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Donovan's Bookshelf

May 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

 The Aether Chronicles: Rebellium
AJ Wolfe
Pluviam Press
978-1-7372508-0-7         $13.99 Paper/$9.99 ebook
Website: aj-wolfe.com
Ordering: https://geni.us/jELd 

The Aether Chronicles: Rebellium follows the quest of eighteen-year-old Natalia Rhys as she chafes under the rule of President Vayne Averie, who searches out powerful Elementals through an assessment process, to add to his growing army. 

Like all others in her kingdom, Natalia faces her elemental assessment test with much trepidation. But, unlike many, she and her close friends fall into the company of rebels led by Vayne's own son, Roman. She finds her destiny radically altered by these newfound associations and the changes they introduce to her friendships and status. 

Roman has not grown up with friends like Natalia. As he and Natalia form an unlikely bond (given their very different worlds) with new connections, they reflect on the powers that come not only from within, but between them, musing about "...how powerful love is and the lengths that people are willing to go for those they love.” 

Their beliefs and growing powers and connections are heavily tested not just by the political and social currents governing their lives, but by a growing attraction that sparks the special powers within them. 

AJ Wolfe creates a compelling fantasy that incorporates epic battles both externally and internally. She crafts characters that push themselves to go further and deeper into the world and their place in it than they'd ever imagined, embedding her story with action and confrontations that emerge from disparate and unexpected sectors. 

"Throughout her entire life, one of the only things Natalia had ever wanted was to find love—to find family." 

On the cusp of achieving her dreams against all odds, Natalia finds that, in fact, her greatest achievement is about to change into her biggest nightmare as love and family test her ability to keep them both safe. 

Readers receive a tense, epic fantasy story of struggle and romance that is equally fueled by war and love. The passions, purposes, and people of this world come to vivid life, while the dashes of bigger-picture thinking about mental and physical pain over the real costs of winning a war are thought-provoking and involving. 

Libraries seeking epic fantasy works that will appeal to book club discussion groups with topics of personal and political struggle and the impact of life choices on underlying influence development will find this first book in the Aether Chronicles series, Rebellium, a powerful draw. 

The Aether Chronicles: Rebellium

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Four: Book 1 of the Numbers Trilogy
A.A. Clifford
HardBooks Publishing
9780985475956             $5.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Four-Book-1-Numbers-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B0BSFWY447 

Four is set in the year 2097, where society's reliance on technology has hit an all-time high, setting it above and beyond spiritual beliefs and political systems. In fact, scientists and atheists now control the world. And it's not a pretty picture. 

Global Marshal Austin Corrigan has eschewed traditional faith in favor of a blend of scientific and agnostic believers. Charged with protecting the world from master criminals, he and his team are stymied when three dangerous men escape from Prime Supermax Prisons to form a deadly force, with an unknown fourth man spearheading their efforts. 

As Austin tracks them on a world-hopping venture in which the perps stay one step ahead of even his power and might, he begins to realize they harbor extraordinary powers that are beyond belief. 

Have they been genetically enhanced, or are they the fabled Four Horsemen incarnate? 

It seems unlikely that Austin holds as a friend (much less teams up with) a devout Catholic, but Dean's faith forces Austin to confront his own underlying belief system as he pursues impossibly empowered enemies and teeters ever closer to a series of revelations that will revise not only his perception of this futuristic world, but his position in it. 

A.A. Clifford builds a story that blends hard science, social change, moral and spiritual conundrums, and mystery into an action-packed plot designed to appeal to all kinds of readers, whether they come from spiritual or sci-fi circles. 

The action is fast-paced, the character development keeps readers engaged, and the quandaries and questions Austin and other characters face as their roles and fates play out on a larger battlefield of belief and power plays makes for thoroughly engrossing reading. 

Perhaps the most compelling piece of this story lies in its ability to dovetail spiritual questions over the nature and possibility of God with the events that predict and precede cataclysmic changes. 

Christian readers, in particular, will find that the enactment of high drama in a futuristic world of pestilences and power plays feels both realistic and true to modern times and represents competing belief systems as each character tests their ability to transform themselves and the world. 

Four will draw readers from different circles; from Christian thinkers and agnostics to sci-fi readers looking for a compelling story of futuristic society and change. 

Libraries seeking books that posit the end of worlds and new beginnings will find Four an enticing, different perspective that draws as much from psychological foundations of personal change as from social and spiritual reflection. 

Four: Book 1 of the Numbers Trilogy

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Ithandryll
Nikki Auberkett
Independently Published
ASIN: B0BS3934Y2              $2.99 Kindle
Website: www.nikkiauberkett.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Ithandryll-Song-Sidhe-Book-1-ebook/dp/B0BS3934Y2 

Ithandryll is the first book in the Song of the Sidhe series, and blends fantasy with romance in a compelling manner that promises an epic read to both genre fans. 

Roxi Lovegood is on the run from her past. Landing in Chicago, a good place to blend into the background, she discovers that not only has she brought along baggage from her past life, but an apartment break-in reveals a relic under the floorboards that leads her into another world. Chicago has always been her dream. Now that she's achieved one of her life goals (to live there), it becomes her nightmare. 

Roxi's belief system is challenged in a major way by events that draw her further into danger and, ironically, force her to move from her comfort zone and the distance she wants to put between herself and the world ("Some days it was easier to forget. To pretend. To focus on something more pressing and present, like finding a new job or dodging the nosy inquiries from fair-weathered “friends” who also loved to pretend."). 

Roxi is unable to just wallow in sadness, given the extraordinary circumstances of a successful flight into something even she never predicted in all her dreams of opportunity and change. 

Her encounter with the alluring Devon provides her with a guide not only to this odd world, but to matters of the heart that re-form her place in both worlds. Despite his penchant for mischief and frolic, Devon, too, has experienced heartbreak. 

Nikki Auberkett takes the time to entwine romance, a fantasy world, and circumstances which force Roxi and Devon to step away from their choices and predictable paths into something different, both with one another and in their new lives. 

Ithandryll is replete with fine tension and whimsical moments of comic relief: "Roxi’s eyes widened. Her breath escaped her lungs. Fairies. “Pixies.” Devon held no such wonderment; he grumbled the word with all the admiration of a man with a fly swatter." 

The dance between a stubborn human who taps her deepest resources to survive in this strange new land and a captivating stranger who introduces her to his world and her family makes for an engrossing story filled with numerous memorable characters and satisfying twists and turns of plot. 

Libraries and readers seeking the intersection of epic fantasy and romance will find Ithandryll nicely developed, compelling in its vision of disparate people forced to tap their inner desires and heritages in order to survive, and hard to put down. 

Ithandryll

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Klara's Journey
K.S. Wright
Hart & Hind Publishing
9781957910000             $21.99
www.HartandHindpc.com 

Klara's Journey is the first book in the new adult fantasy and historical romance series 'The Kenetlon Sagas,' and opens with an evocative prologue that introduces Waywyrd, who is enjoying a magnificent view on a sea-salted terrace overlooking the Black Sea. 

This bucolic interlude of peace precedes events that change in a heartbeat as Klara is discovered to be acting as a village whore. She finds herself signing up for a very different profession when she becomes part of an expedition to the wildlands as their chief cook and huntress. 

As she moves from being exploited to a position of empowerment granted by her choices and growth, Klara becomes involved with both nobility and exiled royalty, coming to find her life journey entwined with the destinies of kings and the future of the land. 

K.S. Wright nicely contrasts Klara's personal revelations and experiences with the rising conflicts and challenges of her world. Her encounter with demons, rituals, and matters of her own heart ("I don't believe I'm capable of even knowing what love is.") makes for a satisfying contrast between high-octane adventure and psychological development as Klara moves into positions of power she'd never imagined, both personally and as a member of society. 

When her relationship with King Thorn evolves, Klara's position shifts—as do her perceptions of her life's purpose and her beliefs. These all bring readers into a satisfying milieu of discovery, with unexpected twists of plot keeping the romance elusive and fresh and the action spirited and in sync with Klara's developmental process. 

Libraries and readers seeking stories that represent the intersection of fantasy, history, romance, and psychological growth will welcome the opportunity to follow Klara on her life-changing journey through a world in flux. 

Klara's Journey

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Mark of a Crescent Moon
Clara Fay
Wild Geese Bookworks
9798987216903      $7.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Mark-Crescent-Moon-Clara-Fay-ebook/dp/B0BXMD2HCV 

After a nasty divorce, Fleur La Salle returns to her hometown of Antigonish in Nova Scotia to rebuild her life and passion, both lost in her short marriage. Mark of a Crescent Moon follows her journey into disparate and unfamiliar worlds of realization when she pursues the meaning of her recurring dreams, only to find herself in another world entirely. 

Fantasy melds with transformation processes in a vivid manner in Clara Fay's story as, one year after her move, Fleur finds herself past the period of mourning what could have been, thoroughly immersed in life in a tribal village from long ago. The family and connections she's longed for come to vivid life, as does the art that is her passion, when she is drawn back to Scotland by a mysterious letter. An event from her dreams causes her physical trauma when she then falls into a portal of standing stones and is transported into the past. 

As Fleur becomes immersed in hidden family history and receives lessons on tapping into her emotions to remember who she is, readers follow her on a journey that is both metaphysical and psychological as Fleur draws unexpected new connections with Thomas and her supportive Auntie G. 

Clara Fay creates a finely-tuned balancing act between emotional growth and intrigue as Fleur approaches her past, present, and future from a different angle than she's ever done before. 

The mystery, time-travel components, and shifting roles and interpersonal relationships that Fleur experiences with Thomas and others around her drive a story line replete with action and self-reflection. These make Fleur's world and reactions feel authentic and realistic. 

The family curse that affects not just Fleur but events and lives past and present is just one facet of a story marked by intrigue, destiny, and the surprising intersection of an artistic and spiritual journey. 

Libraries and readers seeking multifaceted stories that defy pat categorization and draw with the lures of psychological growth, historical intrigue, and interpersonal relationships will find Mark of a Crescent Moon a fantasy adventure of a different order, well stepped in mystery and discovery that will keep readers thinking and guessing throughout. 

Mark of a Crescent Moon

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A Measure of Rhyme
Lloyd Jeffries
Buckminster Publishing
979-8-9855269-5-0        
$20.99 Hardcover/$13.99 Paper/$2.99 ebook
Website: http://www.lloydjeffries.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C1CV1T1Q?ref_=pe_3052080_276849420 

Readers familiar with the first book in the Ages of Malice series, A Portion of Malice, may well recall the potent blend of thriller and fantasy that powered the story of a writer assigned to write a billionaire's biography, only to find that Thaddeus Drake is the leader of a secret society determined to bring on the apocalyptic end of mankind. 

It might seem unlikely that a suicidal writer would be the savior of the planet, much less in the position to play a major role in the timeless battle between good and evil, but Emery Merrick plays a part akin to no other as he confronts both inner and outer demons. 

This measure of courage continues in A Measure of Rhyme, which will best be appreciated by those who found A Portion of Malice unforgettable, and who will find its sequel an equally powerful force of wonder. 

The prologue reintroduces Emery and presents the very different task he's assigned, but it also captures an underlying sense of wry observation humor that comes forth especially strongly in this book: 

“I made it to Heaven?” I look down the corridor, realize it has no walls, no floor or ceiling, just an endless rainbow of space. “Shouldn’t I feel more elated? More, I don’t know, overjoyed?”
John laughs. “Ah, curiosity. Waiting for the other shoe to drop, eh?” He slaps me on the back. “I’ve missed you Emery.”
 

As readers then receive a surprising truth about Emery's condition and foray into spiritual realms usually limited to angels and the dead, they move into a story replete with twists and turns that keep them guessing, wondering, and thoroughly engrossed. Some of this surprise factor lies in the continual challenges Lloyd Jeffries injects into any preconceived notions of Emery's ongoing journey. 

The blend of spirituality, myth, and history both confronts and confounds any prejudices or inherent beliefs about these facets in a story that is especially adept at not just confronting illusions, but ripping them apart. 

Emery's ongoing journey is that of Everyman, reflecting humanity's relentless progression towards destruction, but also its hopeful possibilities of redemption that go hand-in-hand with salvation and damnation. 

Drake's ability to shut down the place and people involved in his deadly ritual is not quite complete. Remnants remain to evolve new possibilities, while Emery's self-destructive routes receive continual challenge from God, Cain, and others mirroring new beginnings that rise like phoenixes from the possibilities of endings and total destruction. 

Lloyd Jeffries cements these journeys of God and man with dialogues and reflections that will serve book clubs and readers with thought-provoking opportunities for discussions of spiritual and psychological revelation: 

“I’m sorry for your loss, but only partly. I never expected to marry a human, never expected a lot of things my journey has held. But now, as God,” he emphasizes this word, “I cannot suffer such distractions as pity for you. You’ve always been in a hurry to die, and I alone saved you from that fate. I sincerely hope we can find a mutual understanding, that you’ll stay in my favor. But the choice is entirely yours. My hope is that you’ll be able to set aside the portion of malice you hold for me. But,” he pauses here, “if you cannot, it changes nothing. You’ll still serve at my pleasure. Like all mortals, that is your lot.” 

Power blossoms not just in Emery but in Cain, Igneus, Sebastian, and a host of other characters whose strengths, weaknesses, and observations contribute to a greater good and realizations that continue to rock the worlds of those who populate this novel and their readers. 

Chaos is both called for and realized, and denied, as events emerge with fiery repercussions to portend new directions as well as the inevitable results of humankind's social, political, and spiritual entanglements. 

The backlash is inevitable. It's also unexpected, diverging from anything readers could anticipate to forge new avenues of spiritual and historical inspection. 

The gift of love and the notion that evil can be timeless  make A Measure of Rhyme a thought-provoking blend of fantasy, thriller, and philosophical inspection well on the level of Dan Brown's spiritual bent, with a little Robert McCammon thrown in for good measure. 

Libraries and readers who relished A Portion of Malice will find A Measure of Rhyme equally powerful in its synthesis of fantasy, history, and religious inspection. It drops a bomb on any notion of predictability, leading into experiences and outcomes that wind up feeling almost inevitable despite their many surprises. 

A Measure of Rhyme

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The Singing Shore III: Spirit and Flame
E.P. Clark
Helia Press

978-1952723391
$25.00 Hardcover/$15.99 Paper/$4.99 Kindle

https://www.amazon.com/Singing-Shore-III-Spirit-Flame/dp/1952723396 

The epic fantasy trilogy The Singing Shore opens with a puzzle for newcomers: while Spirit and Flame is clearly the third book, it's also the seventh book in The Zemnian Series and the fifth in Dasha's Story. This translates to the fact that Spirit and Flame will best be enjoyed not just by prior readers of the series in general and this trilogy in particular, but by followers of epic fantasy who enjoy a wide array of characters and ongoing quests that keep their missions both lively and unpredictable. 

Dasha is heir to the throne on a mission of peace to the Rutsi, the warlike tribes of her kingdom. Her life is complicated by the promise of a magical power she has yet to command, Dasha is accompanied by escorts who struggle to keep her safe against the attention of a murderous magical wolf who covets her power to add to his own. 

The adventures haven't ended with Dasha's prior discovery of her abilities, but continue here as she wields them on behalf of her kingdom, which is falling increasingly into war. 

The second book ended with a fleet of Rutsi intent on invading. This book picks up where that moment left off, continuing to follow Dasha as she comes into her power and makes decisions about how best to unite her divided world. 

A spirit cannot be separated from its body for long, or it will die. Dasha's rare gifts translate to uncommon and hard decisions as she faces special challenges both within and outside: 

"Always before she had found herself back in her body without effort. But now, when she was afraid and desperate to return, she couldn’t find her way back. She tried thinking of returning, she tried picturing herself, she tried reaching out for herself, she tried hurl­ing herself back across that abyss of space between her spirit and her body. None of it worked. 

As in the other books, E.P. Clark embeds the story with action and reflective moments, exploring the motivations and psyche of Dasha and those around her and adding components of intrigue and discovery. These power a hard-hitting quest that operates on different levels, from considerations of honor and pride to visions that introduce portents of danger and demand responses from Dasha that are well out of her comfort zone. 

The strength lies not only in this book's expanded connections with its predecessors and the series as a whole, but in the psychological and magical conundrums faced by Dasha as she steps up and into her own abilities and the hard decisions they exact. 

Why are facets of her world alive and yet not alive? 

Dasha's pursuit of final answers in her journey provides just the right amount of intrigue, purpose, and uncertainty to attract fans of epic fantasy and magical transformations, romance and action; particularly prior readers and libraries that have seen patron interest in the other books. 

The Singing Shore III: Spirit and Flame

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Literature

Fast Fiction: 101 Stories of 101 Words Each
Scotty Cornfield
Flagstone Press

978-1667866321            $15.95 Paper/$10.99 ebook
Website: www.scottycornfield.com
Ordering: https://store.bookbaby.com/book/fast-fiction 

Fast Fiction: 101 Stories of 101 Words Each is the first volume of a book that reinforces the notion that stories of less than 3 pages and only one word over 100 can hold attraction. 

Scotty Cornfield includes the prompts and directions that led him to write each piece. As he instructs readers in his introduction, think 'writer's improv'. Two-word prompts result in quick tales that assume disparate and unusual routes, beginning with the 'found property' prompt that produced 'A Most Unexpected Gift,' the introductory tale, that tells of the unusual find of a "human hermit crab" who "spent his days scavenging for whatever he could “find” be it from dumpsters, Wal-Marts or unlocked parked cars." The prize (and accompanying surprise) comes when he discovers the keys to a Mercedes. 

Each story features an unexpected twist. Anyone who maintains that 101 words is not nearly enough to develop characters, plots, motivation, or surprises receives newfound insights into the possibilities 101 words and a prompt can introduce to the creative process. 

Another example (this one stemming from the prompt 'Delphic') is 'Just a Lucky Guess?' in which a fortune teller unexpectedly nails a secret. The dialogue-driven story is intense and involving, even at 101 words. 

On the reader's part, these 'flash fiction' pieces prove that the most power can come from a surprisingly succinct form that will prove accessible no matter how busy the reader. They can be read at a moment's notice, absorbed and digested slowly as time permits, and each provides a powerhouse of attraction that refutes any notion that complexity and length must accompany quality writing. 

Libraries and busy readers will be the likely audiences for this collection, but ideally it will also be chosen by book clubs and creative writing teachers for its powerful examples of what can be achieved on the fly, using a minimal amount of verbiage and a maximum attention to innuendo, possibility, and surprise. 

Fast Fiction: 101 Stories of 101 Words Each

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The Islander 
David W. Berner
Outpost19, The Shortish Project (an initiative to champion the tradition of short novels)
9798987839805             $16.00 Paper/$9.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Islander-David-W-Berner/dp/B0BW2VKRD4 

The Islander is a novella that tells of aging American writer Seamus Damp, who attempts to cement his isolation by moving to a remote Irish island. You can't always escape the past, and in this case, an estranged son continues to introduce heartbreak and possibilities into his life. 

Ireland is where he and his wife turned for a quieter life, even though he was born in America. The Irish-American community's firm ties to the old country were never quite severed, and so Seamus found his roots there and raised a son, Aiden, as an Irish boy. When his son left home, his wife insisted that he, too, move away from her. Seamus acknowledges that he has "fallen into his own silence, a retreat of spirit, increasingly in need of solitude. He had become an intensely quiet man. No longer present. No longer capable of giving enough to someone else. Seamus knew what he had become. He had had sullen days as a child, and they had followed him like a ghost." 

The last thing he expected to experience in this chosen world of isolation is a new connection to another woman, who harbors her own heartache and reasons for a solitary existence. 

When the two meet during a storm and share their personal stories of what has driven their isolation and spiritual contemplation, new revelations emerge to form unexpected emotional connections as changes surge all around and between them. 

Succinct though it may be in appearance, The Islander packs a punch. Part of its literary strength lies in David W. Berner's ability to get the most impact from the least amount of words. 

Where other literary discussions of solitary lives tend to develop complicated plots, The Islander excels in a simple, rugged perspective of life and self that contrasts the experiences and perspectives of father and son and the lives each touches. 

The Islander's reflection of psychological depth and literary strength will attract a wide audience, but is especially recommended for literature and creative writing classes seeking examples of the rich possibilities the short form can take when utilized to its greatest advantage. 

Book clubs interested in Irish culture and experience will also find The Islander filled with topics worthy of discussion and inspection, from how Seamus is connected to his Irish roots to the impact of these connections on his choices and legacy to his son. 

The Islander 

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A Lie Called the Present
Jim van de Erve
Atmosphere Press
978-1639887521            $17.99
www.atmospherepress.com 

The play in verse A Lie Called the Present revolves around a cast of elderly and middle-aged characters who represent a family in chaos. Each member is hiding some aspect of their lives and personas. As the story unfolds, these truths come to light in unexpected ways to test the family's past, present, and future connections. 

