition you are living with, not a defining issue that is core to your identity, will go a long way in helping you to shift your health challenge." 

The exercises and case history examples which support examples of such shifts and processes will prove invaluable to self-help readers interested in applying shamanic healing techniques to support health regimens and efforts. 

Maximize Your Healing Power's step-by-step approach to supporting one's health makes it a practical recommendation for new age and alternative health libraries, as well as spiritual collections looking to solidify connections between psychic, spiritual, and physical conditions. 

Maximize Your Healing Power

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Outbreaks and Pandemics
Nicholas A. Daniels, MD, MPH
Atmosphere Press
978-1639886616            $20.99
www.atmospherepress.com

 Outbreaks and Pandemics: The Life of a Disease Detective – A Memoir is an account of investigative processes that holds special relevance in pandemic times. Pre-COVID, this book's interest would have been limited to a narrower audience. Now, its message and processes will receive attention by a far wider audience interested in how diseases are identified and tracked, their impact mitigated by research and public awareness. 

More than a research history, however, Outbreaks and Pandemics also unfolds a success story in which author Nicholas A. Daniels rose from poverty to become an infectious disease epidemiologist. This progression holds many lessons for others who would overcome life circumstances to reach the pinnacle of success, reviewing the work of fellow disease detectives who tackled seemingly insurmountable puzzles of public infection to reveal how investigators uncover the nature and transmission of diseases. 

From pre-pandemic surveillance measures and key elements of preparedness to understanding the social prejudices that repress potentially brilliant individuals and keep them marginalized and stereotyped, Outbreaks and Pandemics is flawless in its intersection of personal experience and broader social inspection: 

"It is common for some of my white friends to ask me, “Why can’t all Black people be like you?” This question is presumptuous and often based on stereotypes and biases. I know thousands of educated and well-mannered professional Black people, just like me. But, given our racial divide, most white people do not know or interact with Black people socially or professionally, and only see stereotyped images on television, leading to their misconceptions. My ability to relate to all people at a basic human level and feel comfortable has allowed me to thrive in predominantly white environments all my life." 

Aside from its value as a blueprint of medical investigative history and processes, Dr. Daniels includes important points about how individuals succeed and make a difference at all levels of society by their influences, attitudes, and choices. 

The result is a powerful document of personal and social achievement that educates readers on several fronts: that of disease research and management, and the concurrent importance of fostering and raising strong individuals (no matter what their race or gender) in order to overcome the health challenges humanity faces. 

Libraries and readers interested in medical and social issues will find Outbreaks and Pandemics an especially wide-ranging memoir that holds much food for thought. It ideally will be chosen for classroom and book club inspection and debate. 

Outbreaks and Pandemics

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The Schlager Anthology of Hispanic America
Edited by Aaron E. Sánchez
Schlager Group Inc.
9781935306849      $285 print/$260 ebook

https://www.schlagergroup.com/9781935306849/the-schlager-anthology-of-hispanic-america/ 

Libraries interested in acquiring a definitive reference to primary resource materials in Hispanic American history will find The Schlager Anthology of Hispanic America: A Student's Guide to Essential Primary Sources an essential acquisition. 

This book contains two volumes and chapters that move from pre-contact 1100s America to modern times, and is the sixth volume in the “Schlager Anthologies for Students” series. Its focus is on exploring and exposing materials "from often-marginalized communities and voices that are frequently ignored in other anthologies and historical accounts." 

Each chapter provides an introductory history before delving into the source materials and references of overviews of primary source material documents (articles, writings, websites) and their place in Hispanic history. The abridgements of their contents and bibliographic connections allow researchers from high school to college and general-interest audiences to pursue more of the history on their own. 

The 150 documents and accompanying commentary are accented by more than 100 photographs and illustrations that add colorful visuals of art and vintage embellishment to the articles and overviews. 

Glossaries, chapter questions for student consideration, and roundups of associated documents and themes both enhance and enlarge the subjects profiled in this wide-reaching anthology of social, political, historical, and even literary works. 

