May 2026 Review Issue
Fantasy & Sci Fi
Literature
Mystery & Thrillers
Mother &
Slaughter
Liz Shipton
Tyrannosaurus Yes
Media
9798295553233
$15.99
Paperback/$4.99 eBook
Website: shop.lizshipton.com
Ordering:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GGTLGZ99
Marry sword and sorcery fantasy with humor and you get books like Mother & Slaughter, a satirical spoof set in the mythical town of Draconia, where women have two trajectories in their adult lives: bear children or become warriors.
Middle-aged Eleanor Skinner has never regretted her choice of becoming a gladiator and is happily childless and powerful – until she unexpectedly becomes pregnant, which challenges not just her future but everything she’s believed about herself.
Her determination to cede more to fate than she did to a man sends her on a journey to find a witch to end her pregnancy – but what she encounters instead is more challenge and trouble than ever before.
Liz Shipton evolves a whimsical tale illustrated by Daniel Lora, whose peppering of black and white art brings Eleanor’s world to life.
Armed with determination, a handless wooden arm she nicknames Pridwen, and an ability to stir up trouble politically, socially, and personally, Eleanor embarks on this journey with a few good friends. The dialogues between them are exceptionally vivid, peppered with foul language and questioning attitudes readers will find delightfully refreshing.
One example is how the women contemplate bringing along Ben, the guy who impregnated Eleanor – without telling him what the mission really involves:
“He’s insufferable and he’s a bounty hunter! He hunts people down for the Thral for a living! He hunted us down! He’s complicit in the order!”
“Okay, Little Miss Hack-and-Slash, let’s not forget who massmurders teenagers for a living before we start getting all high and mighty about ‘the order,’” said Roz. Eleanor glared and she took a breath. “Sorry. I don’t mean to get all scoldy.”
As teenage accomplice Sam’s happiness, Ben’s involvements, and Eleanor’s friendship with Roz take unusual turns, each character confronts their inclination to face difficult situations, battle, and ultimately resist or accept change in their own ways.
Readers will also delight in thought-provoking considerations of the price of motherhood and not choosing this path, of the interactions of disparate generations in shared endeavors that each views from a different angle, and in the excitement of action tempered by unexpected reflections on new possibilities for the future.
Librarians and readers seeking books at once entertaining and thought-provoking will appreciate the rare intersection of satire, social inspection, and adventure that creates a sometimes-foulmouthed ride through the world of Mother & Slaughter.
Final conclusions are ripe with deep inspections that will leave readers happy about the action and contemplative about Eleanor’s future:
How long before the wheel came back around and Eleanor was toppled? Would she turn out to be just as corruptible as the Thral?
Mother & SlaughterReturn to Index
Subtraction
K.W. Franklin
GFB
978-1-967510-40-5
$6.99 eBook
www.girlfridayproductions.com
Subtraction is a hard sci-fi novel set in 2074 about genetic engineering’s impact on the future. It focuses on the work and conundrums of Professor Herbert Blane’s Life-Extension Therapy (LET), which has changed the world.
An inter-generational war erupts between the haves and have-nots partially fueled by LET’s older generation, which has acquired massive wealth unfettered by the ravages of time and death, leaving younger generations to struggle.
The elite are inevitably challenged by those who rise up against them – but here’s where the novel takes another twist. A covert network of scientists and engineers seeks to modify and change the equation of privilege by employing technology in yet another new way.
K.W. Franklin crafts an engaging story of gene editing, survivors, economics, and social policies. Chapters consider the cost of humanity’s survival and the privilege which accompanies too many. A host of characters enter into the fray to inject their own perceptions of what the future should bring, reflecting that “‘Eventually’ can be a very long time” when speaking of genetic shifts and survivors’ adaptations.
Political responses to the threat caused by the covert group New Generations Initiative (NGI) marry with social and individual viewpoints and purposes to create an engaging, thought-provoking vision of social, political, and cultural transformation.
Embedded within the story are personalities and motivations which clash in unexpected ways, further giving depth to the story of how humanity makes difficult choices in its drive for power and longevity.
Libraries looking for a different take on genetic engineering, longevity, economic and social reforms, and survival tactics will relish how Subtraction marries all these themes and more into a riveting saga of ambition and discovery.
Replete with moments of paradigm-changing decisions and humanity-wide impact, Subtraction offers scenarios and insights not seen in other sci-fi stories about longevity’s impact. It is especially highly recommended for its social examination of privilege, wealth, and adaptation.
SubtractionReturn to Index
Thief of Hearts
Heather
Clark
Independently Published
979-8-9999372-0-9
$14.99
Print/$3.99 eBook
Website:
thethistlegirlwrites.wordpress.com
Ordering:
https://books2read.com/u/31wLdl
Urban fantasy readers are in for a treat with Thief of Hearts, the tale of a heart stolen by a magical assassin and Rory’s quest to get it back.
The perfect person to help her is her killer, Emmett Santos, who steals the hearts of his employer’s competition. He’s in the perfect position to help her get her own heart back – if she can tap his gift and keep him alive long enough to achieve her goals.
Emmett is not a thief. He’s a skilled manipulator who has drawn a connection to Rory by giving her his name – even if he is the reason that she’s dying.
His first solution to her problem is something that would eventually erase her identity:
“What if I get you someone else’s heart?”
Rory scowled. Without her own heart, she’d slowly be changed into the person whose life he put inside her. Someone else’s memories, feelings, thoughts, hopes, dreams, crowding out her own until there was nothing left of Rory Blake. It sounded like nothing more than a different way to die. “No. I want mine back.”
As the two dance around their separate interests and skills, Heather Clark creates a thoroughly original, compelling saga of hunters, victims, proactive women and invitations to syndicates, killers, and confronting empires of power and danger.