Jim van de Erve presents the drama with a military edge of reflection: "Who is a daughter but a spy/with a matron’s cloak and assassin’s dagger?/And who are parents but generals/raising their off to be divided/by the stars into their separate zealots." 

As intellectually reflective as its introduction demands, the heart of this story lies in relationships tested by time and the advancement of years as dementia and disparate special interests both challenge the family and threatens its foundations. 

Intriguing connections are made via seemingly-ordinary conversations that ring with authenticity: 

"HARRY (exasperated)
What it is, Honey?
YVONNE
When do we eat what they masquerade as a meal?
HARRY (looks at the wall clock)
In three.
YVONNE
I’m famished now. In three, I’ll be bored of starving." 

The truths that are revealed within each family member's particular vision, limitation, and objective come to light as the play moves through time and experiences. 

The resulting tale of lives tested by aging, the betrayal of self and loved ones, and revelations made by a family already connected in unusual ways contributes to a play that ideally will be both read and considered for stage production. 

Libraries and readers seeking contemporary scenarios and literary dramas that employ poetic, psychological, and dramatic embellishments will welcome the hard-hitting issues and structure of A Lie Called the Present, which may also be chosen for drama classes as an example of modern issues brought to life using new literary approaches to broaden both its message and potential audience. 

A Lie Called the Present

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Poems of Everyday Life
Suzanne W. Guinn
The Ewings Publishing
979-8-88640-187-5         $15.00 Hardcover/$5.99 Paper
https://www.amazon.com/Poems-Everyday-Life-Suzanne-Guinn/dp/B0BHRB3MGT 

The second edition of Poems of Everyday Life is a literary work recommended for any library or reader interested in accessible, inspirational pieces reflecting both spiritual and philosophical observations of ordinary life. 

The sentiments expressed by Suzanne W. Guinn are those which come from daily living, from an introductory poem which sees Jesus in virtually every aspect of life to the next piece, which explores the sense of exhaustion in all ages: "I’m tired says the little boy coming in from play./He takes a short nap and soon is on his way./It doesn’t take long to get his strength renewed./I’m tired says the teenager who is growing like the weeds./He sleeps long hours, getting rest for that is what he needs./College life is coming when late nights are pursued." 

As with the first poem, quite often these pieces (as demonstrated in the above poem 'I'm Tired') move full circle to connect life experiences, reflections, and events with higher-level spiritual thinking. 

From reflections on how to "live a life that's right" which are imparted by a thoughtful mother's admonitions, to the blessings of diverse friendships, Guinn keeps her poems rooted in daily life, spiritual connections, and verse that cements both the simplicity of life and its overlay of complex reactions and emotions. 

The result is a poetry collection perfect for readers who like verse, easily-digested reflections, and blessings which come from celebrations and insights about life. 

Black and white artwork and photography by the author supplement the colorful cover art and accent these delicate, random poems about life, contributing the feel of fine art to the inspirational revelations within, making the collection recommendable to libraries seeking poetry easily understood by the everyday reader. 

Poems of Everyday Life

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Summer Words
David Salner
Broadstone Books
978-1-956782-32-5                $26.50
www.broadstonebooks.com 

Summer Words: New and Selected Poems presents poems about family history, labor, and the pursuit of dreams in a changing America where values and landscapes are in flux. A hard-hitting collection of thoughts and images, it juxtaposes literary and historical references that move from Hungarian family roots to modern-day life in a new country and time.   

The first thing to note about this collection as a whole is its contrasts between modern and past life in America. Readers move between social issues, such as an 1800s hanging and the modern death penalty, with special attention given to the emotional impact of life and death in different historical eras.   

One example of the power of this special form of contrast in lives and experiences lies in "The Welder on Midnight Shift," in which "It’s only a pit, huge as the summer sky and deep,/where the new Penn Station is going up./The beam of an arc light in the pit/finds tenement houses by mistake,/explores the facades, invades the windows,/and floods the rooms where people sleep."   

From the worker's creation and tasks to the impact they hold on those outside of his workplace but affected by these efforts, David Salner captures in a nutshell the impact of new building invading and challenging set lives at all hours of day and night.   

"Furnace" is another delightful example of a working man's experiences that moves from "...a lake of yellow steel/breaking the darkness, almost spectral,/sizzling with waves that bake my skin" to respite from the blasting work environment which is carried home; where the narrator says "...I pull a sheet over my skin/and dream of trees that never burn,/skim branches over sizzling waves."   

These poems do more than tell stories or contrast lives past and present: they sing with literary allusions, metaphorical descriptions, as workaday worlds spill into daily living off-hours, steeped in such evocative descriptions as "the sour kiss of rubber put away wet."   

The jobs and heritage of the blue-collar worker are captured in a collection that ideally will be used to illustrate these lives and their foundations and impact. Most poetry collections limit themselves, by their language and accessibility, to literary audiences; but Summer Words represents the magical ability to reach into the worker's life with the promise of familiar experience and values that can prompt discourse and insights among laborers and poets alike.   

Ideally, Summer Words: New and Selected Poems will be selected for both literature libraries and by book clubs interested in works that translate the experiences of workers in new, accessible, enlightening ways to reach a wider audience than scholarly readers alone.   

Summer Words

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Biography & Autobiography

Intimate Souvenirs
Rob Couteau
Dominantstar LLC
978-1-7360049-5-1                 $19.99
Website: www.robcouteau.com
Ordering: www.DominantstarPublications.com 

Intimate Souvenirs is a memoir with a message that embraces a coming-of-age story with a background in 1970s Brooklyn. This influenced Rob Couteau's progressive work as an adult with the homeless and impoverished, from America to Venezuela. 

It's evident from the introductory passages of the opening 'Gravesend' that the 500+ pages of coverage won't be either a tome or a waste of time to traverse, because Couteau brings to vivid life his impressions of the world from an early age, and his evolving place in it: 

"I wash my hands at a sink in the boys’ bathroom, then turn to a kid next to me and ask: 'Do you realize that we have eight more years of this?' I was only five years old, but already I was counting the days of imprisonment at St. Anne’s Elementary School. Like any other prison, the occupants were expected to wear matching uniforms, for individuality was not to be tolerated." 

This isn't just a first-person reflection. Dialogues with influencers and others in his life document the interactions which move him through different milieus of "what's normal and what's crazy" as he embraces dreams, disparate individuals around him, and new purposes to his life. 

Memoir readers will find these dialogues and interactions an intrinsic part of exploring the growth process and how divergent paths are considered. Couteau moves through relationships and encounters that reinforce his own perceptions while considering how poverty is tolerated and acknowledged in different circles: 

"...for Priscilla art was merely a “distraction” that only the most callous could enjoy without having a guilty conscience. After all, as long as the world was beleaguered with poverty and homelessness, we were obliged to focus on far more urgent matters." 

As Couteau moves through different worlds (including France), encountering literary, artistic, and social figures, he finds a new sense of home, place, and purpose which translates to social and philosophical revelations about life, religion, and the world. 

Ultimately, his very method of engaging with other worlds is what links readers to his life and the exuberant march of its encounters and revelations: 

"With Marie and with a handful of others, I succeeded in breaking through this formal boundary line only because, all the while, I would share personal anecdotes about my own life, but couched in that witty, urbane, sophisticated manner that makes such a confession not only forgivable but also entertaining to the well-bred Parisienne. As a result, with a little prodding, they’d incrementally divulge some amusing detail about themselves, perhaps as a means of not appearing to be defeated in such a competition of wit." 

The book features an Introduction by acclaimed novelist Robert Roper and an Afterword by literary biographist Christopher Sawyer-Lauçanno. 

Five hundred pages go by in the blink of an eye as readers absorb an intriguing memoir that deserves a place in any library strong in memoirs that embrace literary, artistic, and social transformation. 

Intimate Souvenirs

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The Long and Tortured Road
Thomas Kind

Quiet Waters Publishing
979-8-218-10011-7         $27.95 Hardcover/$16.95 Paper/$9.99 ebook
Website: www.thomaskind.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BYQQFR4G/ 

The Long and Tortured Road is a memoir about a forty-five-year-old man who hits the wall of depression. It follows his life up to this point and beyond, starting with a childhood in which racism was a powerful influencer and an intrinsic part of the family belief system. 

This and other beliefs and rules emerge from a riveting account of a boy who grows up believing he "can't do anything right," whose life lessons embrace family legends and illusions as well as abuse. 

Thomas Kinds cultivates an unusually candid form of self-reflection that reaches out to grab his readers: "At a young age, I learned that extroverted people were more success­ful than introverted people, and I was told that I was an extrovert. It felt like it was a choice rather than an inherent trait. I learned that having time alone was wrong. Time alone was sad. Time alone was selfish. I avoided and fought that bad place, and I never learned the feeling of a solitary comfort zone." 

These childhood influences translated to adult pursuits and perspectives which too often didn't support Kind's own instincts and best interests: "As I surface into the world, I’m a social chameleon, contorting into a mistake-free human being. Each day, I mentally craft a handful of jokes for my clients, continuing to perform as a witty extrovert. I exist in a state of improv, always preparing standup comedy bits to please people." 

It's rare to see a memoir that so succinctly and straightforwardly translates the messages of childhood into the adult perceptions which lead to struggle and impossible scenarios. Kind's memoir succeeds in drawing important connections between experience and personality growth, offering many thought-provoking reflections for those struggling with early childhood mandates and their translation to adult situations. 

From evolving delusional manias in which Kind "became a madman" to journal entries that documented the thinking, logic, and processes that led him to cultivate extraordinary reactions and behaviors to ordinary life challenges, readers receive a powerful connection between outer and inner worlds. This approach excels in examining a myriad of connections, such as the process of absorbing political fervor and translating it into passionate ideas for change. 

As anxiety, mental illness, and world events coalesce to bring Kind to the brink of both collapse and newfound realizations about himself, readers will find themselves thoroughly immersed in the challenges he faces: “I’m bouncing off the past and the future, past, future, past, future. I can’t stay in the present.”  

The result is a vivid memoir that, more so than most, chronicles the early influences, lasting impact, and translation of childhood mandates and growth processes into adult reactions and connections. 

Libraries and readers seeking memoirs about life changes, discovery, and recovery will find The Long and Tortured Road a powerful testimony to the power of purpose and perception in mental health struggles and transformative experiences. 

The Long and Tortured Road

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Mumentous
Amy J. Schultz
Atmosphere Press
978-1-63988-565-7         $37.50
www.atmospherepress.com 

Mumentous is a powerful photo-driven memoir steeped in the roots of Texas and motherhood, and captures a social and cultural expedition across Texas with a focus on mums and their mindsets. Its first-person journey attracts from the start with a candid observational style that opens on the football field of Texas life: 

"The humidity pushed down on the football stadium that homecoming night, capping and coagulating the din rising from the student section. Each individual sound, movement, and breath taken seemed to stick together in the atmosphere, forming a singular, dense mass of joyful disharmonies.  I love it. When I’m in a big crowd like this one, I play a game my mom taught me back when I was a wiggly child sitting next to her at a concert. First, she told me, find the sound of one instrument. The trumpet, maybe, or the piano. Listen to its melody until you can follow its story. Once understood, open your eardrums just a little in search of a complementary tone. Try to add a third, then a fourth. Take care you don’t add too many storylines at once so that the first ones disappear back into the murk, because every instrument is equally important. As I applied her game to the homecoming-related chatter around me, there were so many harmonic stories from which to choose..." 

This passage captures the feel and process of Mumentous in a nutshell, representing the rich flavors that Amy J. Schultz mixes into her story of Texas homecoming mums and the milieu that exhibits a special countenance to the world that is uniquely and "...outrageously conspicuous and totally emboldened, just like a teenager making a big noise in our big, noisy world." 

Texans, mothers, and those who would view motherhood and Texans through a very different lens will find Schultz includes her own revelations as she moves through this environment: "Acknowledging mum-makers as entrepreneurs marked an important shift in my perception." 

Readers expecting another focus on children and family will find, instead, a richer vein of discussion that uncovers and profiles the Texas mum as a treasure in her own right, whether she's cheering for a team, creating her own, or embarking on proactive activities that incorporate tradition with new engagements with life in various ways. 

Rich black and white photos of homecoming games and women living "the times of our lives" pepper the account with a vigorous set of images that capture the cheering moments of Texas women in action. 

Her interviews with mums who reveal different social and cultural aspects of this process and the unique properties of the Texas mum are engrossing and enlightening: 

"'Thanks to Facebook, I’m still in touch with several of my high school friends. You could take a photo of them from twenty years ago wearing their homecoming mum and paste their daughters’ faces on top of theirs. Nothing has changed. Well, except in our hometown, the mums are much bigger now.'
From her insider’s vantage point, however, she sees many more who opt out. There are numerous reasons, not the least of which is sustained migration to Texas from just about everywhere in the country. The more non-Texans in a school district, the more diluted the enthusiasm can be for unusual traditions."
 

Mumentous will attract, delight, and surprise those who think it will be yet another coverage of motherhood alone. By exploring and exposing the unique traditions of Texas mums, Schultz succeeds in crafting a history that captures homecoming games, queens, and the powerful countenance of the Texas mum, whose persona and drive are explored nowhere else. 

Libraries and readers interested in women's history, literature, and especially regional probes of women's traditions and experiences will relish Mumentous for its lively celebrations of the Texan woman and the energy she brings to the playing field of women's literature and life. 

Mumentous

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Nobody's Daughter
Rica Ramos 
She Writes Press
1647424917    Paperback: $17.95 / Ebook $8.99
Website: https://ricawrites.com/
Ordering:
https://www.amazon.com/Nobodys-Daughter-Memoir-Healing-Mother/dp/1647424917 

Nobody’s Daughter: A Memoir of Healing The Mother Wound is a study in survival and provides the experiences of Rica Ramos, whose mother "didn't have the courage to save (her)." As a result, Ramos endured sexual abuse in her childhood and longed for a heroine to intervene. 

Her narrative is about women, mothers and daughters, and imperfection in mothers and children. It opens with Rica's search for the perfect wedding dress...without her mother. The effort calls forth a contrast in times and lives as she reflects, "The thought of Mom split me in two, part woman, part girl. My adult self said ‘focus on finding a dress, being a bride, living out my happily ever after.’ But my teenage self haunted me from the streets of Milwaukee." 

There are many memoirs of sexual abuse on the market. Most reference a mother's presence fairly lightly, in passing. Nobody’s Daughter is satisfyingly different in its survey not only of the sexual trauma and experiences, but its analysis of a mother/daughter relationship that moves from childhood to adulthood to remain disconnected in many ways. 

Another difference between this memoir and others is that Ramos reflects on impacts of not only her own life trajectory, but that of her sister and those around her. Her mother's ability to defend and question in certain situations (as when confronting a nurse about her low weight) is also presented ("Was this woman doing everything right? Seeing Mom’s concern sent a warm flicker through my body, a rush of pride for my mother, the momma bear ready to pounce.") to balance out and contrast her mother's choices and decisions. 

Interactions with other female relatives, from Aunt Rachel to Grandma, interplay past events with the present-day world Ramos reflects in her own family as she questions the legacy she's handing down to future generations because of her experiences: "My mind went back to the conversation with Aunt Rachel. Suddenly, I had to know if I’d said terrible things to my son that stuck in his memory." As her self-analysis deepens, so do her realizations about her role in spreading her childhood damage: "Try as I might to remember, I didn’t know all the ways I’d failed my sons. All the splinters I plunged into their hearts." 

Also key to the memoir is her sister Jesse's trauma and her different way of defying or bowing to the same events: "...my sister’s trauma was a spotlight that never dimmed, an agonizing beam on her conscience. Her guilt plagued her with questions: Wasn’t she the big sister, and shouldn’t she have protected her siblings? Shouldn’t she have protected herself? She was a child, victimized and traumatized — a fact she often forgot." 

As Ramos embraces her memories and feelings about her parents, grandparents, and the childhood that influenced her, she creates a survey of different family members and considers their roles in events, pulling no punches in analyzing the wellsprings of her adult challenges and childhood angst. 

She emerges from the reflective process with grace and a new position of power— a highly recommended read for anyone interested in self-help strategies, memoirs of abuse and recovery, and those involved in transforming lives from the foundations of abuse to achieve empowerment: 

"For so long I believed I could find healing in Mom’s love, in something she might say, do, offer. Now I saw the error of my ways. I gave Mom the power I’d had all along, the strength and the will to nurture and protect my own heart. Within the mother wound, my body held the imprint of my trauma. But healing was attainable too. Healing was mine for the taking." 

Nobody's Daughter

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Walks Like a Duck
Kim R. Livingston
TouchPoint Press
978-1-956851-61-8         $8.99 ebook/$17.99 Paper
Website:
kimrlivingston.com  
Ordering:
https://www.kimrlivingston.com/general-8 

Walks Like a Duck: How a Mom with ADHD Led Her Neurodiverse Family to Peace of Mind chronicles Kim R. Livingston's battle against the medical profession that sought to label her son as ADHD. The results of her journey led to not just one diagnosis, but insights about each member of her family as a whole. 

Livingston initially resisted the types of diagnoses that inevitably lead to medicated responses: "He, too, wanted to be tested as a teen, but I never brought him in. Lack of attention was not his problem. A bit of anxiety, maybe. Low self-esteem. Not ADHD. And I was sure that if he entered the clinic, he’d leave with a prescription. I’d never known anyone to go through that screening process and come out clean." 

Losing faith in traditional medicine's approach to neurological and brain issues, she embraces functional medicine, which is not often covered by health insurances. 

Herself at one point one hundred pounds overweight, prediabetic, and taking meds for high blood pressure and ADHD, Livingston's journey to find health answers that flew close to but under the radar of conventional responses to ADHD reveals an undercurrent of possibility for families facing their own challenges with several different neurological problems living under one roof. 

Any parent who has faced diverse challenges in the family or their own mental and physical health struggles will find Walks Like a Duck alternately surprisingly funny and thought-provoking as it navigates a medical system's rigid ways and a mother's medical, legal, and personal battles, both within the system and in her own home. 

Walks Like a Duck tackles many hard questions about family management, from issues of guardianship to medicine control and choices, adopting a candid, gritty tone about the obstacles of navigating daily life while being an activist for one's family member of any age: 

"I have tried to allay his fears about guardianship—fears that I’ll remove him from this current nursing home and send him far away to some cold institution like the ones in textbooks on the history of psychiatric care, grainy photos showing patients caged like rabid animals, quarantined for the safety of others.
'I just don’t want you to end up homeless again,' I tell him. I need the authority to prevent him from leaving this nursing home “against medical advice” when he has nowhere to go.
'Yeah, well, that’s my decision to make, isn’t it,' he says.
For a long time I thought he was right, and I’m still reluctant to take away his control of his own affairs—the one source of power he has. I don’t want to be his guardian. I just don’t know what else to do."
 

As life changes (such as college) loom, Livingston finds ways of both supporting her family and acknowledging their strengths and weaknesses. Her candid assessments of self, family, and health systems provide both humor and powerful reflections on navigating challenging diagnoses, medical institutions, and revised objectives. 

Her story is one that should be read by any family whose makeup includes members who are neurologically diverse. Walks Like a Duck deserves profile in medical and general-interest circles. It also will provide much food for thought in reading groups consisting of parents, psychology groups devoted to life skills and coping methods, and book clubs interested in memoirs about parenting children with disabilities. 

Walks Like a Duck

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Mystery & Thrillers

AfterStrike
L.J. Sellers
Spellbinder Press
978-1-7345418-6-1         $13.99 print/$4.99 ebook
Website: http://ljsellers.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/AfterStrike-L-J-Sellers-ebook/dp/B0BW3F2F8Y 

AfterStrike is an Agent Dallas thriller whose title refers to the aftereffects of a lightning strike on a woman's memory and life. Touched by fire, Remi's memories are taken, and she finds herself in a dangerous situation caused by her inability to perceive the dangerous line she's toed in her life before the lightening disintegrated her self-protective tendencies. 

While pieces of her past have returned to tantalize her, the rest of it is still a total blank. This situation is complicated when she is kidnapped by a crime-family patriarch, discovers that she was in hiding from him and is now forced to carry out his vendetta, and realizes that underlying traumas of the past are affecting her decisions and survival ability—even though she no longer remembers them. 

"Whoever she’d been hiding from had finally found her."  This passage also should include "whatever," because Remi's process of rediscovering her motivations, influences, and survival capacity also unearths these traumas, forcing her to deal with them in new ways. 

When does undercover FBI Agent Jamie Dallas enter this picture? Not until Chapter 15, where her research reveals an intriguing connection to an old case. This sends her on a mission that intersects with Remi's life in an unusual manner. 