One might anticipate that the depth of this coverage would impart a scholarly tone over a lively discourse, but one of the strengths of this collection is its surprising ability to remain informative, authoritative, yet thoroughly engrossing and relevant to everyday readers: 

"The poem “Pensamiento Serpentino” (Serpentine Thought) by the playwright Luis Valdez is a classic in the field of Chicano literature. Originally published in 1973 and composed in mixed English and Spanish, it stands as one of the most influential works to emerge from the genre. Conceived as an ode to Chicano indigeneity, some of its themes, such as “Hunab Ku” (“One God”; monotheism) and “In lak’ech” (“you are my other me”), transcend cultural boundaries and have become part of popular New Age consciousness." 

With over six hundred pages packed with essential and rare references, The Schlager Anthology of Hispanic America: A Student's Guide to Essential Primary Sources should not only be considered a foundation reference for any library interested in Hispanic topics and history, but a resource for broadening and expanding the subjects, nature, and focuses of Latino challenges and concerns throughout American literature, history, and society. 

Its essential and rare opportunities for discussions and enlightenment also make The Schlager Anthology of Hispanic America: A Student's Guide to Essential Primary Sources a strong recommendation for discussion groups interested in pursing a range of Hispanic history topics. The questions at each chapter's end encourage debate: "Badillo states, 'Workfare was anathema to Democrats, but not to me.' How does this reflect his own personal and political journey? Does it also reflect the political journey of other Latinx people? Explain." 

The Schlager Anthology of Hispanic America

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A Theory of Everything including Consciousness and “God”
Bill Harvey
The Human Effectiveness Institute
978-0-918538-19-2                $8.95
https://www.humaneffectivenessinstitute.org/billharveyblog/a-theory-of-everything/ 

Bill Harvey wrote this book mainly for physicists, but its considerations will attract general-interest audiences of non-scientists as well, as A Theory of Everything including Consciousness and “God” explores not only the 'why' of human effort and existence, but how these considerations can lead readers to "...have the intestinal forti­tude to stand up and do whatever it takes to overcome the new challenges facing civiliza­tion today 

Many books and essays have been written about the nature and purpose of life. Bill Harvey takes the next step in applying these inquiries about the "God" concept to expanded purposes in, and approaches to, living life: "The “inner life” tradition—pondering the ulti­mate questions, studying the self—has continued alongside every step forward we have made in science and technology. 

From the history of the popular denial of a higher being among scientific circles to ideas of The One Self as a singularity whose presence is all-encompassing and changing, Harvey creates a thought-provoking dialogue that encourages scientists and readers alike to adopt bigger-picture perceptions of the universe's possibilities: 

"The One Self has always existed and will always exist and is the only thing that exists. It has a waking/sleeping cycle. Every time it wakes up there is no memory at first. Perhaps there is a Big Bang every time The Self wakes up. The expanding universe reaches a certain point then begins to contract back into itself until it enters the sleep cycle. As if the Universe is breathing. In multiverse universe-sheaf imagery, each Universe may manifest this differently." 

The breadth and scope of this inquiry is unprecedented. Its major value, aside from individual contemplation, will be to spark equally vivid and unusual discussions in professional circles where such talks typically bow to hard, observable science over ethereal suppositions: 

"Let’s consider tuning our feelings back to a zero baseline in this regard—take a fresh look, start from scratch again, be a blank slate. Sus­pend belief and disbelief. Just imagine it is at least conceivable that God—a wondrously extraordinary software program, a consciousness, an experiencer—is looking out your eyes. He/She/It is having your experience. You are sensing this as you having that experience. How could you tell the difference?" 

The result is more than a theory or a dialogue about possibilities in spirituality, reality, and methodology, but an exciting new way of considering consciousness, God, and universe perceptions that invites all manner of students, whether they be scientists or general readers, to suspend preset beliefs and training in favor of a wider-ranging approach to linking hunches and perceptions to the synchronicities life introduces that too often are discarded with pat rationalization. 

There is nothing pat or categorically simple in this approach, which encourages self-experimentation and awakening a form of observation and discourse that may have remained in the backgrounds of many readers' lives. 