L.J. Sellers takes the time to recreate the weeks before the lightning strike, setting the stage by building Remi's prior world before entering the dangerous crime ring which also strikes Remi, changing her life in unpredictable ways. 

This lends a psychological edge to the thriller component that will attract and satisfy readers seeking plots based as much on character growth and discovery as on the criminal elements that impact their lives. 

The tension is well developed, the psychology astute, and the characters realistic as they make inquiries about their lives and new discoveries about the turbulent present. 

Dallas's probe of the Sebastiano family’s crimes leads her on a dangerous path as Remi's memory issues create an unusual backdrop for the pursuit of the truth. 

Readers won't expect the romance that evolves from interpersonal connections and new revelations, but the undercurrent that is present from the start swells into something unexpected in the end. 

The result is a sizzling thriller that simmers with inquiry, revelation, and inspections that probe not just crime, but redemption and personal risk on the parts of Dallas, Remi, and those around them. 

Libraries and readers seeking thrillers that pose equally intriguing psychological questions will find AfterStrike a powerful study in survival and discovery whose underlying themes linger in the mind long after the reading. 

AfterStrike

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A.N.D.: Acute Nepali Disorder
Mike Beetlestone
Independently Published
978-1-7396589-1-5        
$15.99 Hardcover/$10.99 Paper/$4.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/N-D-ACUTE-NEPALI-DISORDER/dp/1739658914 

A.N.D.: Acute Nepali Disorder provides another Ben Molina thriller, exploring Ben's shifting perception of his place in yet another world as new events test his mettle and approach to life. 

The challenge begins when an elegant Indian woman unexpectedly sits at his table in a near-empty restaurant and issues a challenge: "I will pay you one million euro if you can prove that my uncle murdered my father – the King of Nepal." 

No sooner is this offer extended than a spray of bullets causes everyone to dive for cover. When he emerges, his mysterious companion has vanished, leaving only her tantalizing offer in his thoughts and driving him to take on a case that is as elusive as its instigator. 

India's culture and social stratas come to life as Ben hurdles down the streets of Mumbai, probes the slums of Kathmandu, and traverses the countryside in search of answers. 

Accompanying his journey is a mental process that draws readers on more than just an action-packed level as Ben moves from his initial freelance assignment to cover a terrorist attack in Mumbai to assume an active role influencing unfolding events. Unexpected enemies and allies coalesce with circumstances that drive Ben further into danger as interrogations, mercenaries, and kidnappings emerge. 

Mike Beetlestone develops an excellent interplay between action and psychological revelations. At no time does the reader find their attention wandering as Ben moves from one confrontation to another, handling situations that demand he adjust his usual ways of viewing the world and interacting with others: "Maybe I haven’t just saved her life, but I was here to protect her whether she liked it or not, even though she has been lying ever since we first met. I deserved some respect." 

As his curiosity leads him to the truth, Ben discovers that his journalistic skills have also involved him in a well-fabricated tissue of lies that unfolds to reveal surprising conclusions and connections based on historically accurate circumstances and Nepalese cultural inspections. 

The story is a work of fiction, but blends real events into the plot to gain a level of believability that reflects the country's poverty and struggles as well as Ben's emotional challenges in handling these issues. 

Libraries and readers seeking thrillers that go above and beyond action-packed will find the social, political, and psychological undercurrents supporting A.N.D.: Acute Nepali Disorder produce a thoroughly engrossing, reflective read. 

A.N.D.: Acute Nepali Disorder

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Arid Sea
Norm Harris
The Wild Rose Press, Inc.
978-1-5092-4132-3         $16.99 Paper/$4.99 Kindle

https://www.amazon.com/Arid-Spider-Green-Mystery-Thriller-ebook/dp/B09N8QWTF5 

Imagine a female version of James Bond whose sense of curiosity and proactive thinking lands her in deep waters, but also gets her out again in the most amazing ways. The second book in the Spider Green Mystery Series, Arid Sea, is a study in intrigue that opens in the Czech Republic with the prayers of a former Arizona girl facing a final release from her bondage as a sex slave to the Russian Mafia, which has been her life since she was abducted. 

It takes only a few days' events more for protagonist, Navy lawyer Commander Faydra Green, to walk into center stage limelight in her latest case, which involves a special mission to tackle one of the nation's wealthiest men. Aided by her own convictions and the unlikely help of both a CIA operative and a Chicago mafia crime boss, Faydra's foray into international waters becomes stormy as she confronts forces beyond her experience and finds her mission to track down a missing retired naval officer goes above and beyond her job description.

Fay's half-sister, Petty Officer J. Pearce, joins her foray into questions about why and how Admiral Alvin Joe has vanished as Fay questions her ultimate objective and faces new challenges to her romantic life simultaneously. 

It's a challenge to present the operating fields of distinctly different milieus, from international tension to trouble at home, but Norm Harris achieve this through a blend of thriller tension applied to relationship inquiries that tie together such seemingly disparate threads as Native American Indian heritage, genderqueer characters whose real identities prove mercurial, and a case of amnesia that adds additional and special challenges to Fay's pursuit of the convoluted truth. 

So many threads are introduced that readers might think Arid Sea might also be a study in confusion, but the links between characters and the situations that test them prove logical and easily digestible as Harris moves his audience into murky situations that pose surprises and delightful twists throughout. 

From the dangerous deals that underlie seemingly normal community members and actions to the intrigue that Faye navigates with increasing knowledge about not only political and criminal elements, but matters of her own heart, Harris creates a powerful thriller whose force comes from the inspections of a flexible female protagonist whose courage and determination is realistic and absorbing. 

"...her participation in the grim and dangerous op had served as her attempt to set her heart and soul straight with her country, her maker, and herself." 

Libraries and readers seeking thrillers driven by female experiences, relationships, and savvy will find Arid Sea a top-notch production that requires no prior familiarity with the first book in order to prove immediately accessible and thoroughly engrossing. Its astute juxtaposition of military and political power plays is impeccably crafted, especially recommended for thriller audiences who like their female leaders powerful and their plots unpredictable. 

Arid Sea

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The Beating Heart of a Mind
Bruce M. Perrin
Mind Sleuth Publications
ASIN: ‎B0BWWYFV8Y           $3.99 ebook
Website: www.brucemperrin.com  
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Beating-Heart-Mind-Sleuth-ebook/dp/B0BWWYFV8Y 

The Beating Heart of a Mind adds to the blossoming Mind Sleuth series with a vivid story of corporate pressures, marital discord, suicide, and a mystery. These lead P.I. Rebecca Marte on a complicated journey to uncover the motivations behind the bullying in the boardroom that ultimately leads to the company president’s death. 

Rebecca's new client (a friend of the dead man's wife, Nicole Veles) paints a vivid picture of the influences that led to the president's demise and the succession of his most virulent opponent. Once Rebecca accepts the job, however, she comes to perceive that her new client's psychological history may have contributed to the woman’s suspicions more than the facts of the case. 

As Rebecca delves into a series of events that expose the underbelly of interpersonal and business relationships, she comes to believe that the truth lies hidden among the fabrications truly believed and those constructed solely to deceive. 

As with his previous mysteries, Bruce M. Perrin excels in an investigative profile that is as much a psychological analysis as a detective’s deductions. The business components of decisions are nicely presented during the course of Rebecca's discoveries: 

"The implication was clear enough to Rebecca. If Whitten had been adjusting the time when losses were taken, he could create the appearance of cause and effect when there was none. Peterson messes up and soon after, the company suffers the consequences. And with enough repetitions of that pattern, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Investors hear that HomeRight had to revoke a personnel policy three days after instituting it, and they pull more of their money out. They don’t care how or why the misstep occurred, or even if it has financial implications. To them, it’s just another instance of a pattern they’ve already seen too often." 

The story unfolds a sense of discovery and insights about business processes, interpersonal relationships, and professional and personal defamation, introducing moral and ethical conundrums on all sides. 

Tension is well-developed, whether it's psychological revelations that involve Rebecca more deeply in her client's life than she'd imagined, the wedge between client and investigator driven home by the victim’s wife, or the probe of a business structure that supports dangerous undercurrents. 

The Beating Heart of a Mind is highly recommended for mystery libraries and readers, but its strength goes beyond the usual whodunit. Ideally, it will also be enjoyed by business readers and used as discussion material in book clubs devoted to novels of psychological, business, and social inspection, as well. 

The Beating Heart of a Mind

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Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
Eleanor Kelley
Atmosphere Press
978-1-63988-797-2         $14.99
www.atmospherepress.com 

No sooner does one funeral end than another death looms. That's what ex-wife Kate O'Brien discovers in Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead. While she was in Ireland laying her mother to rest, her ex-husband Harry Johnson died. Or so they say—because nobody wants to talk about him. This secrecy leads Kate on a probe through the mystery of Harry's life and legacy, leading to circumstances which implicate her in a murder. 

Setting aside well-meaning advice to let this situation go, Kate pursues the truth, even though others question her motivation: "It’s just that it all happened too quickly and too quietly. I even resorted to setting myself up for heart-ache by texting and calling my kids. I’ve heard nothing back from anyone. Am I crazy to wonder if Harry is still alive?”    

Humor sends an undercurrent of surprise through the story ("...Harry probably is, as my dad would say, ‘on the wrong side of the grass.’”) as wry examination turns into deadly observations to involve Kate in a puzzle that goes even deeper than death or murder. 

Can someone be in two places—including herself? Kate's pursuit of the truth involves her family and threatens them in different ways: "Kate wasn’t sure if her dad was hallucinating or there actually was someone threatening him. All she knew was her dad was frightened, and she needed to be there to calm his fears. They had switched roles; she was the adult, and he the frightened child." 

Readers who join Kate on her search for answers will find plenty of surprise twists and turns as the plot thickens. The mystery is strengthened by strong character developments that build Kate's persona, then challenge it with unexpected moments of revelation, discovery, and impossible truths. 

Libraries and readers seeking a mystery that strongly rests on the foundations of hidden truths and impossible developments will find the intrigue and mystery finely tuned in Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, which travels full-circle to lead Kate and her readers into breakthroughs they'll never see coming ... including revenge. 

Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead

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The Burden of Memory
Rick Christman
Atmosphere Press
978-1-63988-813-9         $17.99
www.atmospherepress.com 

In The Burden of Memory, retired college professor Robert Russell is just looking for a peaceful place to pen his first novel. The Low Country of Beaufort, South Carolina seems the perfect place to settle into his inherent shyness and hermit tendencies (and into his final craft in life), but when he witnesses a brutal murder, everything shifts in an instant. 

As he finds himself living a drama that he never could have developed from fiction writing, Robert finds that his lifelong ambitions (which seem to always have been thwarted) come full circle into realization in not just unusual, but terrible ways. These circumstances thwart both his tendency towards isolation and his ennui in creating his masterpiece: 

"He wanted to be an imaginative writer, and he had begun writing stories every spare minute he could get during the war, stories that could have happened to him but hadn’t. Or stories that may have happened to others. But he felt untrained. Nothing ever turned out right. And he never finished anything." 

The story that "could have happened to him but didn't" becomes one that is all too real and did. As Robert navigates unfamiliar territory that tests both his ability to survive and his creative craft, readers become immersed in a murder scenario that forces a literary recluse to emerge from his chrysalis of self-imposed isolation. 

Rick Christman crafts a literary thriller that is powerfully rendered in both psychological and action arenas. He unfolds the revelations and discoveries that prompt growth in Robert, testing this Vietnam vet's already-vetted ability to survive under extraordinary conditions. 

As he falls into an unexpected romance as well as a struggle for literary achievement and survival, Russell probes the underworld of human trafficking and finds himself bending with the wind, both in his investigation and his own psyche: "Everything had changed now. The murder of the boy had opened him up, somehow, but he had no real idea why. He had seen plenty of boys killed. Well, now it seemed he had no discipline, no control. He just took what came his way." 

Readers receive not only a powerful story of intrigue, but an equally potent story about creating a novel and a new life. Russell's writing will just have to wait. Ironically, it's also rebuilding itself from the foundations of new experiences as Robert sets aside his lifelong ambition to pursue a very different course of action. 

Between its touch of romance, the murder scenario, and newfound connections between past and present events and responses, The Burden of Memory proves a far more challenging, realistic, and thought-provoking read than the usual genre thriller. 

Its literary touches and insights into a would-be writer's psyche as he moves from isolation to immersion makes for a compelling tale filled with not just unusual twists and turns, but psychological depth and social insights. Is Robert a hero, an achiever, a survivor—or dangerously flawed? 

Libraries and readers seeking thrillers that operate on several levels of value will find The Burden of Memory a powerful story of one man's walk out of his world and into his purpose, promise, and alter ego. 

The Burden of Memory

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The Dark Side of Grace
Ronald Chapman
Terra Nova Books
978-1-948749-87-9         $19.95
TerraNovaBooks.com 

“Survivors of traumatic experiences can find a life of peace despite relentless storms. They can then live beyond those traumas. In doing so, they rise up and become beacons of hope to others.” 

The Dark Side of Grace is a thriller that opens not with a bang, but with a whisper of the scenic beauty and wonder of a typical New Mexico morning and its promise. Journalist Kevin Pitcairn and the long-time love of his life, Maria Elena Maldonado, are journeying from New Mexico's high desert to the state's capitol for a weekend getaway when all hell breaks loose. 

Trouble always seems to find them no matter how far they travel. In this case, Kevin and Maria Elena drive straight into a terrorist bombing and a threat that commands their attention and action when a spiritualist retreat is torched. 

Readers may not anticipate the spiritual and philosophical reflections which evolve from the thriller's action-packed scenarios, but Ronald Chapman liberally sprinkles and dusts his confrontations with bigger-picture quests and revelations that test Kevin and Maria Elena's friendships and life experiences: "I guess Bill W was right when he said we would never understand what was going on in the present moment until after it was finished." 

As events unfold, both beliefs and the experiences of survivors receive close examination as Kevin pursues answers and confronts ongoing dangerous situations he never saw coming. 

Chapman's exploration of these questions and revelations adds a spiritual component to the story that will especially delight Christian readers. 

From long-held dreams that subconsciously point to new directions of possibility to a priest who employs Jungian analysis to help Kevin tap into his own potentials and spirit, The Dark Side of Grace employs many different devices of revelation and adventure which embrace the darker facets of life and the realities of death. 

Libraries and readers seeking a thriller that goes above and beyond in presenting a powerful sense of place and spirit as characters struggle not just with dangerous forces, but with their own choices and opportunities, will find The Dark Side of Grace just as thought-provoking as it is action-packed. 

The Dark Side of Grace

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Diamond City
Marianna Boncek
Atmosphere Press
978-1-63988-788-0         $17.99
www.atmospherepress.com 

Forty years earlier, in 1955, Fosterdale small-town police chief Art Moran lost everything but his life during an investigation of a mountain cult. The murder that promoted his actions and shut down his private life remained unsolved. 

Art Morgan finds himself drawn back into the fold of an unsolved crime and its wide-reaching tentacles of impact when he is tapped to once again tackle the still-unsolved crime's lingering impact. 

Art cultivates an innate psychic sense of impending doom. It was active in 1955, and it appears once again to forewarn him that the upstate New York small town of Diamond City holds not just answers, but new threats. 

Marianna Boncek weaves a story that comes to rest firmly on the shoulders of small-town politics, racism, and underlying, simmering brutality that emerges from unexpected places. 

The story comes steeped in church bake sales, the murder-suicide and fire that blossomed from Diamond City events to reach and impact neighboring Fosterdale, and the atmosphere and changing times of modern trends which change the faces of small towns. One such example is the changes experienced by the town of Morris: 

"Just by looking at the progression of buildings, you could fol-low the prosperity and lack thereof throughout the town’s years. The 1890s were good years, based on the number of brick-faced buildings that bore that decade on their façade. The 1920s saw another boom. But the next wave of buildings didn’t come until the 1950s and a few in the 1970s. All of the latter buildings now needed new façades, looking dated and tired. Most of the buildings were empty. Their dirty store-fronts stared dully onto the street. The mile-long strip along Broadway from Jefferson Street to Columbia Street was also empty of foot traffic, except in front of the post office. It hadn’t always been this way. For eighty years, this single street had been the heart of the county. In its day it boasted dress shops, restaurants, two hardware stores, a pharmacy, and a few dive bars. Now people shopped in the strip malls at the edges of town or drove to Midville in Harris County where there was a large shopping mall with a movie theater." 

The time taken is time well spent, because this detailed atmosphere is one of the motivating forces promoting readers to pursue a story immersed in the unfolding fates of small towns and residents who find their lives in flux. 

How does an original investigator from 1955 become the focal point in a new inquiry? Boncek's intersection of past and future events creates a dichotomy that shifts balances of power, prejudices, and the truth. 

It's taken Art all his life to recover from the last encounter. It's taken all his life to come to revelations about his life choices, decisions, and the impact of his work and perspective on his future progression. 

In the end, Diamond City is more than a murder mystery, but a probe of the beliefs and underlying motivations of individuals and small towns that comes together in a fiery blast of thought-provokingly vivid revelations: "It’s easy to love the dead. The dead never change, they never hurt you, they never argue with you or disagree. They don’t just remain an image of perfection. Rather, the longer they are dead the more perfect they become."

Libraries looking for the trappings of intrigue will find Diamond City so much more. It's a study in small-town psyches and growth that leads full circle into forks in roads and life that bring flowering, closure, and new opportunities to not just Art, but Donny, Tirzah, and other small-town residents. 

Diamond City

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Execution Island
Janice Boekhoff
Lost Canyon Press LLC
978-1948003117            $16.99 Paper/$3.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Execution-Island-Janice-Boekhoff/dp/1948003112 

Fans of Jurassic Park and Janice Boekhoff's 'Jurassic Judgment' series receive a dinosaur/genetic engineering adventure firmly ensconced in the trappings of surprise and thriller tension. Although Execution Island is the third book in the series, it stands nicely alone for newcomers, including a basic introduction that sets the premise of a futuristic justice system involving an island of dinosaurs where "...death row inmates are given a choice: immediate execution or … exile to Extinction Island." 

When reptile expert Oakley Laveau is wrongly convicted of a murder and sent to said island, her story appears to be at an end. In fact, it's only beginning as she discovers the truth about her own genetic manipulation and situations which evolve new mysteries in Execution Island.  

Oakley may be trapped on the island, but the truth isn't about to set her free anytime soon. Acknowledging what she is and what she was created for is just part of the challenge of employing her enhanced genetics in a venture that goes above and beyond her assassin skills. 

As she faces an adversary accomplished in 'undetectable murder' and realizes that there are no good choices in her quest, Oakley discovers that her fight to live free is only one motivation for solving the mysteries of her life purpose and origins. 

Fated to team up with her sibling (who is also genetically enhanced and has been her adversary) Oakley discovers that her quest for the truth and her pursuit of who she really is powers an underlying horror that will not only change her life and cement its likely demise, but will alter the game plans of those connected to her. 

Janice Boekhoff's satisfyingly complex cat-and-mouse game features major players who must delve into their own psyches and origins in order to emerge victorious on a playing field controlled by forces they are ill equipped to handle. 

The characters of Oakley, Lumas, Auburn, and others come to life, swirling and dancing around each other as unexpected events keep outcomes mercurial and characters guessing about their next moves. 

This salsa creates a thriller that is heavy in surprises (including a glimpse of faith), thought-provoking in its considerations of power plays and their abuses, and thoroughly involving. 

Thriller libraries and readers will find Execution Island rich in action-packed confrontations designed to keep them guessing to the end. 

Execution Island

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Judgment Day
Rob Jung
Hawk Hill Literary
978-1-7366108-3-1                $4.99 ebook/$15.99 Print
https://www.amazon.com/Judgment-Day-Rob-Jung-ebook/dp/B0BR9Z17DT 

Judgment Day is not a novel about the end of the world, but the story of the end of one woman's world. Magnolia Kanaranzi has just been elected to the US Senate when a probe of her past reveals that she once conspired to murder her mother. Even her powerful lawyer seemingly admits defeat when he seeks to have her declared unfit to stand trial, much less serve her country. 

Forensic psychologist Bishop Pollock uncovers the truth—but instead of redeeming her and restoring her good name, it only mires her in further conundrums that force her to go into hiding to avoid prosecution and a mental institution. 

On the run, she is lured back by the prospect of reconciliation with her now-adult estranged son Hamilton Blethen, whom she abandoned when he was four years old. 

Hamilton, too, is at a crossroads. His grandmother's murderer has been identified, and his estranged mother is back in his life. Sadly, they appear to be one and the same. Ham needs answers to his questions. Only his mother can provide them. He will have to confront her, and his past, to get them. 

Rob Jung creates a powerful interplay between issues of justice, family connections, and psychological undercurrents that shake not just a family, but the nation. 

One of the threads of the thriller (and key to understanding the deeper meaning of its title) is the forged art piece of Joan Miro's 'The Reaper.' 

From the mechanics of a prison system which threatens Magnolia's life to psychological session notes that illustrate the truth, Jung crafts a fine tension between legal and psychological issues. 

Who is really the victim and who is the villain, in such matters? Judgment Day makes you think.  Its deep inspections of motive and perception and its insights into the criminal law system's successes and failures creates a story that is especially highly recommended for thriller readers interested in justice, redemption, and political entanglements. 

Libraries and readers seeking solid tension development, good characterization, and twists and turns they won't see coming will find Judgment Day an astute examination of escape, liberation, and the inexorable cost of revealing the truth.

Judgment Day

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 A Lesson in Woo-Woo and Murder
David Unger, PhD
Independently Published
978-1-7323395-6-9         $15.95
DavidUngerPhd.com 

Murder mystery readers are in for a treat with A Lesson in Woo-Woo and Murder, which joins others in the "Lessons" series exploring psychotherapist David Unger's probes into murky matters of the mind. 

Here, several therapy clients have paid for him to work at the Whole Life Expo, a bastion of self-care, healing, and new age exhibits. David is more than the usual therapist, sporting a special brand of training and psychic expertise that enhances his problem-solving abilities. But, is this enough to tackle bigger pictures when two Tantric sex practitioners and a chiropractor suddenly collapse and die in an environment where paranormal influences abound? Maybe. 

David is not an inherent believer in special abilities, even though he keeps being drawn into unbelievable circumstances where he's forced to exhibit extraordinary powers of deduction to solve cases. In fact, he doesn't "...participate in a lot of “otherworldly, self-enhancing, spiritually awakening” discussions. I don’t even know if I’ve had any of those experiences, but perhaps I have." He "might buy a few shares in the woo-woo world, but I wouldn’t be a big investor." The only reason he's at the expo is because he has a job to do. 

The job turns out to be an immersive experience that carries David far further into this world than he ever expected, augmenting his psychological training with a sleuth's eye for trouble. 

Did UFOs commit murder? Can he foresee the future? Or does the trouble stem from pure psychological complexity, which David is already trained to handle? 

Dr. David Unger provides an unsettlingly realistic murder story that is backed by his professional expertise in psychology, presenting a first-person protagonist that might mirror the author's own personality and approach to life. These elements create an especially engrossing, believable milieu that brings the character and the new age world of psychic involvements to life as he confronts death. 

Especially astute are references to the psychotherapy techniques that come in handy in other problem-solving situations: "In A Lesson in Cowboys and Murder, I used a therapeutic technique called doubling, where I stood behind the suspects and said out loud what I thought they would be saying if they weren’t holding it in. It can move things along." 

As fortune teller Madame Vadama becomes a focal point, readers will be drawn not only by the new age environment and murder, but Dr. Unger's own shrewd assessment of personalities and possibilities. 

The dovetailing of murder and mind probe is particularly well done, creating a compelling story as perceptive in its psychological complexity as it is in its portrait of sleuthing as Dr. Unger confronts good and evil in the healing world and faces romantic possibilities in the process. 

Libraries and readers seeking a powerful tale that comes across as realistically compelling will find A Lesson in Woo-Woo and Murder alternatively funny, thought-provoking, and filled with satisfyingly surprising twists and turns. 

A Lesson in Woo-Woo and Murder

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One of Ours
Lynn-Steven Johanson
Level Best Books
978-1-68512-305-5         $16.95
https://www.amazon.com/One-Ours-Erikson-Mystery-Erickson-ebook/dp/B0BWP996JD 

One of Ours is the fourth mystery in the Detective Joe Erickson series, hitting Joe too close to home with the fatal shooting of a police captain Joe knew well. The captain was working on his last case, a cold case, before his demise. Joe takes up the reins of this mission well knowing that it might lead him into the same kind of danger before he can expose the perp. 

What he doesn't realize is that the trail leads not to one murderer, but political corruption and conspiracy that is worth killing for ... again and again. 

Lynn-Steven Johanson builds satisfying intrigue and personal relationships into the story, both within Joe's circle of fellow officers and at home, in his life with his partner Destiny. 

Joe struggles with PTSD as well as ongoing threats from the Scalise crime family, whom he fears will try to kill him again, since he busted Vincent Scalise for human trafficking and attempted murder for bombing his car. 

It's not enough to expose corruption. Joe needs to bring the perps to justice to account for their injury to victims. This mission sends him on a dangerous path that comes full circle again as he confronts molesters, fine-tunes undercover cops and sting operations, and moves ever closer to a truth that will either rock his world or solve a big crime puzzle. 

The interplays between characters and crime are especially well done. Joe comes across as a realistic person whose personal, political, and career dilemmas create the perfect storm of controversy, demanding of him a series of extraordinary leaps in deductive reasoning. 

Mystery readers, including newcomers to Joe Erickson's world, will find One of Ours compelling, action-packed, and hard to put down, while libraries looking for satisfying intrigue and puzzle-solving paired with psychological intrigue will find the story a fine addition to any detective or police procedural mystery collection. 

One of Ours

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Stranger on the Shore
William J. Borak
Atmosphere Press
978-1-63988-817-7         $14.00
www.atmospherepress.com 

Stranger on the Shore opens on a twilight evening at the Jersey shore, Chris's favorite time of day. A year ago, he was reaching the pinnacle of his career at the same time as his love for Theresa was cresting. All vanished in the blink of an eye. Little does he know, now, that he stands at another crossroad—that of restarting his life anew. 

William J. Borak presents a series of entwining personalities and lives in a story that rises from the ashes of death and addiction to assume quite a different countenance than readers might expect from its opening lines. 

Indeed, the strength of this mystery lies in its evolving interactions between disparate lives and the forces that drive them in unexpected directions. This approach creates an entwined series of stories that flow between characters' lives like the threads of a Google search. 

Chris's encounter with a mysterious woman (who leads him to another woman who not only looks a lot like Theresa, but apparently has many of her memories) evolves into his growing revelations about a dangerous threat that immerses Chris and fellow investigators in a deadly world where romance and destiny entwine. 

The mysterious Arielle introduces him not just to Theresa's look-alike, but to new realizations he never could have imagined. As he contemplates her influence and meaning, incorporating Marisa into his business world while pursuing her true identity, readers embark on a series of inquiries that delve into alternate realms of possibility as well as mystery. 

William J. Borak creates a story that is not your usual mystery. It's more than a romance, too, and is more grounded in alternate and conflicting possibilities than the usual genre production. 

Libraries and readers looking for stories of love, growth, recovery, and discovery will find all these facets and more as Chris grows into his new life with more than one question about its people and purposes. 

Stranger on the Shore

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Summer of Angels
Jody Sharpe
Independently Published
979-8-987697 1-08         $9.00 Paper/$3.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Summer-Angels-Jody-Sharpe/dp/B0BW2TXJNP 

Summer of Angels introduces a different twist on the usual murder mystery by placing the murderous event in the future and the problem-solver in the past. 

Gayle Force lives up to her name in more ways than one. She's a psychic meteorologist about to face a storm of a very different nature when she experiences a nighttime vision about the future and an old man's demise. 

Alex Knight also lives up to his name. As an intuitive attorney, he's also committed to helping others (sometimes in unusual ways). His flexibility of belief allows him to realize that Gayle's vision could represent an opportunity for them both to solve a problem that hasn't even occurred yet. 

But it will, without their involvement. 

Jody Sharpe builds tension in just the right way. Gayle's dream awakens her and injects purpose into her life as she realizes she has been uniquely tapped to both assist an old man and live up to the dream's opportunity for her to do good in the world. Her "slightly psychic" traits have afforded her enough flexibility in belief that she can recognize this opportunity for what it is, while her ability to follow "signs from heaven" leads her in the right direction. 

These backgrounds and explanations lend a believable flavor to the unfolding story as Gayle and Alex step into their talents in a very different way. 

Sharpe's focus on developing tension within characters that embrace proactive new roles as they problem-solve outside their usual environments lends a delicate reality to the puzzles they encounter both within and outside themselves. 

Intrigue entwines with loves in perhaps predictable paths, but with enough twists and turns that even savvy mystery fans won't foresee some of these events until they unfold. 

When her parents become involved and Gayle comes to realize that Alex may have been "sent from above," the plot thickens. So does the reader's interest, due to exquisite revelations that embed the mystery component with spiritual and psychological depth: 

"He was calling you in the dream, Gayle. But your angel was helping too. It was meant to be. It’s really extraordinary. You have to do this work. You have a team now to help." 

Libraries and readers looking for mysteries that incorporate spiritual components and many surprises about past, present, and future life connections will find Summer of Angels attractive and thoroughly engrossing. 

Gayle's mission is a force to reckon with. So is Summer of Angels, which juxtaposes secrets with surprises about belief right up to its unexpected conclusion. 

Summer of Angels

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Novels

And Union No More
Stan Haynes
Independently Published
978-1-7377669-2-6         $11.99 print/$5.99 ebook
Website: www.stanhaynes.com
Ordering:  https://www.amazon.com/Union-No-More-Novel-ebook/dp/B0BY39X93D 

And Union No More is a historical novel that precedes the Civil War era. It depicts the impact of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 and the rush by antislavery and proslavery forces of the times to gain the majority of settlers in the Kansas Territory, to make it either a free or an enslaved state when it enters the Union. 

The novel opens with a personal bang that acknowledges "...startling a man sleeping with a loaded pistol at his side was not a good idea." Nor is it a good idea to presume that a land of prairies and low population isn't a pivot point in the political process, because the crossroads Kansas stands at is one which is both mirrored and reflected by the quandaries the nation faces over slavery. 

An attack on Lawrence, the town that served as the headquarters of the free-state movement in the Kansas Territory, has finally happened, involving former Ohio congressman Monty Tolliver (who has moved to the area to promote its status as a free state) and younger friend Robert (also new to the state) in a conflict that tests the future of the nation. 

Readers won't expect the specter of a double murder that lends an investigative tone apart from the political inspection that concurrently develops, but Stan Haynes excels at creating subplots that bring to life different aspects of the culture and figures of 1850s Kansas. 

The historical figures which permeate the story (such as Abe Lincoln and abolitionist John Brown) give further reinforcement to the real events that took place during these times, placing them in a perspective that historical novel readers will appreciate as the intrigue, mystery, and social and political confrontations unfold. 

"Here, the fate of Kansas will be decided." It doesn't just happen at the constitutional convention Robert is reporting on for his newspaper, but in the hearts and minds of individuals on both sides who are motivated to step beyond their comfort zones and abilities to influence the progress of not just a state, but a nation. 

From issues of justice and spying to cover-ups and hidden truths, Haynes creates a vivid and involving story where readers follow the clues and influences that direct Monty and Robert into unfamiliar avenues of inspection and analysis. 

Libraries and readers seeking a historical novel that incorporates the drama of a thriller, the intrigue of a mystery, and the historical foundations of fact, cementing all with solid characterization and a realistic sense of place and time, will find And Union No More especially strong in creating a milieu that explains America's past and Kansas's role in creating the freedoms the country is based upon. 

And Union No More

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At the Seams
Pamela Gwyn Kripke
Open Books
978-1948598644            $17.95
https://open-bks.com/library/moderns/at-the-seams/about-book.html 

At the Seams is a novel of family loss that contains elements of pain and recovery that could prove triggers to readers who have experienced similar tragedy in their lives. This warning aside, At the Seams cultivates a winning sense of discovery and revival. It's presented from the perspective of a precocious eight-year-old who discovers that a baby brother of her mother died in the hospital before she could begin to know or remember him. 

Kate's discovery leads to a series of investigations and revelations that follow her into adulthood as she navigates her own life and a generational loss that returns to haunt her decisions and perceptions. 

How does a newborn, healthy baby suddenly die in the hospital? It's a mystery that emerges out of the blue when a conversation with her mother reveals part of the truth. 

The tale is narrated by Kate, a grandchild whose legacy is presented in a more forthright manner by her mother, but which still comes shrouded in a mystery that requires further explanation. As her investigation unravels family secrets, motivations for keeping them, and reveals the truth, readers become immersed in a vivid saga spiced with the intergenerational experiences of a family motivated to resist reality. 

Pamela Gwyn Kripke does a fine job of exploring the evolving circumstances from the perspectives of a child who grows into the ability to pursue answers to these questions: 

"Why load me up at eight years old with the scary death of a person who could have been an uncle, who could have looked like my mom, or me, who could have painted and sewed as we did, who could have crossed his arms that way, our way, when he walked? Did I need to know about him for some reason, a reason that she didn’t understand herself? Was she trying to make sense of the death, after so many years, by saying it out loud?" 

The strength of this story lies not so much in the original loss, but the long-term impact it has on the entire family structure as secrets are agreed to, kept, and passed down between generations. 

Kate's pursuit strengthens when, as a single mother, she finds these patterns unexpectedly repeating in her own life and choices. The impulse to hide, disguise, and modify reality is one that has been handed down quite inadvertently on some levels and more purposely on others, and it prompts Kate to grow and pursue where other family members have settled into quiet complacence. 

Her revelations aren't always welcomed by her family. In fact, they think she's gone overboard in her focus: "Was it possible that Grandma Lilly wasn’t just homesick? Had she forced the baby’s death into oblivion in order to survive all these years, only to have it destroy her now? Or was I too obsessed to see straight? Everyone said I was obsessed."

Is there such a thing as too much information? Not to Kate's mind. Readers who follow her pursuit will find much food for thought in her story, between her sparking of family resistance and reactions and the links between her own patterns and those mirrored in her grandparents' choices.

Libraries and book clubs looking for vivid stories of loss and its resounding impact on generational connections and life patterns will find much food for thought and discussion in At the Seams, a novel which unravels not just the truth, but the hidden costs of accepting or rejecting it. 

At the Seams

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Dessert with Buddha
Roland Merullo
PFP Publishing
979-8-9866266-3-5         $17.85 Paper/$9.85 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Dessert-Buddha-Roland-Merullo/dp/B0BX5LYD7D 

Dessert with Buddha blends spirituality with self-actualization growth in a novel that follows Dinner with Buddha's spiritual road trip and completes the fourth and final book in the series. Its special flavor of spiritual and social examination will leave readers hungry for more, yet sated by considerations which pique the mind with new flavors of inspection and realization. 

The introductory paragraphs explore the fine art of letting go in 2022; from a long-held, beloved family house to a sense of power and control over self and world affairs alike. 

Buffeted by the winds of chance, the protagonist embarks on a journey filled with insights and explorations. As eccentric monk Volya Rinpoche and his brother-in-law Otto enter into new paths and conversations about spirituality, readers are invited into a milieu in which the narrator explores his expectations and underlying convictions about life: 

"Almost daily, Rinpoche—and/or my sister—would surprise me in one way or another, as if to underline the fact that, while we could make all the plans we wanted, we could never really know what would happen a month, a week, or even a few seconds in the future. I accepted this, in theory. In practice, it often immersed me in a hot, bubbling pool of irritation. Still, over time, I'd come to admit that I was continually living in the future, mentally planning out my hours, days, and weeks as a kind of hedge against life's unpredictabilities." 

Inevitably, this leads a thinking reader to consider similar perspectives about life's meaning as the road trip results in confrontations with uncomfortable truths and new realizations about life. 

Roland Merullo is especially adept at exploring the intersections between belief systems, contrasting Rinpoche's unshakable encounters with Christians and others, with the psyches of believers who act and react in different ways. The contrasts are often delightfully revealing and thought-provoking: 

"At that moment I came to an understanding of what I had seen and sensed the night before, that strange connection between Andalusia and Rinpoche. They were both, in their own way, innocent, doubtless, hard to fluster, and Rinpoche had instinctively found that common territory with her. The difference, to my way of thinking at least, was that Rinpoche's innocence was like pure spring water flowing out of the earth, and Andalusia's was like distilled water in a bottle on a pharmacy shelf. His seemed to come from within, and hers from without, something manufactured, even a bit forced. His way seemed extremely broad and all-embracing, and hers narrowed by the teaching of severe judgment." 

Ideally, readers of Dessert with Buddha will already have a basic knowledge of Buddhism and a questioning mind. Those ready to embark on an armchair road trip with two characters whose journey and encounters offer enlightenment and revelations will find much food for thought here, which book clubs, in particular, can use in discussions of novels that incorporate powerful spiritual and growth components. 

Libraries and readers looking for a lively series of dialogues and encounters between belief systems and those holding them close will find Dessert with Buddha a deliciously attractive story. 

Dessert with Buddha

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The Distance Between Us
A. C. Burch
HomePort Press
978-1-7340533-9-5         $7.99 Kindle  $17.99 paperback
Website: https://AcBurch.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BSLJGDRC/ 

The Distance Between Us is a novel about Helena Handbasket, a former housekeeper whose run of good luck has resulted in an inherited fortune, a mansion, and a loving husband and family. All these would seem to add solidity to her life; but in actuality, too much good fortune can lead to cracks under pressure. 

It's bad enough that her husband has left town and her community status has changed, but Helena then becomes a suspect in a murder case. She embarks on a journey to clear her name, becoming embroiled in a murder investigation that strikes at the very heart of small-town politics and special interests. 

The atmosphere and culture of Cape Cod come alive as the story courses through Provincetown events, fueled by a fire of conviction and tenacity that leads Helena to make discoveries that are whimsical, thought-provoking, and downright dangerous. 

A. C. Burch introduces the story with a map and a somewhat daunting-appearing list of characters which range from central figures to cameo appearances featured in the story. While this might portend a complicated read, the novel then progresses on a path which is emotionally compelling and interactive, lending vigor and personality to each of the characters Helena and her readers come into contact with. 

From aspiring socialites and undercover cops to Helena's natural curiosity (which sometimes injects too much complexity and trouble into the investigation), readers receive much more than a 'whodunnit'. They are treated to a romp through the undercurrents and trials of Cape Cod and Provincetown's community as Helena traverses her environment with a witty, astute attention to exploring different cultures and interactions: 

“Well, Quincy,” Helena said, “you picked the right moment. I was up until two drinking champagne, and what is it now? Seven in the morning? I don’t think I’d be curious if you told me you were taking up drag.” 

Between friendships to inevitable conversations that pair discretion with observations of the firebrand Helena has become in the community, The Distance Between Us blends insights into the drag community with Helena's passion for justice and her involvement in different definitions of progress and growth. 

Whether she's mired in personal, political, or social conundrums, there's one thing Helena profiles and represents—the powerful heartbeat of a community at odds with growing fame and its impact on individual ways of life. 

Readers, book clubs, and libraries seeking LGBTQ+ examinations, Cape Cod cultural inspections, mysteries, and novels packed with social inquiry will welcome the dual threads of humor and serious inspection that capture the multifaceted world of Cape Cod, a microcosm of small-town experiences and change. 

The Distance Between Us

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Dreams of Arcadia
Brian Porter
Legacy Book Press LLC
9798986787480             $15.99
https://legacybookpress.com/dreams_arcadia/ 

Readers who want to get closer to the psyche, history, and currents of the American family should take a hard look at the novel Dreams of Arcadia. It embraces these facets and more as it follows the life of city veterinarian Nate Holub, who moves to his dead father's Texas home town to become a rural vet and learn more about his father's life. 

What he uncovers both proves and tests his ability to adapt, adjust what he's been raised with, face a different truth, and reinforce his ties with both nature and family. Nate's quest comes with a heavy price tag, but it also brings newfound revelations about his family ties and his own legacy as he uncovers local and family secrets and begins to understand the undercurrents influencing his own life choices. 

His encounters with locals, the dialogues between them, and Brian Porter's well spent time in building Texas culture and atmosphere brings readers right into this milieu, however foreign it might first seem. This is an achievement, considering that use of the third person tends to accompany an inherent observational distance that first-person descriptions cultivate, in contrast. 

The novel's opening lines describe limited veterinary services and why Nate's pursuit will make him valuable to the community, while descriptions of the places he visits builds the all-important backdrops and people supporting his pursuits: 

"The hardwood floor creaked as Nate walked in, and a small bell on the door jingled. The room was long and narrow with a meat display case at the front, tables in the middle, and pits in the back. Fans extended down from the tall, pressed tin ceiling. The brick peeked out on the faded walls, unadorned except for a couple of dusty deer heads, an unplugged neon Pearl Beer sign, and a few unframed yellowing photographs. The odor of smoked meat per­meated every square inch of the place." 

Porter's descriptions connect a sense of place and purpose with bigger-picture reflections on Nate's role and efforts: 

"The distant hills glowed vividly, every feature of the land sharp and unmistakable, every tree, barn roof, and fence post scrubbed clean. The cold purifying rain had seemingly washed away the world’s ills—all of the hatred, greed, and ignorance—leaving a shining, more hopeful place. Nate lingered there, wanting it to be true, if only for that brief precious moment, a vision to return to in the hazy days to come." 