Ideally, A Theory of Everything including Consciousness and “God” will receive equally wide-ranging attention and attraction—from spiritual and scientific circles to book club readers and debaters who come from psychology and philosophy circles, and who seek works that don't just reflect the boundaries of human experience and possibility, but challenges them. 

A Theory of Everything including Consciousness and “God”

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Two Rivers
Shery Roussarie and Kelly Macken-Marble
Warren Publishing
978-1-960146-19-9         $26.99 Hardcover/$16.99 Paper
www.warrenpublishing.net 

Two Rivers: The Power of Collaboration is a book about women in business and in leadership positions who met for the first time in 2018. Their roles as CEOs of competing health care companies would seem to place them in adversarial positions, but their shared vision of creating a managed care network instead resulted in a cooperative effort that surprised their community and those around them. 

Ironically, the stage was preset to discourage this type of cooperative venture, from the hospital systems around them to influencing medical organizations designed to support health care systems. 

More than a tale of two women who come together for a shared cause, Two Rivers is just as astute in considering the forces and structures that work against cooperative ventures, using the authors' experiences as examples of the power of saying 'yes' and listening to but utilizing disparate forces to better support such pursuits: 

"Take the breakfast meeting, lunch, or call. Just start with yes, then listen and learn. It may take time for the seed to bring forth fruit, but it’s a start. This is not easy for introverts like me to do, but it is worth the investment." 

The second strength of this story stems from its duality as the two women's' very different personalities are contrasted, illustrating how their shared visions and efforts benefit from this seeming disparity. 

A wealth of business savvy is imparted during the course of this journey that keeps its lessons on track and specific. This will delight business readers seeking practical advice and enlightenment backed by real-world experience: 

"We had reached a size that, in order to scale and grow, we would need a partner. My board agreed, and I set out to do the assessment and find a partner. These types of partnerships can come in all kinds of different shapes and forms. You start with a clear vision of the type of partner you want—alignment, vision, etc.—define the guardrails or scope—do they acquire you, is it a joint venture, will there be an asset purchase, etc.—and start entertaining companies that may fit with what you are looking for." 

From succession and postretirement planning to growing a business structure that answers numerous personality and community needs, Shery Roussarie and Kelly Macken-Marble's story is more than one of the meeting of two strong women's visions. It's about the process of collaboration as it plays out in business and medical communities, and documents promises, pitfalls, and approaches to success that reflect both authors' visions and the greater power to be found from cooperative ventures that resonate with personal ambition and ideals. 

Libraries and readers interested in women in business and healthcare roles will find Two Rivers of special interest; but ultimately it's the reader committed to the ideal of cooperative ventures, actions, and thinking who will gain the most from this enthusiastic, visionary story. Ideally, Two Rivers will be profiled in book clubs appealing to women in business who seek concrete lessons blended with memoirs that are lively and revealing. 

Two Rivers

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Own Your Work Journey! The Path to Meaningful Work and Happiness in the Age of Smart Technology and Radical Change
Edward D. Hess
Independently Published
979-8-9874423-0-2         $7.95 Paper/$3.95 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/OWN-YOUR-WORK-JOURNEY-Meaningful/dp/B0BW2SL7Q3 

Own Your Work Journey! The Path to Meaningful Work and Happiness in the Age of Smart Technology and Radical Change advocates integrating technological savvy into the quest for finding meaningful life work, promoting a sense of independence and accomplishment that comes from the unification of two seemingly disparate approaches to life. 

It's unusual to see a book that is part new age insight and yet is inclusive of the technological opportunities that typical new age writings tend to eschew. But the foundations of Edward D. Hess's revised and revitalized approach to satisfaction lay in adopting new survival strategies to mitigate the faster life pace introduced by new technologies, and chapters focus on building self-awareness and insight while working alongside such changes. 

In this process, becoming your "best self" is key to not only survival, but thriving. Hess reveals how to take on the perceptions and life strategies that enable such winning roles in life's journey, drawing important connections between the time taken towards self-realization and overcoming negative and limiting attitudes and the success that can stem from adapting one's life journey to a rapidly changing world. 