This entwining of place, purpose, and discovery makes Dreams of Arcadia a compelling read. Readers walk alongside Nate in all of his efforts, understand their motivations and ramifications, and find these descriptions of secluded lives and worlds juxtaposes vet work. These are the experiences which make characters and readers feel "totally alive" as haunting truths emerge to inform Nate about deeper levels of living and thinking, which will often surprise his followers, as well. 

Dreams of Arcadia's compelling portrait of lives in flux and tangible connections to the past bring this Texas world to life. Libraries and readers seeking fiction rooted in a sense of community and growth will find that Dreams of Arcadia examines and captures the values that bring families together, making difficult secrets and their logic and choices easier to understand and handle for present and future generations. 

Dreams of Arcadia

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Growing Down
Michael J. Tuberdyke
Five Senses Publishing
‎979-8218155278            $15.00
https://www.amazon.com/Growing-Down-Michael-J-Tuberdyke/dp/B0BWH2BMMQ 

Growing Down is subtitled "A Comedy of Life." It lives up to its promise with a series of revelations about life as experienced by two male buddies who embark on a romp around town after attending their friend's wedding. 

The novella represents a study and contrast between maturity and immaturity as Sam and Kevin lose control, revisit the past, and reconsider present-day opportunities and losses shifted by the changing lives of their friends. 

Michael J. Tuberdyke perfectly captures the perceptions of those changed by the evolution of their peers while they remain in a milieu that is both familiar and stagnant: 

"There were a lot of weddings and a lot of births. He attempted to sort out the friends he knew that were settled to the others who were still in search of a good time. He did not know which category his beliefs stood. He felt one way but existed in another." 

There is an existential flavor to the ironic inspection and comedy that evolves as the two spend a day together and enter the evening both carousing and contemplating. The duo's explorations of new possibilities are equally fun and thought-provoking: 

“'I've thought about that. I really want to be somebody though, you know? I want to wake up in the morning and be something.'
'You should be yourself.' Kevin's voice held clear annoyance. He considered explaining how a good cook is always appreciated, but he did not want to waste his breath. Sam's tangent would cool down once he found the next thing to become obsessive over."
 

What are individuals newly changed by another's wedding supposed to do in life when they "don't care about anything?" 

Michael J. Tuberdyke's succinct novella juxtaposes comedy with bigger-picture thinking in a manner that portends both fun and deeper life inspection. 

Libraries and readers looking for novels about aging and the revelations of life choices will find Sam and Kevin's explorations to be thought-provoking as they reflect on society and their place in it. It's a read that redefines 'comedy', contrasting it with a contemplative atmosphere that can only take place in the bars and kitchens of life. 

Growing Down

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Hush, Delilah
Angie Gallion
Red Adept Publishing, LLC

978-1948051910           
$12.99 Paper/$20.49 Audio/$9.99 Kindle

https://RedAdeptPublishing.com/ 

Hush, Delilah explores a wife's dilemma when her husband's undercurrents of evil break through the façade of perfection they have built in their community. It's a story of Delilah Reddick’s revelations and how she comes to deal with a growing force that threatens everything they've built together that will especially appeal to readers of modern women's literature. 

Delilah's concern about her own well-being, her family, and her choices rises to the forefront as she is confronted with a reality she has chosen to ignore and repress from the beginning—her husband's dangerous disposition. 

From the start, she's been a complacent accomplice to his actions by providing an alibi. It's a habit that has gone on for far too long, and now threatens not just her own life, but that of her son and others in their community. 

As Delilah navigates the results of her silence and reviews her options under impossible circumstances, she makes different decisions that ultimately rock not just her world, but all around her. 

There's a trigger warning for readers who also have built lives on fielding abuse: Delilah's dilemmas are graphic and realistic, prompting all kinds of reflections on choices and responsibility to others. 

"Of course I am in danger. I have lived my entire adult life in danger." Delilah is not a dummy. She well knows the ramifications of her choices. But, where does she go from here? 

Angie Gallion crafts an involving tale of evolving evil in such a way that readers become immersed in Delilah's possibilities. 

This will translate to heated book club debates and intriguing discussions in women's groups, which makes Hush, Delilah of special interest and recommendation to these audiences. 

Abuse is not a solitary process. Delilah's move to find her voice and strength is powerfully portrayed in a story that is at once familiar and thought-provoking as it revolves around the many ramifications of tolerating (and sometimes enabling) a monster's psyche and behaviors. 

Libraries and readers that choose Hush, Delilah will find its characterizations potent, its events not entirely predictable, and its outcome engrossingly surprising. 

Hush, Delilah

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Lockett and the Devil's Path
T.J. Johnston
Vivus Historical Press
979-8-218-06676-5                $13.99 Paper/$3.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C12JXTRC/ 

The Lockett Civil War series of novels continues to expand with the latest volume, Lockett and the Devil's Path, which moves through battles in Tennessee as it presents a historical reenactment of Civil War events. 

A historical background section at book's end (and a shorter introduction which places this volume in perspective) details the dramatic events and twists of the Tullahoma Campaign of 1863 in Tennessee. 

Captain Lockett is in charge of a ragtag band of men who face impossible challenges during the war. He commands an odd but effective group that has a reputation for a kind of diversity neither North nor South has seen in military companies. 

Intrigue, involvements between conscripted men and civilians of both sexes, and traps and treason affect these mercurial relationships as battles shift balances of power and impact lives. 

Lockett walks a dangerous path with little chance of success, yet he refuses to give up. His perseverance creates both a legend and a conundrum as he sticks his neck out for others and defends those who seem undeniably guilty for their trespasses. 

From secret meetings with Confederate officers to facing the life and death moments of battle, Lockett's world comes alive ... as does Anna Tucker, who finds herself in the strange position of being a Confederate spy enamored with a Yankee soldier a year after she is saved from a Union trap by his efforts. 

T.J. Johnston builds his story on the firm foundations of historical fact, adding the emotional connections and relationships that give history a realistic, compelling flavor.

These connections allow even non-historical fiction readers to access and enjoy the scenarios and conundrums that test men and women attempting to survive and engage with each other during Civil War times. 

Clashes of belief and heart set the stage for another drama in which Anna, James, and others find their convictions and attractions tested. 

Libraries and readers seeking Civil War novels firmly rooted in history and spiced with vivid events will find Lockett and the Devil's Path both enhances the series as a whole and stands nicely alone for newcomers to Lockett's adventures. 

Lockett and the Devil's Path

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Nelson’s Lost Son
Oliver Greeves
Independently Published

978-0645023756            $19.99 Paper/$2.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Nelsons-Lost-Son-Fictitious-historical/dp/0645023752 

Nelson’s Lost Son is a military historical fiction piece that focuses on the “Great Chase”—the Caribbean campaign preceding the more well-known Trafalgar. It presents a fictitious story based on historical facts with the progress of Josiah Nisbet, who has lost his command and thus feels that his relationship with his famous stepfather Admiral Horatio Nelson is in jeopardy. 

This is why he can't turn down the unexpected offer of becoming part of a covert mission that will, if successful, redeem his reputation, career, and relationship. The "if successful" part seems more and more unlikely, however, as events test Josiah's personal, political, and professional strengths. 

While Nelson's Lost Son stands alone nicely for newcomers, it ideally will be selected by readers already familiar with its predecessor, Nelson’s Folly, which offered new insights into the lives of Nelson and his wife Fanny. This builds the foundation for Nelson's Lost Son to continue the family legacy in a different way, offering a fast-paced adventure pairing the backdrop of real historical events with the examination of the father-son relationship of Horatio

Nelson and his ‘lost son’ Josiah Nisbet. 

Though naval history and intrigue come to life, this story is about so much more than military confrontations. Equally at the heart of matters is the struggle between father and son, their shared missions and ideals, ways in which events test their relationship, and the manners in which heroism and courage emerge in disparate forms for different generations. 

Josiah begins to realize the complex ramifications of his actions as the story unfolds: "It seemed to him there were two issues – a shortage of good hemp and a crisis of trust caused by the investigation. Everyone was scared. And where did that leave him?" This leads him into a position of danger in which trusts betrayed and ideals pursued land him in no-win situations. These further threaten not just his career ambitions and his relationship with the navy and his father, but his life. 

Oliver Greeves again paints a thoroughly engrossing story powered as much by the quandaries and emotions of his characters as the times they live through. 

Between presenting battles on the high seas or the plight of slaves "compelled to serve without condition" whether they be French or English, Greeves supercharges the story of men who too often are "victims of their own convictions," bringing Lord Nelson's world to life with vivid action and a blend of psychological, political, and military inspection. 

Libraries that saw popularity with the previous Nelson’s Folly, as well as newcomers, will find equally rich and vividly portrayed the history and sense of place and time in Nelson's Lost Son. Whether chosen as a sequel or a stand-alone novel, the tale is highly recommended for libraries seeking historical military fiction that shines. 

Nelson’s Lost Son

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One More Seat at the Round Table
Susan Dormady Eisenberg
Atmosphere Press
9781639888023             $17.99
www.atmospherepress.com 

It's unusual to see a blend of Broadway music history and romance, but One More Seat at the Round Table offers both, icing its story with an attractive tone and drama that bring to life the creation of the stage production Camelot. 

One More Seat at the Round Table surveys the history of the American musical's development as it follows two characters whose growth and romance develop in conjunction with the advent of a special form of musical theater that cements their connections and advances their professional careers. 

Susan Dormady Eisenberg creates interplay between real-world facts and scenarios, from the streets of New York City to actors Julie Andrews and others, whose efforts contributed to the play's creation. 

At the heart of these events are Jane and Bryce, who face their own separate challenges in overcoming expectation and precedent to make their marks on life in ways nobody before them has achieved. 

Eisenberg's dance between romance and full-flavored life challenge not only gives this story its realistic edge, but provides a satisfyingly complex evolutionary structure that departs from any notion of formula romance writing. This creates a saga that is as strong in its artistic, historical, and cultural influences as it is in the psychological developments that motivate and drive the main characters. 

Readers familiar with actor prompts, challenges in getting into character, and the special charge of bigger-picture thinking in translating script to stage will be especially delighted by the time Eisenberg takes to recreate the process of bringing a play to life: 

“...when Tom stows away on the boat, he plans to help the knights preserve the honor of the Round Table. He’s on fire with the idea, and when he meets King Arthur, it’s like the moment when Peter Pan saves the Lost Boys. It’s that great.”
“Honest?” Garry asked.
“Yes,” I replied. “But you both sound like you’ve crossed the street to buy a candy bar. Like it’s no big deal. You need to know that your character, Tom of Warwick, becomes the hero of the finale. Like Peter Pan when he defeats Hook.”
“Nobody told us that,” Rufus groused. “Mr. Remsen didn’t explain it that way.”
“Mr. Remsen has a lot on his mind,” I said. “But remember, King Arthur might die like the Lost Boys at the plank Then you show up and give him a reason to fight on.”
“I’m gobsmacked!” Garry said. “Can we try the scene again, Miss Jane?”
“Just call me Jane,” I said. “And this time, I want to feel your courage. Be a hero.”
 

Between its detailed pursuit of a production that will change the face of American stage and Jane's first-person revelations about her choices and what she stands to lose by making a name for herself, the story excels in both historical and psychological revelations: 

"I couldn’t predict when I’d find the courage, but my darkest fear was that I’d already lost him. And if this was the case, I thought, trudging back up to stage left, I might never recover. Worst of all, I’d have no one to blame but myself." 

These concurrent struggles of the heart, art, and career make for a memorable, involving story that teaches much about stage efforts and living the show and life "moment by moment." 

Libraries and readers seeking a story that gives equal strength to performances that lead to growth and new realizations both on and off stage will welcome One More Seat at the Round Table, recognizing it as both a romance story and an exploration of the foundations and processes of a pivotal point in Broadway history. 

One More Seat at the Round Table

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The Regal Pink
Jenny Knipfer
Independently Published
978-1-7379575-2-2                $2.99 Kindle
Website: https://jennyknipfer.com/the-regal-pink/
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Regal-Pink-Retold-Fairy-Tales-ebook/dp/B0BV46KRVS 

The Regal Pink is the first book in a series of retold fairy tales, and tackles a Grimm classic in a story that will especially appeal to females, from young adults through adults. 

The opening prologue comes from Diana, who expresses the pain of being a fairy "betwixt and between" human and fae worlds. Charged with being human for a period of time, Diana feels trapped. 

The first chapter opens in 1451 with Daniel, who has just had a terrible dream about Diana (the magical friend he loves) killing him. Is it a premonition of the future? He has created Diana from his dreams and his power, so why would she hurt him? 

As time passes, Daniel and Diana grow up to adulthood, but retain their powers and their mysteries. Daniel's biggest wish is to move into a different life. Be careful what you wish for—especially when your power is to grant wishes for others. Daniel learns this when the future introduces more transformations that lie beyond his control: "Daniel discerned a change coming and with it freedom from the slavery of wishing." 

Jenny Knipfer crafts a compelling story of lives undone and redone in The Regal Pink. It is a story with a lesson, much like the Grimm's original 'The Pink' (upon which it is based); but it also brings with it the magic of evolving relationships, transformative processes, and the currents of friendships and love that drive its characters to make extraordinary decisions, diverging from lives that already reside a touch beyond the commonplace. 

It's unusual to note that God does appear in what seems to be a fairy tale retold, but is represented as The Light. This makes the story accessible to a broader audience than myth-seekers alone. 

A host of characters entwine in Diana and Daniel's world, from spies who breach castle walls to Roderick, whose father teaches him that "...the power of the natural realm, along with the spiritual, was The Light’s to command and that mankind were mere stewards of that power." And yet, he and his wife Rosalind are assured of a child and an heir through magical dreams and heavenly processes that he accepts on some level and rejects on others. 

The story shifts between the first-person perspective of Diana and the third-person narration of events that entangle the lives of Diana, Daniel, Roderick, Marcus, and others in the kingdom. 

The result is a heady blend of magical realism, myth, and references to God's force in the world that involves readers in a complex, appealing new version of Grimm's original 'The Pink'. 

The Regal Pink is recommended as a stand-alone choice for fantasy readers, but, ideally, it will be read in conjunction with the original tale and utilized in creative writing courses interesting in highlighting various techniques for recrafting traditional fairy tales in new ways. 

This audience, as well as libraries looking for revised fairy stories, will find Jenny Knipfer's first book in a projected series to be thoroughly engrossing, stretching the hallmarks and boundaries of the fairy tale in new and satisfyingly unexpected ways. 

The Regal Pink

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Reluctant Hearts
Linda Griffin

Wild Rose Press
978-1509248827            $16.99 Paper/$3.99 Kindle

https://www.amazon.com/Reluctant-Hearts-Linda-Griffin/dp/150924882X 

Reluctant Hearts is a romance story that arrives with the added twist of coming from not the usual singular perspective; nor even a couple's insights, but from four different viewpoints. 

Four couples represent different facets of love under challenging, seemingly impossible situations. Their disparities and attractions receive satisfying descriptions that contrast their lives and choices in a story that evolves to follow the growth of very different people. 

As the characters interact, so readers will find that "all the pieces fit together perfectly." This contrast in lives and hearts works because Linda Griffin takes the time to trace the fears, reluctance, and possibilities each person brings to the table of love. 

From women's friendships that evolve against the backdrop of shifting lives and new connections to gender disparities revealed during realistic conversations, Griffin's attention to detail produces discussions that will lend to book club debates as well as individual enlightenment: 

“Are you going to defend your gender, Frank?”
“We try,” was the best he could do. “We aren’t as smart as you are—you know, verbally and emotionally, but we try. We don’t understand what you want. What do women want?”
 

Romance evolves in different ways under different circumstances and perceptions. 

Reluctant Hearts is as much a story of awakening and discovery as it is a psychological profile of very different people brought together by circumstance, chance, and their own visions of what love looks like. 

Romance readers receive deep psychological inspection, interludes of sexual exploration, and love stories that are thoroughly engrossing and thought-provoking. 

Reluctant Hearts

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Rhiannon's Circle
Emily Bex
Foundations Book Publishing
ASIN: ‎B0BTC99CQF            $2.99
https://www.emilybex.com/the-medici-warrior-series/book-i-the-blood-covenant/  

Followers of occult fiction who look for stories steeped in paranormal romance and Wiccan power plays will find Rhiannon's Circle the perfect ticket for a moonless night of intriguing reading. 

A power play within the Bohannon family, which has long led a centuries-old witch's coven with its roots in Ireland, makes for a thoroughly engrossing story that evolves paranormal struggle themes to new levels. 

Eilish is supposed to lead the coven, but her murderous older sister has other ideas about her legacy. Middle sister Anya finds herself in the middle of a family power struggle set to not only tear them apart, but threaten the coven's rituals and rules. 

Vampire Ian Cross never thought he'd land in the middle of a witch's conflict, but he finds himself "walking into a minefield of unknowns" as he unwittingly makes choices that lead him into love and danger that hold equal opportunities. 

As the characters engage with one another and consider their legacies, prejudices, and interactions with humans and extraordinary beings, Emily Bex brings to life this world and its ability to coexist with everyday humans over the centuries: 

"I grew up with this stuff. To us, you're the weird one. In our world, we're all normal, and it’s humans we have to be careful of. You're not a very accepting species. You tend to kill off people you don't understand. You know, the witch trials were real, although all the women that were hung weren't even witches. Just the thought of something being off and humans go batshit. We know all the rumors about us, but most people enjoy the rumors. We're a curiosity, something to gossip about. Something they can speculate about. But they don't think it's real, and we try to keep it that way. Same with Ian. Vampires stick to their covens; we stick to ours. We're all safer if we keep it on the down-low. Just how it is." 

Intrigue, traditions, and coven politics play out against the backdrop of an evolving romance that not only entertains readers, but leads them to think about family power plays and the special pressures of leadership and heritage. 

Rhiannon's Circle also grows a mystery which concludes in a satisfying manner for this book, but leaves the door more than ajar for the finale. 

Libraries and readers seeking occult fiction that excels in mystery, romance, and family struggle will welcome Rhiannon's Circle's powerful, compelling saga. 

Rhiannon's Circle

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Toxic But Addictive
Wynn E.
Independently Published
ASIN: ‎B0BSRM9SBC           $3.99
https://www.amazon.com/Toxic-but-Addictive-Love-Book-ebook/dp/B0BSRM9SBC 

Toxic But Addictive tells of Eria who, single and childless at age 40, is not leading the kind of life she'd imagined. In fact, this is nowhere near where she thought she'd be at this age, in terms of marriage and family. Her minimalist approach to decorating has translated to the same approach to her relationships and life, and she's ready for something new. 

Toxic But Addictive follows this sea change as Eria navigates two very different men, follows the different forms of promise each offers, then finds herself in a life-or-death situation that demands of her a flexibility and force she has never before applied to her life or her future. 

As her careful arrangements of her life and control over every aspect of it begin to unravel, the central core of her convictions and aspirations come to the forefront in unexpected ways as Eria evolves a different life and faces new obstacles and approaches to engaging with it. 

Wynn E. is masterful at portraying Eria's challenging involvements, whether they be with a new love, an ex, or unexpected surprising dramas that affect her formerly-staid forty-year-old life. 

As threats and revenge evolve, adding surprising twists to the tale, Wynn E. captures Eria's evolving conundrums that pit her deepest desires with opportunities she (and her readers) never saw coming. 

Graphic sex scenes peppered throughout also follow Eria's physical pleasures as she grapples with new love and challenging problems alike. 

Libraries and readers seeking an evocative work of women's literature that follows the evolution and changes of a powerful woman who lets go enough to inject love and its accompanying changes into her life will find Toxic But Addictive offers lessons in both love and toxic relationships. 

Its influential inspections of both themes (and more) makes Toxic But Addictive a highly recommended title for African American women's literary and contemporary women's fiction collections alike. 

Toxic But Addictive

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Tropical Depression
Patti Liszkay
Black Rose Writing
978-1-68513-183-8         $22.95 Paper/$6.99 Kindle
Website: www.blackrosewriting.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1685131832 

Tropical Depression is the third novel in the Equal and Opposite Reactions trilogy, and is especially recommended for literary fiction enthusiasts familiar with its predecessors (Equal and Opposite Reactions and Hail Mary), who will welcome the final installment of a close inspection of the psychology and ironies of relationships. 

Lupe and Ascensión Guzman have been deported to Nicaragua, where they must readjust to family relationships and the loss of a child who was born in America and left behind. These family issues lend to a tropical depression lifted by evolving relationships with unexpected new friends who hold the power and wisdom to mitigate the crushing events that have a hold on their lives. 

As in her previous stories, Patti Liszkay maintains a powerful, rich hand in portraying Nicaragua's culture and the social, political, and psychological influences that buffet the couple's lives. 

From the steamy atmosphere of the jungle to equally powerful circumstances of changing hearts and minds, Liszkay creates a vivid portrait of the struggles that simmer during the adjustment process as Lupe and Ascensión rebel in many different ways—including against one another: 

"Ascensión tromped over to the bench by the clothesline and plopped himself down. Lupe was angry? She was angry? And she blamed him? Wasn’t he always trying to soothe her, comfort her, protect her? Did she have any idea how he’d been protecting her at work, doing her work for her, practically getting down on his knees to Yoolie? Did she have no idea how stressful all this was for him? And did she really expect him to chew out his mother, his own mother?" 

Between the storms created by abandonment and choices to revelations that bring both love and hate into family circles, Tropical Depression is rich in the intersections of love, conflict, and culture that bring this world to life. 

While newcomers could easily enter this milieu and gain much from Tropical Depression, its true riches lie in its connections to the prior series books. 

Libraries and readers with this familiarity will find Tropical Depression a warm embrace of intersecting cultures, families, and worlds which are expanded by children and the pursuit of happiness. 

Tropical Depression

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Reviewer's Choice

Anger Is Your Compass
Moshe Ratson
Independently Published
979-8-9864245-0-7        
$17.95 Paper/$17.95 Audiobook/$9.99 ebook
Website: www.spiral2grow.com
Ordering: https://www.spiral2grow.com/anger-management-book/ 

Anger Is Your Compass: Harness the Wisdom of Anger and Transform Your Life points to the power in hidden, repressed, or overt anger responses. It is highly recommended for readers interested in this general topic and in the dovetailing of its contentions with typical anger management logic. 

Moshe Ratson illustrates that anger can serve a useful purpose—especially if it is handled in an effective manner that promotes growth, change, and appropriate response. The key to using anger responses effectively lies in a more mindful approach acknowledging its value as well as its strength. In this manner, Ratson provides a blueprint for better understanding that should be basic reading for psychology and self-help followers. 

Chapters build constructive insights on anger's origins, strengths, and ability to transform. When used as a signal for uncovering truths and moving forward in a positive manner, anger can be quite useful—not something to be repressed, but directed and employed. 

Anger's transformative promise is ongoing, and it's not a reaction to be ignored because "It’s important to note that anger will remain active in your life until it serves its teaching purpose. It will continue to seek your attention until you learn from it and integrate its wisdom. And even then, it will arise again in the future to let you know when you need to take action to close the gap or meet a core need." 

Reinforcing his contentions with case histories and examples from his own life as a psychotherapist and executive coach, Ratson provides the important revelations that profile anger's strength and ability to do good as much as do damage. He presents a step-by-step approach to harnessing anger's potential: 

"Step one of transforming anger is to temper it—to bring it to the right level and direct it with wisdom. Just as a metal becomes stronger and more flexible by being heated and then cooled in air, anger can make you stronger when you take charge of its heat and intentionally adjust it to the right temperature, so it is proportionate to the situation. When your anger reaches the proper intensity, you will be able to access the wisdom beneath it. The ability to temper anger is a key skill of the compassionate warrior." 

By reinterpreting painful experiences and pursing becoming a "compassionate warrior" fueled by the strength of anger and the wisdom of tapping into its powerful potentials, Ratson provides an uplifting view of how anger may be viewed in a different light, managed in a different way, and used to reinforce individual potentials and purposes in the world. 

Readers interested in alternative views of anger's powerful possibilities will find that Ratson's insights stand out from other anger management discussions. Ideally, Anger Is Your Compass will not just reside in general-interest and psychology libraries, but will be actively discussed in book clubs and reading groups interested in self-help, personal insights, and social and business world issues. Its message is that far-reaching—and that widely applicable and important. 

Anger Is Your Compass

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Better to Win
Bill Wong
Ronin Road Press
979-8-9878036-0-8         $16.00 Paper/$7.99 ebook
Website: www.bettertowin.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Better-Win-Hardball-Leadership-Influence-ebook/dp/B0BZGW3VLG 

Better to Win: Hardball Lessons in Leadership, Influence, & the Craft of Politics teaches people interested in political advocacy how to take a powerful seat at the leadership table. While its lessons and examples come from politics, any reader interested in assuming the unfamiliar reins of handling strife and controversy will find this book a powerful guide to navigating treacherous political and social challenges. 

Bill Wong's account opens with a powerful punch: "Today would be a fight. Simmering with silent rage and resentment, I entered the majestic conference room where this little skirmish would take place." 

Like a good novel, tension is developed from the start which grabs the reader's attention, leading them to want to know more about the source of this feeling and the controversy it portends. 

The followup blow comes from realizing that Bill Wong's nemesis isn't on the streets or in the boardroom, but is an Ivy League elitist whose attitude and actions support and represent inherent prejudice that stems from privilege and a distain for minority participation: "He stood at the head of the table preparing to serve me a deftly crafted public humiliation. I think he thought Asians were going to be an easy mark. I believe he saw this as a convenient opportunity to practice what he probably thought would be a lifetime of dominating a room and everyone in it."

Any anticipation that the nature of this battle will be overt, direct, and above-board is quashed by the reality that covert, underlying innuendos permeate actual power plays. And so Wong found himself participating in quite a different playing field, purposely, because "I wasn’t going to be the model minority participating in the establishment’s Hunger Games of merit. Nor was I going to attempt to explain why this maneuver felt like a personal attack on Asian Americans. Instead, I chose to make my point in another way. In a way that would play out in between the lines. This was going to be an intimate dance in the dark with my overconfident adversary." 

This approach is both reasoned and acknowledges the underlying motivations and influences on all sides of affirmative action. Wong's exploration of "political jiujitsu" processes and how they can successfully undercut established political routine and prejudices provides an outstanding route for nonviolent protest that should be on the radars of any involved in leadership decision-making circles. 

This is only the introductory example in a salvo of campaign and political experiences and encounters that creates solid, compelling stories about "how to win hardball campaigns where underhanded and often unethical tactics are employed." 

The tactics have been proven to work. The approach to these kinds of situations and campaigns both addresses underlying racial prejudice and its incarnation in social and political circles and methods to thwart its presence with strategies that employ confrontation in a different, more effective and educational manner. 

Lies will be made. Leverage will be employed. But, beyond these too-common rules of engagement and winning lies a route that maintains "Better strategy, tactics, and execution are the key to winning races that are fought in the mud." 

While the examples utilized in Better to Win come from Wong's political world, they can be equally employed in business circles, social milieus, and any environment where tacit privilege and prejudice too often take the upper hand. 

Ideally, Better to Win will be featured not just in libraries interested in political campaign strategies, but in any library collection where issues of racism and power struggles are of interest. It would also be an excellent choice for book clubs interested in explorations of political and social prejudice, in social issues classrooms, and in any environment where hard and fast rules of racist engagement and privilege need to be broken. 

Bill Wong's assessment of the political machine and tactics to dismantle many of its minority-crushing routines come not from ideals, but from tried-and-true methods that rest on psychological strategies and a savvy life knowledge that can't be beat. 

Better to Win

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The Control Problem
Norah Woodsey
Independently Published

978-0-9973339-7-8        
$25.00 Hardback/$15.00 Paper/$9.99 ebook/$15.00 Audiobook
Website: www.norahwoodsey.com
Ordering: https://www.norahwoodsey.com/store 

On the surface and to others, Vera Elpis represents the epitome of a fine life. Single, in her thirties, and living a quietly, Vera needs only one more thing to achieve perfection—a baby. Scratch that surface, however, and there's more simmering under it than the need for a child in her life. Many mysteries surround Vera's life, from her strange abilities to her frustration with the chaotic world around her. 

Her first-person story opens with an intriguing reflection: "I WISH PEOPLE WOULD LISTEN TO ME. That’s not great. How should you start a diary?" 

In The Control Problem, Vera is forced to tackle unanswered questions about her background and abilities and the unpredictable paths her future takes as she navigates a strange series of circumstances from pursuing her dream, only to find it leads into a nightmare. 

Readers may not anticipate the hard sci-fi elements that develop from Vera's quest and introductory perceptions, but these evolve in a compelling and satisfying manner as questions are answered, giving rise to different revelations and new horror as Vera comes to realize many impossible truths about her past, present, and future. 

Norah Woodsey builds mystery into Vera's story and presents the world through Vera's eyes as she becomes increasingly embroiled in a strange world that immerses her in odd circumstances about her shadowed past. As questions arise about who has control, who should relinquish it, and why Vera has no children, readers will find the surprises come non-stop. 

This is particularly notable because it's no light feat to develop a personality and world without the seasoned sci-fi reader well able to predict courses of action and development. Woodsey gives neither away and pursues Vera's unfolding conundrums with an attention to action and realization that creates a satisfyingly unpredictable story. 

Woven within the sci-fi elements are insights into women's friendships, matters of control, and a form of data collection that fails to note the real motivations and feelings of individuals: "How many women shop when they are upset? It’s what I want to do when I’m upset, and I can’t be that unusual. Who are these people who make these systems? How do you overlook something as basic as motivation of the people you are trying to assess? I laughed to myself. How inconvenient for product design, the feelings of others. Do they know people at all? Do they care?" 

The emotional threads reinforced by Vera's first-person questions and explorations bring the hard science of her world and its impossible situation to life. 

Libraries and readers looking for a blend of women's literature, hard sci-fi, and social examination will find Vera's story in The Control Problem to be enlightening, eerily akin to some forms of modern angst, and impossible to put down. 

The Control Problem

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Dispatches
Carolyn L. Baker
2Leaf Press
9781734618181             $19.99
www.2leafpress.org 

Dispatches: From Racial Divide to the Road of Repair: A Collection of Essays is not an easy read. It outlines and probes the White American identity in a manner that invites readers to conduct their own close inspection of their assumptions, prejudices, and inherent bias towards racial profiling and expectations of justice and injustice. 

Dispatches both compliments and expands the themes in Carolyn L. Baker's previous memoir An Unintentional Accomplice, her story of coming of age as a white person in segregated Southern California, but more closely examines the uncomfortable topics of systemic institutional racism, sexism, and classism in American society.

Its important messages are introduced and acclaimed by anti-racism scholar Mark Warren, which is in itself an important commendation. 

As Dispatches: From Racial Divide to the Road of Repair dovetails the history of racial disparities with their incarnation in modern America, focusing on the types of encounters which lead to the double bind many modern White Americans find themselves in when it comes to addressing this racial wall, the book's topics will lend to fiery debates in classrooms and forums devoted to societal inspection and racial issues. 

Discussions about invisible and underlying prejudices woven into the fabric of society and everyday life are never comfortable ones to undertake. Baker provides a beacon of hope in addressing how racism "has always tainted women's movements in this country," moving the discussion from male privilege and responses to White Women who are also complicit by their actions and "...often do not want to acknowledge our White skin privilege and access to power through affiliation with White men, including our fathers, brothers, husbands, and sons. However, we often take a stance suggesting weakness when we do. We cry, shut down, and then act like we have no power." 

From immigration to whitewashing and voter suppression, Baker's book will provoke all kinds of uncomfortable but necessary considerations and dialogues—especially among White women. 

And, it's about time. 

The book's candid assessment of these trends, tendencies, and deeply held social and psychological responses by White women makes Dispatches: From Racial Divide to the Road of Repair an invaluable addition to any library strong in social issues examinations. It's also an ideal choice for book club and discussion groups tackling the racial divide from both sides of the American wall of silence, ideally attracting the attention of any individual or group interested in studying and acknowledging American racism. 

Dispatches

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Don't Feed the Clowns
Dale Wannen
Precocity Press
979-8-9873501-8-8         $7.95 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Feed-Clowns-Sustainable-Investing-ebook/dp/B0BXFQWKHM 

Don't Feed the Clowns: Sustainable Investing for Everyday Life holds an important message: if sustainable living is an individual's ultimate ideal, one can't then choose investment vehicles that include companies unsupportive of this effort. 

Sustainable living choices do not always neatly translate into sustainable investing approaches, however—and that's where money manager Dale Wannen comes in. His book covers all the possibilities and pitfalls of tailoring one's investments to match one's ideals. 

It opens with a key insight: "... every penny you invest in a 401k, 403b, IRA, etc., is literally changing the way the world works. Yes, you are that special. Think about it. That decision you made by checking some boxes because “Big Daddy Large Cap Dividend Sucker Growth Fund” sounded appealing after you chatted with Kathy from HR. You know Kathy. She drives that fancy Infinity GHBG720. Kathy too is changing the world." 

Wannen points out the ongoing disparity between envisioning sustainability and actually living it: "People are walking around like zombies. But their 401k balances are way up. This is the path we have been on for decades." 

Linking individual decision-making to sustainable accountability, Wannen refuses to let the individual reader off the hook of responsibility for higher-level decision-making in the economic world. This is an important lesson, indeed. 

Some of his advice is basic Investing 101, such as setting up a sound asset allocation unique to a risk profile. The meat of his approach lies in advice that takes the time and additional steps that led more solidly into sustainable thinking and action. 

Yes, investors as a whole are already adopting this mindset. What differentiates Don't Feed the Clowns from most other surveys of sustainability is Wannen's attention to drawing further connections between money management and investor influences and impact on business behaviors and choices. 

Whether investors are interested in IRAs, mutual funds, or active investing (which involves a more hands-on approach), Wannen links typical financial vehicles, choices, and investments to bigger-picture thinking about impact, responsibility, and sustainable ideals. 

As a result, Don't Feed the Clowns is very highly recommended for readers seeking to live more sustainable lifestyles, investors looking to move their choices into financial vehicles which better support the world's health and diversity, and libraries that would add a more lively discussion of investing that incorporates social and conscious ideals into their business book collections. 

Book clubs (either reader groups or those addressing sustainable living choices) will find plenty of information for not just solid investment approaches, but discussions about the intersection of investment objectives and sustainable ideals. 

Don't Feed the Clowns

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The Eleventh Grieve
Garth Hallberg
The Reason for Everything Press
978-0-9913770-5-3         $12.99 Paper/$4.99 ebook
www.garthhallberg.com 

The Eleventh Grieve's near-future story of two women despairing about climate change holds compelling attraction because of its foundations in present-day issues and experiences, as well as its intriguing title. It grabs reader attention from its opening lines: "THERE WERE NO OYSTERS. That was how it all began." 

In the first part of the 21st century, extreme weather events are becoming the norm, not the exception. So much so that "weird weather" has gained an audience among those who would profit from its increased impact. Businessmen such as Jake Krimmer eschew any concern for environment over the profits such weather events bring to their special interests. 

Jake has more than a vested interest in denying climate change; but his attitude also holds a cost—the fate of his relationship with Samantha. She is increasingly dismayed about the planet's future, and her interests seem to lie in direct opposition to Jake's denial of climate change and his profit-making ventures based on disasters. 

Their relationship and the world are on the teetering edge of catastrophe when Rita Ten Grieve enters the picture with her time-travel ability and command of The Nimbus, a technology that holds the potential to change the world via one man's conversion. 

As she introduces ten "Grieves" that test and transform Jake, it becomes evident that not only his future, but the world's survival rests on the shoulders of an impossible transformation that needs to take place both individually and globally. 

On its surface, The Eleventh Grieve is a fable of possibilities and life lessons. But look deeper to uncover the jewel in the crown, because Jake's encounters with predictions, surprises, and seismic shifts in his relationship not just with Samantha and Rita, but the world, reflect the progressions and possibilities of healing and illness on more than an individual scale. 

Garth Hallberg weaves facts about climate change and influences with a fictional backdrop that makes both subjects thoroughly engrossing. From the role of speculators who would profit from disaster to the impact of climate policies made on social and political levels, Hallberg's story is replete with the realities of past precedent and the future possibility of either transformation or calamity. 

Hallberg himself sums up the central focus of this compelling fable: "...think of it as an object lesson for how difficult it is to do what you know in your heart needs to be done. How easy it is for people to miss the point that the future of the planet is at stake.” 

Think Dickens' A Christmas Carol, but with questions posed on a more universal level that embraces humanity's survival as a whole. 

The Eleventh Grieve's parable will reach a wide audience, from those who anticipate another "cli-fi" fictional exploration to readers who look for higher-level thinking in their stories. Libraries that recommend The Eleventh Grieve to their patrons will find it also is ideal for book club discussion groups interested not just in the physical manifestations of climate change, but the mental hoops humanity must jump through to make changes in paradigms and perceptions to address the successes and failures of climate change survival tactics. 

The Eleventh Grieve

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Five Demons
Marc Layton
Independently Published
‎979-8377539803            $14.99 Paper/$9.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Five-Demons-Occult-Detective-Novel/dp/B0BW2RY3QK 

Like William Hope Hodgson's classic Carnacki the Ghost Finder, investigator Professor Aldous Crane of Five Demons is skilled at dealing with supernatural circumstances and incarnations. Also like Carnacki, his encounters are narrated in a series of stories that probe the underbelly of the paranormal world—especially the haunted halls of the late Matthew Boudin's estate, which lure him with two experiences the Professor and his readers won't easily forget. 

The breath of intrigue and horror that permeates these encounters opens with 'The Taster' and the sensation that "At first, the sound was subtle—a whispering rustle of fabric brushing softly against the stone floor. A sound inconspicuous and non-threatening, except that it shouldn’t have been there. No sound should be there when you’re alone." 

Normally, wine expert and taster William Meyer loves his work, and the lure of deceased wine collector Matthew Boudin's estate is especially inviting and flavorful. Perhaps too much, because William has entered a private tasting of uncommon proportions and his encounter with those rich productions of the past come with a heavy price tag. "It should have been a wine collector’s dream to explore such a fabled collection, and yet, there was always the catch. Him." 

A world away in San Francisco, Professor Aldous Crane is tapped to solve a mystery that assumes superstitious proportions when the call to enter the cellar and locate six bottles of rare and valuable vintages becomes one to also dismiss allegations that a supernatural entity still presides over the collection. 

Each story rests upon the flavor of unusual hauntings that force Professor Crane to extend his experiences and knowledge in unusual ways. Each excels in presenting a very different demon. 'The Dollhouse,' for example, profiles an entity which stalks the capable Aldous himself, involving him with sister Claire's friend Sadie, whose spectacular haunting experience reaches out to embrace him with shadowy arms and personal challenges, including the pain of loss. 

Each story adds another compelling insight to the good professor's life and abilities. Each excels in a different type of haunting that expands the concept of ghostly encounters and purposes. 

Fans of supernatural detective stories that enjoy well-developed plots, tension, and contrasts in supernatural investigations will relish Five Demons, which is every bit as involving as Hodgson's classic Carnacki the Ghost Finder and adds a literary flavor to the paranormal detective experience. 

Libraries looking for well-developed ghost stories will find Five Demons a top recommendation, notable for its literary and psychological depth and the satisfying intersection of mystery and supernatural topics that is equally strong in both developments. 

Five Demons

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For a Song: The Most Enduring Tunes Ever Written
Hal Taylor
Independently Published
979-8-3507-0277-4         $26.00
www.haltaylorillustration.com 

For a Song: The Most Enduring Tunes Ever Written features text and illustrations by the author as it celebrates the history and attraction of twenty-for selected songs which Hal Taylor identifies as the most iconic creations in existence. 

Admittedly, this is a heady contention to make. As the introduction documents the importance of music in every facet of human history and life, the lingering question in the reader's mind might be: how does one determine a small number of "the best of them all," given centuries of human history? 

This is especially challenging given that readers who would think that classical and pop music pieces should be among those judged iconic will learn early on that these major genres have been purposely omitted from discussion because the author has "...intentionally omitted contemporary music like rock and all its forms and sub-genres. Ditto for Classical music. Those two disciplines have been critiqued, examined, dissected, analyzed, and written about so extensively, that I would have nothing more to contribute. Likewise for blues and jazz, America’s original music, the moon stuff from which rock and pop originated. Nor have I included Country with its Scots Irish roots (although you have to vigorously scrape the varnished exterior of contemporary “country” to find those origins today.) And I am probably the least qualified person to offer any historical introspection of rap or hip hop." 

What is left? Old songs that "have cobwebs hanging from them." This may lead contemporary readers to suspect that this book, too, will feature webs of antiquity and dullness, but this premature supposition would be wrong. Indeed, For a Song cultivates a lively dance among tunes that have unique origins, stories to tell, and a lasting impact on music. They deserve to be heard. 

Classic and well-known ditties and an entire section devoted to beloved Christmas songs trace the evolution and origins of lyrics and music so embedded in everyday life that their origins and meaning have often been obscured. One early example is an 1893 children's song penned by two schoolteachers, the 'Good Morning and Birthday Song' (aka 'Happy Birthday To You'). Their greeting song today represents one of the best-known, most widely distributed celebration songs in the world. 

'Take Me Out to the Ballgame' is another widely known song that holds fascinating history. 