The prerequisites for successfully utilizing this title are a willingness to work on self and an acceptance of tools such as mindfulness, meditation, journaling, and practicing the lessons Hess outlines here. But, then, readers not on this path and unwilling to work on or look at themselves might not be the prime audience for this book. That would be a shame, because likely this kind of reader is exactly who needs the book the most. 

Hess points out the many business and personal changes that the new era of technology poses, indicating how these necessitate adaptations in the business and personal pursuits of everyone: 

"In the Age of Smart Technology and Radical Change, much work will be done in small teams to optimize making the right decisions and optimizing how to create new and better products and services for your customers or patients. That means that Reflective Listening will be a key behavior and tool. I have told many business leaders that success in this new Era will be highly dependent upon “the quality of the conversations in the workplace." 

Understanding how these changes and choices in responses work to either create greater satisfaction and opportunity or result in less of each is key to adopting the kinds of attitudes that lead towards satisfaction on many levels. 

That's why the practical observations and psychology of  Own Your Work Journey! is so essential. It is an interconnected analysis of what constitutes satisfaction, demonstrating how to maintain equilibrium and upward momentum in times of fast change, and how to tailor one's life to make the most of all of its influences. 

There is no better blueprint for such success than Own Your Work Journey! The Path to Meaningful Work and Happiness in the Age of Smart Technology and Radical Change, which should be in any self-help or business library, and utilized in book club discussion groups of all kinds, whether they be holistic, business, or psychological in nature. 

Own Your Work Journey! The Path to Meaningful Work and Happiness in the Age of Smart Technology and Radical Change

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The Yewberry Way Book I: Prayer
Jack Gist
Defiance Press & Publishing, LLC
978-1959677192
$24.95 Hardcover/$18.95 Paper/$9.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Yewberry-Way-Book-Prayer/dp/1959677195 

The Yewberry Way Book I: Prayer is a visionary dystopian story highly recommended for fans of George Orwell and futuristic philosophical reading. Jack Gist's world is controlled by the System, which regulates the hearts and minds of humanity. In this post-apocalyptic scenario, violence and hate have been stricken from human society. The cost of this prohibition includes denial of the metaphysical forces at work in the world, so when a recluse Outpost Keeper encounters a Praying Man in the desert world outside, the status quo is threatened. 

Dr. Yew Uket is theoretically on the side of the System and is called in to extract the Outpost Keeper's memories of his encounter, but what she's really interested in are the keys that will lead her to the Praying Man. Her foray into the mind becomes the motivating factor for a journey into the world in which a truth that becomes twisted into lies upon interrogation turns into transformational revelations of magic and opportunities.

"Living things are always shifting." While the System has attempted to halt this process in favor of survival and predictability, inevitability is a funny thing. It refuses to remain repressed, but bursts forth despite all efforts to quell it. 

As Gist evolves a scenario replete with odd characters and encounters between Raggedy Man, Yew, Doc Waters, Mean Eyes, and others, he also reinforces the underlying values, perceptions, and changes of this strange futuristic world that buffet individual and social concepts of reality and illusion. 

He moves between first person and third person descriptions to add the full flavor of revelations and responses into his story, cementing the ironic and purposeful choices of characters with interludes of description that bring this world to life ("The sky is the color of baby powder."). 

The clash between the undisciplined (and untrainable) Cactus Eaters who defy the System's attempts to control them unfolds in a thought-provoking way that will lend to discussion and insights from book clubs and reading groups—especially those who have tackled Orwell's writings, and who look for a more contemporary author's take on social manipulation and clashing realities. 

Call it a work of dystopian fiction, magical realism, or social inspection as you will—one thing is certain: the shifting nature of social constructs and efforts to regulate the world bring not just change, but war. 

Libraries and readers interested in compelling works that invite classroom and reading group discussion about future trends and social and political possibilities will find The Yewberry Way Book I: Prayer a potent study of the power of transformation, prayer, and alternative thinking. 