Like his subject, Hal Taylor cultivates an attractive, lively tone that draws all readers into this history: 

"A year before Mel Tormé and Robert Wells sat in the California summer heat thinking cold weather thoughts, composer Leroy Anderson was on the other side of the country doing the same thing. In the middle of July, during a drought, Anderson was trying to dig up some old pipes, and envisioning a horse-drawn sleigh gliding though a snowy landscape. Unlike “The Christmas Song” however, he had no intention of penning a holiday tune, but like Tormé and Wells, he was just trying to stay cool." Thus the roots of 'Sleigh Ride,' written in the mid-1940s, evolved with a special twist—it "actually began with what is now the middle section of the tune." 

Captivatingly dynamic, enhanced by lovely illustrations that bring these tunes to life, and thoroughly engrossing (no matter what the reader's musical inclinations), For a Song is highly recommended. It ideally will appear in every arts collection where music history is featured, and many a general-interest library. It's that wide-ranging, appealing, and attractive. 

For a Song: The Most Enduring Tunes Ever Written

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How to Listen Out Loud
Lauren Powers, MCC
Pluck Publications
979-8-9875994-0-2                $14.99 Paper/$7.99 ebook
Website: www.HowtoListenOutLoud.com 
Ordering:  https://www.amazon.com/How-Listen-Out-Loud-Ridiculously/dp/B0BVD3NGBK/ 

How to Listen Out Loud: Ridiculously Powerful Skills for Leading, Relating, & Happifying comes from an author who was once a "champion non-listener," but changed her tune to become a more effective listener and coach.  Her observation that "Somehow, we’ve relegated skillful listening to just a few careers like therapists or bartenders. Which is a clever way to let the rest of us off the hook of having to listen at all" will hit home for many, and is the foundation of a guide designed to remedy the tendency to listen only to self. 

Lauren Powers promotes the active (and more mindful) approach of Listening Out Loud, reviewing the patterns that often contribute not to listening, but to negating what is heard: 

"From this unconscious place, too often, my version of listening was to talk about what I’d read most recently. That way, it wasn’t my idea for a fix, but a smarty-pants, qualified, author’s idea. It had to be better than what my friend and I could come up with. Regrettably, this simply ends up as another serving of Level 1 Listening with a dollop of look-how-well-read-I-am." 

The meat of her approach lies in examples that will prove especially hard-hitting to readers who thought they already did a good job of listening to others. Many will find these examples eye-opening, as Powers shows why they are too often not effective and outlines better paths for active listening that encourage more meaningful dialogue and better understanding. 

As readers progress through these examples and lessons, they will find themselves developing better listening skills which promote empathy and deeper interpersonal connections as well as an overall healthier approach to life and one's place in it. 

As for the skills themselves, they are delivered in the form of tips, exercises, and examples that reinforce the nature of better listening through everyday life encounters every reader can relate to. 

The result is a powerful message reinforced by solid examples of how to overcome built-in habits and messages to be not just a better listener, but a better contributor to positive relationships throughout all facets of life. 

Libraries and readers seeking self-help titles that encourage self-assessment and better listening skills will find How to Listen Out Loud a key lesson in both being heard and hearing more effectively. 

How to Listen Out Loud

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How to Love Yourself: In Less Than a Week & Also for the Rest of Your Life
Rachel Madorsky, LCSW
Muse Literary
978-1-958714-11-9        
$10.99 Hardcover/$4.86 Paper/$4.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1958714127 

How to Love Yourself: In Less Than a Week & Also for the Rest of Your Life provides readers with permission to love themselves more fully, which translates to a less judgmental attitude and more acceptance and love for others, in turn. 

Self-love does not usually come as an inherent part of nature, but is a practice that needs honing and exercise like any other routine. 

How to Love Yourself provides short, simple, but powerful admonitions designed to teach readers this process of greater self-love throughout the day: 

"Today is the day. I will love myself from now on. It doesn’t matter how much I do or do not understand fully what that means or how to do it. I’m in. I promise to learn, and I promise to enjoy the learning. I love myself, no matter what from now on." 

These hard-hitting insights are useful whether contemplated individually to help drive the day's decisions and experiences, or utilized in a group setting either by book club discussions interested in self-improvement routines or in psychological circles: "In any given moment we can love ourselves more by reminding ourselves to let it be easy." 

As easy as it should be to self-love, many similar-sounding titles make such a production out of the effort that ordinary readers may be stymied by the process. 

How to Love Yourself creates quick, inspirational, digestible insights in how to incorporate these practices into daily routines and the busiest of lives. 

Its messages make How to Love Yourself a strong recommendation for any self-help, self-improvement, or group effort.
How to Love Yourself: In Less Than a Week & Also for the Rest of Your Life
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The Kitchen and the Studio: A Memoir of Food and Art
Mallory M. O’Connor and John A. O’Connor
Atmosphere Press
978-1-63988-796-5         $56.95 Hardcover/$45.95 paper
www.atmospherepress.com 

The Kitchen and the Studio: A Memoir of Food and Art is a rare combination of art book, memoir, and culinary exploration highly recommended for readers interested in successful intersections of the arts. 

Mallory M. O’Connor and John A. O’Connor chronicle their lives together, their community involvements, and their shared passion for art and food in a love story about many subjects. Their effort is illustrated with John’s original paintings that accompany photographs of celebrations. 

The celebration of love, food, and nature assumes an uplifting tone from the start, rich in the color images that liberally accent the authors' memories, insights, and even historical reflections on the history of classic culinary dishes such as Beef Wellington: 

"It is generally agreed that Beef Wellington was likely created in celebration of the first Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, and his victory at the Battle of Waterloo on June 18, 1815. The Duke was given his title after defeating Napoleon Bonaparte the year before, and not long after he became Prime Minister. The dish is probably French (Boeuf en Croute) but was renamed during the 19th century wars with France to celebrate Wellington’s victory. Or so they say. In any event, Beef Wellington is a magnificent dish to serve at a fancy party. It takes a lot of preparation and is quite the attention-getter on the table or buffet." 

It's rare to see all these elements under one cover, but the O'Connors achieve this special blend through shared memories, reflections, and artistic eyes. These  are transmitted to readers via visual and written vehicles that supersede the linear approaches of most recipe books, memoirs, or culinary histories. 

The food illustrations often include a touch of whimsy, as in the pastel for 'Country-Style Green Beans' which features an uncommon observer in the background of the dish. 

Think of the richness of James Beard's classic Delights and Prejudices, which surveys food and life from more than a singular vision, for a sense of the multifaceted attraction that is The Kitchen and the Studio. 

Libraries, cooks, and readers who love uplifting blends of life experience will find the art and culinary insights equally powerful and attractive here, and well worthy of repeat reading. 

The Kitchen and the Studio: A Memoir of Food and Art

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Muslim Mechanics, The View From Behind the Curtain
Charles H. Brewton
John Hunt Publishing
978-1-80341-050-0                $25.95 Paper/$12.99 ebook
Website: www.MuslimMechanics.com
Ordering:
https://www.amazon.com/Muslim-Mechanics-View-Behind-Curtain/dp/1803410507 

Muslim Mechanics, The View From Behind the Curtain offers a primer on Muslims for Christian readers, and should be considered an essential ingredient in fostering understanding between the religions of the world. 

A number of other books on the subject have attempted this approach, but too often fall prey to overt or covert prejudices that wind up attacking Islam's deepest contentions in an effort to make the contrast favorable to Christian beliefs. 

Another difference between Charles H. Brewton's approach and others is his focus on the concepts of Sharia Law, which are embedded into democratic principles and Christian history, as well as Muslim faith. 

A third important note is that Muslim Mechanics assumes no prior familiarity with either Christian or Muslim concepts. This allows those with varying levels of familiarity with either faith to fully engage with a coverage that clarifies the basic concepts which drive the Muslim faith and life choices.

Brewton doesn't neglect the political ramifications of his subject, either: 


"The inquiries about who is Muslim and who is not, and under what conditions and circumstances, are critical questions for Islamic fundamentalists. They are fundamental questions for jihadis since takfir is pivotal to identify the enemies who must be fought and killed. The issue of takfir was one of the significant contention points in the conflict between Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. Al-Qaeda holds the more moderate position, according to which takfir applies to selected individuals. In contrast, IS leaders use it more freely and do not hesitate to brand as heretical entire movements, communities, or sects, such as the Shi’ites." 

This approach allows for a much greater depth of understanding of not just Muslim faith, but the foundation concepts that drive political and cultural entities either together or apart. 

The contrasts in political approaches influenced by Muslim beliefs and perceptions lend to a special form of enlightenment not usually proffered in simple contrasts of belief systems: "Several Muslim nations such as Egypt, Jordan, and even Saudi Arabia have found that having political relations with Israel can improve security, trade, and economic opportunity. Some Muslim countries like Iran and Syria cannot let go of historical and contemporary enmity. The issue of whose God has sovereignty in this land has created the overall schism." 

The result is a wide-ranging connection between faith and social and political history and choices. 

Muslim Mechanics, The View From Behind the Curtain ideally will be chosen for all kinds of library holdings, but is especially highly recommended for book club and debate groups interested in the connections between belief systems and their social and political incarnations. 

The ability of Muslim Mechanics to reach all kinds of audiences with clear enlightenment about these special connections makes it a top recommendation over other books which too often contrast beliefs without showing how these are reflected in real-world political and social actions. 

Muslim Mechanics, The View From Behind the Curtain

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The Orthodox Martial Art is Living the Sermon on the Mount
CJS Hayward
CJS Hayward Publications

979-8374612257
$19.99 Hardcover/$11.99 Paper/$2.99 ebook
Website:
https://cjshayward.com/
Ordering: https://cjshayward.com/martial-art/ 

The Orthodox Martial Art is Living the Sermon on the Mount departs from CJS Hayward's other works, linking the Sermon on the Mount to Orthodoxy in a manner that promotes and links the Sermon to martial arts mastery. 

Hayward opens with many thought-provoking statements, not the least of which is a discourse on the belief that Christians need to be more cognizant of catch phrases and words that describe their mission. His attack on the vague "lay down your life for your neighbor" and his consideration of the violence underlying this concept invites further discourse and reflection on the notion of Christians killing and fighting. 

As always, Hayward's ability to both analyze and pull no punches in analyzing the belief systems and underlying psychological and spirituality which are part of Orthodoxy comes to the forefront in discussions which are as passionate as they are studious: 

"The Orthodox Church indisputably has warrior-saints, including the patron of our monastery, but the Greek Fathers have precious little of a concept of "just war." The only Church Father I am aware of speaking in favor of Just War was Blessed Augustine, and I have said in other contexts that if St. Augustine is your only friend among the Fathers, you are on shaky ground. I do not see what theological warrant buttresses the assertion that Orthodox Christians believe in just war." 

From his analysis and consideration of "slippery words in Orthodoxy" to deeper reflections on the gifts of the Sermon on the Mount which appear in disparate ways ("It was by the Sermon on the Mount not following protocol that an Orthodox elder responded to a subordinate who had let loose a torrent of toxic words against him by giving him a small gift and saying, 'Always talk to me that way!'"), CJS Hayward creates discussion points and insights that lend particularly well to debate in Orthodox circles. 

From what translates to successful and ultimate mastery to how intention and spiritual reflection are employed both internally and externally, Hayward creates discussions that are passionate, vivid, and filled with life: 

"The martial artist I most respect said, humbly, gently, modestly, that even in the close calls, he had said, "You're the tough guy," and backed down, or run away, or almost anything possible (whatever it took), coming out the loser in every social confrontation, and he went on to say, "Most people who think they want to fight don't really want to fight." And I submit that the proof of his profound mastery of his art was this: he has passed through minefield after minefield after minefield such as I almost certainly could not, without stepping on a mine even once. The point is not that he happened to be carrying a first aid kit in case he did step on a mine. The point is not that he was carrying a very, very good first aid kit in case he did step on a mine. The proof of his mastery is that, as of my last knowledge, he had never needed to open his first aid kit, not even once. And indeed martial artists often defuse a potential fight before most outsiders would recognize there was anything going out of the ordinary going on." 

Given how martial arts is reflected in credentials, teachings, and instances in Hayward's life when he was granted extraordinary realizations and experiences that reinforced Orthodoxy beliefs and underlying messages, this book is a synthesis of his life work and revelations. It invites thinking Orthodoxy readers and Christians alike to reconsider some of the basic tenets of belief in a new way. 

Libraries seeking a contemporary discourse on Orthodoxy's presence in and ongoing relevance to current daily living will find The Orthodox Martial Art is Living the Sermon on the Mount spirited, wide-ranging, and thought-provoking. It's essential reading for those who would link the underlying foundations of Orthodoxy to modern times. 

The Orthodox Martial Art is Living the Sermon on the Mount

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The Power of PR Parenting
Marjie Hadad
Muse Literary
978-1-958714-65-2
$24.99 Hardcover/$14.99 Paper/$4.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Power-Parenting-confident-resilient-successful/dp/1958714658 

The Power of PR Parenting: How to Raise Confident, Resilient, and Successful Children Using Public Relations Strategies connects two seemingly-disparate subjects in a survey that working parents, in particular, will appreciate. 

This audience might initially question how strategic public relations techniques can apply to basic childrearing, but Marjie Hadad's connections between the two are astute, entertaining, and realistic; from managing chaos with grace to instilling self-confidence in children and encouraging them to be their best. 

Hadad's admonitions are passionate and lively: "...be prepared to manage a time commitment to chauffer, watch and cheerlead. As parents, we are the executive producers, and it’s on us to oversee the process, keep all costs within the defined budget, and ensure that our children are learning and having a great time doing it. Again, and this is really important: It’s NOT about perfection, winning an award, or becoming professional. It’s about enjoyment and strengthening self-esteem and poise." 

Many different aspects of a parent's reactions to life events and the process of supporting their child come to life. These include addressing issues of safety in public (whether it be on the streets or handling altercations and strangers on a bus), being laid off from work, and other circumstances which influence family dynamics, parenting, and raising kids to be strong individuals. 

Hadad's public relations rules, lessons, and guidelines come into play in virtually every aspect of life, while her candid examination of her own world and the hard lessons learned from life events reinforces these concepts and how they play out in the real world. 

Perhaps in no other parenting guide is the message of positivity so strongly profiled. Perhaps nowhere else are the public relations guidelines to success so powerfully connected to parenting approaches and choices. 

Perhaps—no, make that definitely—The Power of PR Parenting should be made a foundation acquisition for any library strong in parenting books, parents interested in building relationships and approaches cemented by the real-world applications of business principles, and any book club or parenting group interested in lively discussions of what it means to be a powerful leader and teacher to one's children. 

The Power of PR Parenting

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Sex, Drugs and Navel-Gazing
William MacDuff
Edingsville Village Press
979-8986734200                    $17.99
Website: sexdrugsandnavelgazing.com
Ordering Link: https://www.amazon.com/Sex-Drugs-Navel-Gazing-American-Joyride/dp/B0BF2ZJVYR

Sex, Drugs and Navel-Gazing: An American Joyride Through Basque Country and South West France is a spirited romp that represents both a travelogue and a humorous erotic adventure. It will attract readers via its ribald adventures of counterculture narrated in a voice that doesn't just attract reader interest, but pulls like a magnet. 

An early example of this immediate draw is the story's opening lines: "In adventures to foreign lands with an assorted crew of committed degenerates, it always helps to have a local guide as part of the squad. Traveling exclusively with a bunch of American twenty-somethings with Peter Pan syndrome trying to relive the glory days is an embossed, gold-letter cardstock invitation to a disaster party." 

William MacDuff begins his odyssey (aka "a sordid reunion of a bunch of recovering frat boys in Europe") in the coastal Basque town of San Sebastián, where the author and his compatriots are "hopping the pond" to France for a week in a quiet surf town. 

His observation of this choice and its impact is anything but staid or for readers used to travelogues that revere the wonder of foreign locales: "...it turns out I physically cannot last more than seventy-two consecutive hours in Basque Country. That place is a disgustingly perfect little piece of hellish paradise. It is a ghastly beauty." 

The story unfolds with all the sordid details, escapades, and drama of a travel experience that embraces vastly different people, joining them with shared situations filled with testosterone and the jocular interactions between boys, men, and those on the cusp of change. 

Those who choose Sex, Drugs and Navel-Gazing will find it a joyride not only into sex and drugs, but an exploration of the intersection of different European cultures. The narrator encounters different people of all ages, saturating himself in "two of the universal languages, booze and women" as he connects with vastly different individuals from all walks of life. 

In effect, Sex, Drugs and Navel-Gazing represents a cross-cultural odyssey whereby new adults and adults create an eclectic mix of coordinated and uncoordinated life rendezvous to illustrate heady (and sometimes dangerous) interactions and lessons. 

Readers looking for a journey replete with sex, drugs, and cross-cultural revelations will find themselves joining the author on this promised joyride. The only requirement is that any political correctness or judgment be left behind. Boys will be boys, and the foundations of their growth can be found here and relived by the open mind interested in the open road where growth and discovery exist alongside crossroads of revelation and angst. 

Libraries seeking the rollicking joyride of a European road trip should place Sex, Drugs and Navel-Gazing at the top of their acquisition lists. 

Sex, Drugs and Navel-Gazing

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Who You Are Is How You Lead
Rachel L. Rider
Muse Literary
978-1-958714-72-0
$24.99 Hardcover/$14.99 Paper/$4.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Who-You-Are-How-Lead/dp/1958714720 

Who You Are Is How You Lead is for any leader who has felt exhausted by the effort, and who seeks insights on how to better guide others without impacting personal survival mechanisms or sacrificing personal life outside the company. 

As Rachel L. Rider says, this book is a tapestry of experiences reflected not just by the author, but those around her. It echoes her years of working with executives frustrated by their successes as much as their failures and surveys the patterns of achievement that demand a more complex skill set from business leaders. 

The premise of her guide is clearly stated from the start: "No one tells you that there is an unwritten part of your job description as a leader. At the highest levels of the organization, there is an implicit list of skills required to succeed, skills that you’ve likely spent little time developing. It was most likely your ability to execute that drove your progress and promotions until now." 

These undiscussed skills can lead to success conundrums that stymie leaders unless this book is employed as a guideline for identifying, understanding, and ultimately disrupting the patterns that can stymie upward-bound leaders in many different ways. 

Examples abound, from survival mechanisms that translate to superpowers to handling company acquisitions challenges and considering the lessons of adaptation that lie in seeming untenable situations. 

All these issues are cemented by real-world experiences from Rider's life and those around her, bringing a grounded sense of life experience to the table that reflects not just one, but a range of business and personal adaptation processes. 

Libraries and readers from business circles would seem the likely audience for Who You Are Is How You Lead, but ideally the concept of leadership patterns and lessons won't be limited to this audience alone. Many a collection and book reading group devoted to empowerment and pattern-breaking choices will find much fodder for discussion in this book's premises on how to "dream bigger" rather than just being known as an "anchor in the storm." 

Who You Are Is How You Lead

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Young Adult/Childrens

Baby Dragon's Big Sneeze
Sheryl Bass
Be-Kind Publishing
979-8-9870406-0-7
$18.99 Hardcover/$12.99 Paper/$.99 ebook
www.be-kindpublishing.com 

Baby Dragon's Big Sneeze teaches kids ages 3-7 about empathy and trust, and will delight read-aloud parents seeking books that are attractive for their adventures and emotional insights. 

Remesh Ram provides colorful, fun illustration to Sheryl Bass's exploration as a sick baby dragon finds that his fiery sneezes are causing problems for everyone around him. Can those threatened by his destructive potential find it within their hearts to forgive and help him? 

One little girl bravely enters the cave to discover the truth about this fiery dragon's desperate situation. 

Bass provides all kinds of emotional lessons in her story, from empathy and problem-solving to courage, family connections, unexpected relationships that can emerge from adversarial situations, and understanding one's world. 

Parents of kids who love fairytales and dragon stories will find the book's initial allure and promise of a dragon situation will give them the edge to open discussions about emotional topics that kids of this age typically don't understand. 

Libraries will find Baby Dragon's Big Sneeze colorful, attractive, and a popular choice for read-aloud parents and kids who love fantasy stories.    

Baby Dragon's Big Sneeze

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Chester Midshipmouse: Time and Tide
Susan Weisberg
Brass Button Books
978-0-9990579-1-9        
$32.99 Hardcover/$16.99 Paper/$6.99 ebook
Paperback available wherever fine books are sold.
Hardcover: order via website or order/purchase at Naval Academy
www.chestermidshipmouse.com 

Chester Midshipmouse: Time and Tide sails the mouse kingdom with the final book in a trilogy about a nautical house mouse's seafaring adventures. 

On the cusp of graduating from the Naval Mouse Academy, Chester experiences new challenges and adventures as he pursues his goals. 