The Yewberry Way Book I: Prayer

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Young Adult/Childrens

Chipper Sends Sunshine
Kimber Fox Morgan
Creative, Simple Wonder Press
978-1-7370386-7-2
$18.99 Hardcover/$15.99 Paper/$5.99 ebook
www.kimberfoxmorgan.com 

Chipper Sends Sunshine's focus is animal friends having fun at a camp which is much warmer (and very different) than the arctic environment they come from. Its message is about the shared delights friends can experience from unfamiliar encounters and environments—but add Kim Sponaugle's delightful, whimsically colorful drawings for a touch of thoughtful adventure that will keep kids both reading and thinking. 

From bonding over water play to soaking up the sun and building friendships with disparate animals during new, shared activities, the camp experience highlights the unique opportunity for forming new relationships. 

The bigger question is: how do these friendships survive the challenges of long distance? Each arctic animal friend's determination to stay in touch is tested by mishaps that thwart the best of intentions. 

Picture book readers receive encouragement to write letters, maintain friendships from afar, and consider the joys of pen pals. Parents who choose Chipper Sends Sunshine for its positive messages about how to maintain connections with others will find plenty of discussion material suitable for all ages. 

Elementary-level libraries will especially appreciate this colorful quest for connection, which lends to read-aloud and display alike as it reveals the power of positive thinking, writing, problem-solving, and friendships forged by new shared experiences and efforts to engage. 

Chipper Sends Sunshine

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Finley: A Moose On The Caboose
Candace Spizzirri 
Gnome Road Publishing
9781957655031             $18.99
Ordering:
http://shop.btpubservices.com/Title/9781957655031 
Website: https://gnomeroadpublishing.com/products/finley-a-moose-on-the-caboose 

Chantelle and Burgen Thorne's fun illustrations for Candace Spizzirri's engaging picture book adventure Finley: A Moose On The Caboose add artistic flair and a sense of humor and positivity to the story of "the friendliest moose" Finley, who loves to greet train passengers to his town with a smile and a willingness to listen to their adventures. 

These efforts lead to Finley's own desires to travel the rails—but he finds, when he attempts to jump aboard a moving train, that 'wild animals' are not welcome on a train (even though he is a very friendly one). 

Not one to admit defeat, Finley decides that a disguise is the perfect way to board. Too bad he's chosen the one disguise that also is not allowed! 

Failure doesn't deter this moose, and Finley's daily antics to sneak aboard a train while adhering to its too-many rules will provide young readers with much laughter, cemented by the zany illustrations which capture Finley's exploits. 

"Rules are rules." But, in special circumstances, they can be broken. 

Parents, kids, and educators who choose Finley: A Moose On The Caboose for its entertainment value will find its underlying messages about perseverance, problem-solving, and adhering to (while creatively re-interpreting) rules to be both fun and thought-provoking. 

Finley: A Moose On The Caboose is a lively, colorful choice for any library strong in tales that both entertain and lead to broader young reader discussion about rules, determination, and utilizing one's special abilities to get ahead. 

Finley: A Moose On The Caboose

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Frankinschool: Monster Match
Caryn Rivadeneira
Red Chair Press LLC
978-1-64371-241-3         $16.99
Website: https://www.redchairpress.com/frankinschool-book-1-monster-match
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Monster-Match-Book-1-Frankinschool/dp/1643712411 

Frankinschool: Monster Match< provides a delightfully whimsical tale for kids ages 7-11 as it explores Fred and Luisa's exposure to a mysterious potion at school that places them directly onto the pages of a thrilling experience. 

Fred is supposed to receive a personally autographed book from its author, but his name isn't written on the flyleaf. And he doesn't know anybody named 'Frank.' Or, he didn't until he read those words. 

His classmate Luisa, who is always mean to him, poses a theory that embraces not only the snafu, but his inherent stupidity. That's nothing new: "Every day she says something awful to him." 

The difference today is that Fred's transformation into Frank and Luisa's move to become Princess Luisa comes to life in an unexpected way as a writing assignment introduces him to new possibilities for leading his life in a different way ("What if I am Frank in school? Fred wrote. He looked at the words: Frank in school. Frank-in-school. Frankinschool!"). 

Kids who choose this book expecting a scary monster story will find far more simmering than hidden identities. Lessons on bullying and forgiveness, friendship, adventure, and alter egos permeate Fred's experiences and translate to insights that invite discussion and understanding. 

Even more important is the theme of discovery and acceptance that brings Fred and Luisa to better understand each other and their amazing new conditions. 

Caryn Rivadeneira crafts an unusual story that is embedded with the sleuthing and mystery of strange circumstances akin to Danny Dunn or Encyclopedia Brown, but adds the extra value of psychological discovery as the kids alter their relationship and themselves. 

The result is an engrossing story that may disappoint youngsters who expected frightening monsters, but will delight all readers with its intriguing tale of self-discovery, transformation, magic, and changed interpersonal relationship skills as the also-newly-reinvented Princess discovers in Fred some hidden and admirable talents. 

Frankinschool: Monster Match

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Love Will Turn You Around
Mary Munson
Gnome Road Publishing
9781957655017             $17.99
Ordering:  http://shop.btpubservices.com/Title/9781957655017
Website: https://gnomeroadpublishing.com/products/love-will-turn-you-around 

Love Will Turn You Around is a lovely picture book lesson featuring a unique character—Heart, who wakes up one morning feeling blue. 

Illustrator Kate Talbot creates a gorgeous, expressive set of images that bring Heart's story to life as he interacts with Circle, Triangle, Square, and other shapes that enjoy playing in ways he cannot. 

Young readers learn about shapes as they absorb Heart's experiences and dilemmas, receiving an important lesson in friendship from Star, who points out that even a defeated Heart can "twinkle." 

Star's perspective is enough to give Heart an important idea about changing perspective to turn a frown upside down into a smile. 

Parents who choose Love Will Turn You Around for read-aloud will find its concurrent lessons in shapes and attitude the perfect starting point for instructing the very young about love, friendship, and overcoming adversity through revised attitudes. The lovely illustrations make Heart's dilemmas and solutions appealing and fun. 

Elementary-level libraries will find Heart's story suitable for read-aloud, and will appreciate its invitation to engage and educate kids in a variety of subjects, from primary and secondary colors and basic math to skills development and teamwork principles. 

Love Will Turn You Around

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The Metamorphosis of Emma Murray
Rebecca Laxton
Warren Publishing
978-1-960146-23-6      $26.99 Hardcover/$16.99 Paper
www.warrenpublishing.net 

In The Metamorphosis of Emma Murray, thirteen-year-old Emma has her summer well planned, including participating in an environmental program to save the monarch butterflies, until her online crush Jeb Scott and his celebrity dad Chester come to town for a visit. It seems an unexpected development, but is welcomed until Emma discovers that Jeb and Chester are planning on building a ski resort, destroying her butterfly garden and its conservation promise. 

Ideology collides with romance as Emma and her best friend Sophie cook up plans to stop the Scotts from destroying their dreams in an effort which also threatens to sabotage her relationship with Scott. Emma's realization about Scott's involvement is just the first stage of her metamorphosis: 

"I’d finally gotten close to Jeb Scott, and he was destroying everything I loved." 

There's only one compromise that could work—befriend the enemy, then convert him to the cause. 

As Emma begins to pursue her diametrically opposed interests, she further changes in response to new realizations about motivation, politics, financial influences, and the forces at work in preservation versus development. 

Middle grade readers receive an evocative, heartfelt story that embraces a police investigation, her family's involvement in climate change and mystery, and the forces at work on all sides. 

While some of these social issues may seem heady reading for this age group, Rebecca Laxton couches these revelations with Emma's maturity process as she enters into murky waters of blackmail and criminal activity, possible supernatural influences, and the impact of her own beliefs and choices on the attitudes and outcomes of townspeople and conservationists alike. Emma's first-person observations and growth process combines with action-packed scenes that are unpredictable and exciting. 

While The Metamorphosis of Emma Murray works well as a leisure read, ideally it will be assigned reading for debates about environmental responsibility and teen involvement in climate change politics and adult issues. 

The Metamorphosis of Emma Murray

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Secrets of the Wild
Olivia Kent
Mascot Books
978-1645431107            $15.95
www.mascotbooks.com 

Secrets of the Wild invites picture book readers to consider another possibility to the unseen natural world's activities, maintaining that "animals are wild, and wild they shall be" as it presents a fantasy portrait of what really happens deep in the forests where humans don't go. 