Artist Maggie Vandewalle contributes to Chester's world, bringing him to life with nine color (hardback and ebook versions) or black and white (soft cover book) full-page illustrations, accented by four thumbnail sketches within, as the story unfolds.   

Chester's final year of training should be a snap, but when he faces mouse traps, tries to help a fellow student overcome failing grades, and faces a dangerous predator that demands he exhibit training he's barely absorbed (much less applied to the real world), Chester finds his paws full. 

Intrigue, attempts to build character and purpose through hard life lessons as well as the challenges of study, and moral and ethical questions unfold as Chester begins to realize that the pursuit of learning is also a process of testing his abilities before lessons are even completed. 

Susan Weisberg has a winning, likeable character in Chester the mouse. She weaves realistic Naval Academy experiences into the fictional story, providing young readers with an especially vivid journey through naval studies which are usually not afforded to young readers. 

The fantasy and fun opens with a strike fighter squadron composed of a mouse strapped to an eagle's back. As the Super Eagle's maneuvers test Chester's stomach and abilities, so other experiences arise to test his mettle and determination. 

Humor is also replete in educational examples that kids will find hilarious and familiar: 

“Since the platoon offers one hawberry for each raspberry but the commanding officer requests double the amount of hawberries and the platoon doesn’t have them, now we are talking about imaginary numbers. So, we write it like this…” Chester continued jotting numbers and symbols.
“Why don’t they offer the asparagus instead?” Dilly suggested.
 

"Little kitties" that seem quite large and puzzling and humans who appear to "speak cat," along with the routines of Academy life, bring to life Chester, his friends, and humans that mirror the mouse's Naval life. Midshipmen First Class B. Wise and T. Briggs, who befriend the brave mice, bring facets of the Naval world to life in a rollicking series of adventures that involve readers of all ages in the worlds of man and mouse ... and Naval Academy experiences. 

The result is a fantasy, an adventure, a coming-of-age tale, and a thought-provoking venture into the halls of Naval training through the eyes of a mouse who wisely observes that the challenges will continue far beyond classroom walls. 

Libraries and readers who enjoyed the prior books in the series, or who look for a vivid tale of struggle and change ala Watership Down, will find the Naval Academy milieu and pursuits of man and mouse to be inviting, action-packed, and fun as Chester develops unusual friendships and hones his abilities. 

“Fair winds and following seas.” Chester spoke with force and volume, “Whatever you do and wherever you go, strive valiantly and dare greatly.” 

Chester Midshipmouse: Time and Tide

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The Coyote King
Sally Alexander
Independently Published
978-1-958459-08-9         $24.99 Hardcover/$3.99 Kindle
Website:
www.sallyalexander.com 
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Coyote-King-Caitlin-Adventure-Adventures/dp/1958459062 

The fifth book in the Caitlin and Rio adventure series for ages 8-12 presents a new dilemma faced by a girl and her magical cat when a pack of wild coyotes threatens children and pets. 

The opening chapter recapping Ragdoll cat Rio and human Caitlin's previous adventures provides a smooth introduction that allows newcomers to immediately understand the magical milieu of the two, while prior fans can choose to skip the review to delve right into the story in the second chapter, which opens with a Saturday Pajama Day celebration. 

Several streams of adventure run through this lively tale, from a new family in the neighborhood to the reappearance of the ever-evil MacDougal, along with a problem-causing pack of wild coyotes. 

Between all these tense encounters, Caitlin and Rio seem to have their hands and paws full. It's a good thing they have best friends to help. It's also a plus that Rio's magical abilities give them an added edge over evil's powers. 

Sally Alexander creates an engrossing story that once again tests Caitlin and Rio on many levels; from their inherent abilities and connections with each other and supportive friends to their determination to try to lead an ordinary life under extraordinary circumstances. This objective is too often tested, but Caitlin remains determined to enjoy her childhood: "The morning of the party, Caitlin was determined that she was not going to let anything upset her." 

The trappings of winter and coming holiday festivities also lend an atmospheric seasonal touch as Caitlin and Rio become involved with animated fighting Snowmen and holiday decorations that develop new ways of fighting the coyote pack. 

Rio is determined to protect Caitlin from these wild teeth, but both feel danger hot on their heels as their different defenses fall apart. 

Young readers will find The Coyote King spirited. It's filled with confrontations, realizations and discoveries, holiday trappings, and the injection of evil into the celebratory picture. 

The Coyote King is another winning adventure that both adds to the series and stands nicely on its own for newcomers. 

The Coyote King

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Ella Learns to Dance
Stenetta Anthony
Covenant Books, Inc. 
978-1-68526-665-3         $14.95 Paper/$8.49 Kindle
Website:  http://www.stenettaanthony.weebly.com
Ordering:  Amazon-Ella Learns to Dance 

Ella Learns to Dance is a picture book filled with lovely illustrations that reinforce the story of achieving an impossible dream. 

Learning to dance may not seem impossible to most, but Ella is an elephant who loves the graceful moves of ballet dancers on television, and longs to emulate their talents. 

Her decision to join a ballet class evokes laughter among her peers because “Whoever heard of an elephant that does ballet?” 

Luckily for Ella, her friends aren't the end-all of her dreams, because her determination leads her first to observe the class in action, then to tackle the most basic requirements of the dance, which at first feel impossible for her to master. 

Perseverance pays off. That's the underlying message in a fine story that invites young audiences to understand that hard work and a big dream can produce winning results. 

Read-aloud parents and libraries seeking fictional stories that excel in illustration quality, reinforcing an underlying message of positivity with a whimsical touch, will find Ella Learns to Dance offers an important lesson in achievement. 

Ella Learns to Dance

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The Extraordinary Curiosities of Ixworth and Maddox
J.D. Grolic
ThisSmallSpace

978-1-7388707-0-7                $12.99 Paper/$3.99 ebook
Website: www.jdgrolic.com
Ordering: https://books2read.com/extraordinarycuriosities 

Middle grade readers seeking a compelling adventure will find The Extraordinary Curiosities of Ixworth and Maddox a fine bend of mystery and fantasy. It's about a pre-teen who makes friends with curious London shop owners, then embarks on a series of adventures based upon spells, a missing magician, and encounters with strange creatures such as brownies. 

Once an herbalist's shop, then abandoned, the newly revamped store transforms overnight. Middle grade readers will be piqued by the blend of old-fashioned language and the portent of extraordinary adventure that these changes promise: "How Chloe Ashley—a normal, everyday girl who went to school, rode the bus, did chores and loved books—came to be friends with Mr. Ixworth and Mr. Maddox is a tale, like many, born from a single coincidental moment." 

When Chloe befriends the two odd proprietors of the shop, she falls into an adventure and world she never saw coming, and Maddox finds his friendship tested and his world upended as a result: “Essentially, a magician is the landlord of his realm. He can Evict anyone he chooses, even other magicians.”
“Why would Ixworth Evict you?” said Chloe. “You’re friends.”
“I don’t know,” said Maddox. “I’m not even sure it was him. It was a very strong spell.”
 

As events unfold and Chloe and Maddox pursue an elusive and odd truth, the ordinary becomes extraordinary at unexpected turns and in all levels of their pursuit, whether it be landing in an ordinary house or discovering that modern technology can be used to solve problems, such as a map of London tacked to the wall of this strange place which reveals clues in as ordinary a thing as a hat rack. 

J.D. Grolic encourages young readers to pursue the clues and unusual presence of magic in their own lives. As Chloe's story and friendships evolve, this audience will become thoroughly immersed in twists and turns which contrast exceptional moments with everyday London experiences. 

The wry sense of humor that unexpectedly accompanies many of these scenes is nicely done: "Chloe was tempted to take a picture with her mobile. She would call it Maddox Taking a Bath in the River Tyburn. They would laugh about it later, but the seriousness of their situation stopped her, and she decided instead to just watch things unfold." 

Libraries and young readers will find the book's title, The Extraordinary Curiosities of Ixworth and Maddox, lives up to its name and promise as Chloe and Maddox turn up some surprising revelations about London, which is tinged with a magic that, to Maddox, "sticks out like a sore thumb." It also attracts with a quest that will revise the characters' lives and test their friendship in a story that comes so packed with surprise and delight that it's hard to put down. 

The Extraordinary Curiosities of Ixworth and Maddox

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Falling Star
Michele Kwasniewski
Rand-Smith Books

978-1950544363            $20.00
www.Rand-Smith.com 

Falling Star is the third book in the Rise and Fall of Dani Truehart series, and opens with a powerful scenario in its prologue that claims the narrator has "just made the biggest mistake of my life" before a terrible accident. 

Dani then awakens to the impact her talent manager has on her life as he and his creepy assistant Carlton force her to add fuel to the fire of her tragedy by involving her in a cover-up. 

Dani is no ordinary girl. She's a pop star whose talents have propelled her to the top, but she's not immune to making poor choices, or the influences of those around her who are determined to preserve her fame and fortune. 

As Dani faces the impact of her decisions, she falls prey to the notion that her career is worth any sacrifice. Even another life. The lure of her abilities and their ongoing appeal and strength cannot be denied under any circumstances: 

"In spite of everything going on in my life offstage, my performance is sheer perfection! It wipes away any misgivings I’ve had about the choices I’ve made over the past few days. I am meant to be on this stage and give my fans what they want. Whatever it takes to keep me here is what needs to happen." 

Or, can they? 

As Dani faces violations on many levels and comes to realize her own strength and choices in handling those around her, she struts on a different stage of empowerment and comes to acknowledge the moral and ethical sacrifices involved in reaching for the stars. 

Michele Kwasniewski crafts a powerful voice in following Dani's rise and fall and her blossoming self-awareness: 

“I live and breathe my career. If I’m not touring, I’m recording, or rehearsing, or making appearances. I don’t think there’s anything in this world I need more than music. It’s taken so much for me to get here; I never really had a childhood, I’m a high school dropout. My career has torn my family apart, ruined my relationship with my mom, boyfriend, and best friend. I’ve given up everything to become Dani Truehart. There is nothing more to me right now. Maybe when I’m older, a husband or some kids. But I’ve never really imagined those things for my future because I was always told to focus on getting here. As pathetic and shallow as that sounds, this is me one hundred percent, warts and all. I thrive and make my mistakes in the public eye." 

Dani's moving story comes to life for prior fans and newcomers to the series, offering many touching moments of self-inspection and life processes that can serve as discussion points for teen reading groups. 

Painted with the lure of music, romance, and women's issues, Falling Star is a powerful story highly recommended for any library strong in teen fiction, and for young adults attracted to stories of growth and self-realization. 

Falling Star

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The Fish Stick Detective
John Kilby
Austin Macauley Publishers

9781649799906
$4.95 e-book/$7.95 paperback/$23.95 hardcover
Website:
https://www.thefishstickdetective.com/
Ordering: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-fish-stick-detective-john-kilby/1143074831 

The Fish Stick Detective presents picture book readers with the zany specter of fish stick Hake Pollock, whose second-floor office on the corner of Tartar and Gorton is so hot, he feels like he is baking when his next case bursts through the door: 

"Dame Jane Great-Dane burst into his office like a sumo in a sauna –too hot and too strong.
“The diamond is gone!” she cried.
The fish stick detective looked up. “The Neil Diamond?”
 

At this point, it should be more than evident that this story is not just for kids. John Kilby's whimsical word plays, references to fish and culture, and hard-boiled detective scenario, paired with impossible characters, gives it many literary allusions and references that will prove hilarious to adults who choose this book for read-aloud to the young. 

As the fishy story evolves, Hake finds himself in dogged pursuit of the Neil Diamond, encountering a host of suspects in the process. From the natural history of prime Suspect One, Humboldt penguin Sir Humboldt Penn-Gwynn, to the possibilities of a magpie who likes to hoard bright and shiny objects, the jokes just keep coming. 

Brilliant, colorful illustrations by Mark Penrod personalize, dramatize, and excellently represent these disparate characters as the story unfolds. 

The Fish Stick Detective's uncommon blend of approaches displays the nuances of a hard-boiled detective story paired  with the wordplay of a delightful literary game. 

Libraries and readers of all ages seeking a story and illustrations that are exceptional in their original thinking and colorful action will welcome The Fish Stick Detective's captivating, uniquely whimsical picture book mystery. 

The Fish Stick Detective

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Miracle Mello
Sahel Amani-Ghoreyshi
Precious Gifts
979-8-9852447-0-0
$26.28 Hardcover/$17.95 Paper/$9.99 Kindle
www.Preciousgifts.life 

Families who choose Miracle Mello for its messages on positivity, keeping hope alive, and experiencing life's miracles will find their read-aloud experience enhanced by not just an uplifting message, but Iole Rosa's gorgeous illustrations.

A yellow-eyed kitten enjoys a lovely picnic in the park with her mother, but disaster strikes when she becomes separated from her mother while heading home and finds herself literally up a tree in the dark. 

Meanwhile, Ms. Safa has been longing for a kitty of her own. It seems destiny when they connect. It also feels inevitable that they will separate. 

As Sahel Amani-Ghoreyshi explores these miracles of reconnection, connection, and new beginnings, adults have many opportunities to explore the magic and wonder of life with the young. The final message, that "miracles happen every day," will both enlighten and provide hope and understanding to all ages, building a foundation of flexibility and positivity. 

Libraries and read-aloud adults looking for an uplifting message about life's changes and handling downturns will find Miracle Mello an important story to share and discuss, especially during hard times. 

Miracle Mello

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Quarter Horse Kids: An Eventer
Jill Thomas

Goldenrod Publishing
979-8-9853733-6-3
$26.95 Hardcover/$17.95 Paper/$6.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Quarter-Horse-Kids-Eventer-Dressage/dp/B0BSJG7SN6 

Quarter Horse Kids: An Eventer: Dressage, Stadium Jumping, and Cross Country follows 14-year-old Katherine as she works with her horse Piper in eventing (a three-part competition). 

Color photos open the blend of autobiography and horse story with images of Katherine at a young age, riding horses at her grandparents' farm in upstate New York. As her photo-driven story moves on to describe how her efforts are a family affair, these action-packed photos supplement equally vivid accounts of how event horses are trained, cared for, and utilized. 

Horse-crazy kids of all ages will welcome the opportunity to vicariously experience the world of horse evening through Katherine's eyes and images, and will learn much about not just competition, but the daily routines of caring for and training a horse. 

Readers will learn terms such as dressage, jumper shows, on the bridle and free walk as they are paced through every nuance of Katherine's horse-filled world. The photos also support the story every step of the way. 

Libraries and adults seeking real-world horse stories for kids will find colorful attraction in Katherine's experiences, which educates all ages about the hard work involved in maintaining and training a horse. Quarter Horse Kids: An Eventer: Dressage, Stadium Jumping, and Cross Country will prove highly attractive to educators and young people looking for practical, insightful horse-based nonfiction. 

Quarter Horse Kids: An Eventer

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Rock On, Dr. Peanut: 12 Nutty Tales
Alan Venable
One Monkey Books
978-1-940722-13-9                $12.95
Publisher: www.OneMonkeyBooks.com
Ordering: 
https://onemonkeybooks.com/young-readers

Rock On, Dr. Peanut: 12 Nutty Tales is a delightfully original collection of stories for children ages six and over who like fantasy and whimsical humor.   

Dr. Peanut and his gang are well-liked ... by too many people who covet their deliciousness. This could justify going into hiding, but Dr. Peanut is an active peanutrician who needs to be out in the world, and so he circumvents hungry forces by wearing disguises: 

"So when talking peanuts go out, they try to fool the giants. They dress up to look like things that giants don’t eat. Sometimes they dress up as mice. (Most giants don’t eat mice.) Sometimes they hide by carrying tree leaves on their heads. (Most giants don’t eat the leaves off trees.)" 

Elementary-age kids will relish the proactive rebellion of talking peanuts who take a stand against hungry giants.  As peanuts, snails, and humans join forces for this
and other greater causes, readers will follow them through an inviting series of conundrums of kindness, wisdom, science, and wordplay.  Enlivened  by black and white line drawings by the author, this dozen of thoroughly “nutty” adventures delivers more than a dash of  thought-provoking psychological revelation.
 

Rock On, Dr. Peanut: 12 Nutty Tales

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Super Doople
K.A. Cummins
Eleonora Press
‎978-173292007
$14.99 Hardcover/$9.99 Paper/$4.99 ebook
Website: https://eleonorapress.com/superdoople/
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Super-Doople-K-Cummins/dp/1732920079 

Picture book readers will find hero Doople takes the unlikely form of a good egg who is more than ordinary, endowed with superpowers. At a very young age Doople dreams of flying, but despite his efforts to reach the sky via climbing, he is constantly warned that reaching for this particular dream will lead him to fall like Humpty. 

Little Doople doesn't listen to the naysayers and insists on his pursuit, until one day a terrible wind leads to his downfall and others' dire predictions come true. Or, do they? 

It takes a village to recover from an egg-shattering event, much less support an impossible dream, but as Little Doople faces his downfall and enlightenment, a miracle happens, fueled by a scientist helper who has been studying how to put dooples back together again. 

There's only one way to test one's dreams and abilities: by trying. 

Read-aloud parents and libraries that choose Super Doople for its entertainment promise will find added value in a takeoff on Humpty Dumpty that features a different outcome. A study in positivity and perseverance emerges that will delight any adult seeking lessons reinforcing these concepts for the very young, powered by whimsical, fun illustrations by the author in a very important message. 

Super Doople

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The Weber House
Mark Lance
Atmosphere Press
9781639885794             $14.99 Paper/$7.99 Kindle
Website: theweberhousemystery.com 

Nicole Kelly's new home is haunted. She discovers this fact as her mother is driving them to join her father at their latest abode in the small town of Elk River in rural Maine. Did anyone ask her if she wanted to move? Of course not. But here she is: collateral damage in a family effort to build a new life. 

The Weber House will reach young adults interested in mystery and detective stories with its powerful story of friendships and problem-solving. Entering eighth grade is supposed to be fun, but Nicole discovers that starting all over is easier said than done. 

Ironically, as her life becomes filled with new friends, ghosts, pirates, and another outcast who is proud of her Native American roots, Nicole comes to discover more about history, prejudice, and superstition than she ever experienced in New Jersey. 

Mark Lance uses the allure of a ghost story and mystery to build the foundations of an equally appealing story of friendships, new beginnings, and unexpected, unusual connections made between very different girls. 

Teens drawn to the story for its supernatural promise will come to appreciate its underlying messages about racism, bullying, and proactive thinking. These create powerful messages about perseverance, problem-solving, and life lessons. 

It's also important to note that the Native American historical and cultural components of this story are reinforced by Lance's consultations with experts, including "Chief Richard Menard from the Missisquoi Abenaki Nation. Without knowing me whatsoever, Chief Menard not only read the story but offered it to others in his family and the Abenaki community in Swanton, Vermont." 

What began as a gift for his daughter to reflect their experiences and shared vacations in Maine has evolved into an important story compelling both for its action and adventure and for its cultural and social insights. 

Libraries and readers seeking the allure of the supernatural juxtaposed with real-world experiences and concerns will find The Weber House an immersive experience that draws from its opening lines and proves riveting to its unexpected, powerfully thought-provoking conclusion. 

The Weber House

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Winnie Goes to School
Joy K. Ball
Independently Published
979-8-9870922-1-7
$18.99 Hardcover/$12.99 Paper/$3.99 Kindle
Website: www.joykball.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Winnie-Goes-School-Joy-Ball/dp/B0BNV2FYWZ 

Winnie Goes to School connects nature with learning in the story of a curious bird who wants to join a classroom. 

Manuela Pentangelo provides gorgeous, nicely detailed color illustrations to accompany Joy K. Ball's vivid story of a Cactus Wren's venture into the classroom of the Desert Hills Academy in Arizona, and its unexpected results. 

Arizona's nature is profiled as Ball explores the personality of curious Winnie, who lives in a comfortable cholla cactus, but cultivates an interest in the outside world and new experiences. 

None of the creatures she queries quite know what the human kids do in a classroom, and so she sets out to conduct personal research, inadvertently becoming part of the learning process herself as she satisfies her sense of adventure and makes new discoveries. 

Picture book readers and read-aloud parents will relish Winnie's story as the bird learns the basics: "Winnie learned that the symbols in books are called letters…and letters make sounds that form words. Winnie was learning to read! Later Winnie learned that the Cactus Wren is the state bird of Arizona." 

Besides instilling a love of learning in young readers, perhaps the most important message represented by Winne's excursion is that of appreciating the outdoors environment in general. Ball brings the Sonoran Desert and its creatures to life, celebrating both the Southwest and the adventures to be enjoyed while pursuing new experiences and education alike. 

Libraries and read-aloud parents seeking colorful lessons on both will find Winnie Goes to School a captivating winner.

Winnie Goes to School

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