One scenario is that of a beaver party: "Beavers hold massive and elegant parties in their dams. You have to be the brightest and strongest of the flock, herd, or gaggle to be invited. Creatures dance, species mingle happily, and hundreds of bottles of beaver-made beverages are consumed." 

Srimalie Bassani's illustrations capture the vibrant possibilities of this world as they follow the antics introduced by partying critters at night, in a milieu where "...nothing compares to the rodeo that goes on when the weasels show up every Sunday." 

Read-aloud parents looking for bright, adventure-filled fantasy stories of animals that live alternative lives far from the prying eyes of science and humanity will find the rollicking nighttime activities and animal secrets in Secrets of the Wild just the ticket for giggles, fun, and considering new possibilities in the "beaver parties, bear den game nights, or weasel rodeos" that could occur outside the realm of scientific inquiry and logic. 

This invitation for speculation will engage the very young with a story that is delightfully original and fantastically vivid. 

Secrets of the Wild

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Victoria McKay and the Kingdom of Creatures
Marina Aerin Richardson

Many Realms Media
9798396980129             $14.99 print/$5.99 ebook
www.manyrealmsmedia.com 

Victoria McKay and the Kingdom of Creatures is a fantasy adventure novel written by a twelve-year-old whose literary prowess is every bit as powerful as writers many years older. 

Tween Vicky does what many children do—wishes she never had a pesky younger sister. However, when she awakens in the morning to find that Ashley has vanished, Vicky discovers the love between them that underlie her frustration, and embarks on a journey to another realm to rescue the person she once wished away. 

From encounters with unusual creatures and friends who exhibit impossible abilities and quirky senses of humor to forays through Black Woods, encounters with ghosts, and powerful realizations about the world and Vicky's place in it, Marina Aerin Richardson exhibits a descriptive exuberance that translates nicely into unusually compelling images: "I turned and turned like a human Ferris wheel, trying to locate the source of the sound." 

Lovely illustrations pepper the story, accenting its characters and adventures, but it's Richardson's vivid descriptive phrasing and sense of lively adventure that bring the tale to full-bodied life, immersing readers with a "you are here" voice that is vibrant with original, unexpected observations: 

"I’ll spare you most of the details of what followed my screaming descent into what turned out to be a vast, sprawling, and totally nonsensical complex solely devoted to Mariposa’s twisted sense of beauty. I certainly don’t remember every bit, anyhow. In fact, I don’t even know exactly how long I was subjected to the “beautification.” It’s quite possible I missed my twelfth birthday somewhere around the fifth step. Or maybe I was only gone a few hours – who’s to tell?" 

Besides the adventure and fantasy, Vicky's evolutionary process (as she makes many different kinds of friends who support her in diverse ways and discovers new ways of dealing with the world and realizing her place in it) creates a story that attracts on more than an action-packed level. 

As human Vicky faces a Magical Council she is not supposed to know about and confronts magical creatures, she becomes both a witness and a participant in a world filled with both attractive and terrifying creatures and rules which only partially apply to her, as a human. 

The emotional flavors which run through Vicky's extraordinary encounters power the story with vivid responses to her changing sense of reality, magic, and her blossoming abilities: "Despite all the chaos this day had been, despite the severity of me being here in a court run by three evil maniacs with only a kindly rabbit and redhead pixie on my side – despite all that…I was still a naturally curious girl." 

Although Victoria McKay and the Kingdom of Creatures is a fantasy that tweens and young adults will find attractive, its force and example should not be missed by older readers, as well. Richardson's ability to flavor her world with the emotional and physical forces that dovetail to create compelling scenarios and shifting lessons of interpersonal relationships and experiences translates to not just an effective story, but one that's hard to put down. 

Libraries that choose Victoria McKay and the Kingdom of Creatures for their collections will also want to note the age of its author, while creative writing teachers can use the book to point out that age is no barrier to producing original, literary works of art that stand out from the crowd with a fresh, compelling voice.

 

Victoria McKay and the Kingdom of Creatures

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