Intrigue, action, and matters of the heart bind these characters to their readers in a way that makes Thief of Hearts nearly impossible to predict or put down.
From secret passages and stealthy confrontations to big secrets which make people angry, and little efforts to thwart them, Thief of Hearts carves a path of realization and connection in a dystopian world where love, hope, and death operate too closely for comfort.
Librarians seeking powerful fantasy stories about connection, confrontation, redemption, and stolen hearts will find Thief of Hearts replete with satisfying twists and strong characters whose choices and actions will pull at the heartstrings of a wide audience – even those unused to fantasy.
Thief of HeartsReturn to Index
Before Leaving the
Island
John Fadely
Trail to
Table/Wandering Aengus
Press
978-1-966644-03-3
$20.00
www.trailtotable.net
Before Leaving the Island’s poems embrace the experience of living on an island in different ways, opening with a poem describing a boy who immerses himself in the waves and a man who emerges from his cleansing ritual to the washing away of ego and persona that produces a clean slate of new possibilities in “Unnamed.”
From there, readers move through collisions with life, altered possibilities created by gravity and chance, and fluctuations in life cycles that produce reflections on opportunity and adversity, as in the poem “Cycling Through”:
But for now I’m hurtling
toward discovering gravity
requires our weight
born as we are
to be tossed like luggage
from curb to curb
and the child tracking my path
comes up larger
in the rush of the present
our eyes locked across years
his brain already predicting
the course of his one life
and his gaze is eternity
gazing at itself in a mirror
but he is eternity and he is the mirror
John Fadely crafts a whimsical jetty in the waters surrounding his islands of discovery with poems that play on words, capitalizing them or placing them in unexpected progression for a delightful interplay of meaning and shifts in reader perspective.
This encourages readers to absorb meaning and language in new ways, gently shaking the experience of literary expectation and edging into experimental free verse territory without going so far as to lead readers astray or leave them wondering about intention and meaning.
Journeys between humanity and the natural world dovetail nicely in depictions of both that include atmospheric Asian backdrops such as Hong Kong, island refuges and experiences, and growth.
The collection is presented in sections that move from shores to terrain and shoals, with each segment traversing new territory of insight and form.
Readers can expect the unexpected, as in the contrasting poetic forms of “End of the Dinner Party”:
urban stars faintly map cloudscape
moths into remnant light they ask
if the city at midnight will drain away
will leach boneyards into day
in alleyways backlit pouring out like
early evening smooth-faced in bomb flicker
and “Topography”:
It’s not as if I had
a mind to be diverted,
my flow valved
and concrete-lipped,
nor was it my intent
to be kissed by mouths
of vapor fluxing down
from the Pacific
Librarians who pick Before Leaving the Island as a fine example of contemporary experimental poetry forms that remain rooted in human and natural experience will find much to recommend to modern literature audiences seeking poems that are as suitable for creative writing classes and book club discussion as for personal contemplation.
Before Leaving the IslandReturn to Index
The Million Wings
of May
Charles Dowling
Williams
Western Publishing
Company
978-1-7376395-3-4
$14.95
www.amazon.com
The Million Wings of May is highly recommended for libraries and contemporary poetry readers holding special interest in the traditional haiku form. It connects nature observation with human reaction and emotion in an evocative manner. Important spiritual and psychological reflections lend especially well to readers who look for big messages in simple forms.
“Where we laughed/ echoes even now/ the big pines,” for example, invites readers into worlds where spiritual reflection and connection become one, whether the poems are connecting cave crickets to trampolines, black ants with pumpkin pie and kids, or returning geese to life’s fluctuations.
Each poem reflects on the presence of nature, God, and interconnections. Each utilizes the haiku form to best advantage - which perhaps is even more compelling for modern readers who like to digest their insights in smaller doses than contemporary free verse tends to provide.
Especially notable are the “aha” moments of realization that these haikus encourage between literary form and compelling understanding, which create sometimes-startling contrasts between life and nature:
“squirrels shake their tails/ for the bright-eyed girls to see—/ young guys at the beach.”
The Million Wings of May is highly recommended for anyone interested in the intersection of nature, spirituality, and human perception. It’s a study in the little things of life which give rise to bigger-picture thinking in ways everyone, whether literary reader, librarian, or book club participant, can thoroughly appreciate and easily absorb.
The Million Wings of MayReturn to Index
A Secret Chord
Amy Friedman,
Editor
Out of the Woods
Press
978-1-952197-18-5
$21.95
www.outofthewoodspress.com
A Secret Chord is another PATHfinder and POPs Club production that profiles the literary and artistic achievements of youth. It pairs lovely black and white illustrations by various Club artists with writings that are raw, honest, and uniformly outstanding.
Club facilitator Diana Ruzova maintains that teens “need a secret chord they can play to summon their creativity and connect with others.” The PATHfinder and POPS Club meetings (and this anthology from them) is that chord, playing to reach to a wide audience of young, aspiring writers who will find within these works connections, inspiration, and the motivation to persevere in life and art.
The poems and writings offer diverse forms of expression and reflection, as in this early chapter opener by John Bembry, “POPs Meaning/My Meaning,” which captures the life of the young author and the influence POPS has had in his world: “A victim to the system, a suspect in my skin./All the things in a day I overcome trying to live... To change people’s lives, that’s all that I wanted,/With POPS I feel loved, without I feel haunted.”
Amija’s “To Someone” is a candid letter to a mother about the impact of her decisions:
Mom, I wish you would’ve been somewhere else, with someone else who could’ve kept you happy, not my dad. I wish you chose yourself over your family, made decisions to keep yourself happy, even if that had meant I wasn’t born and wasn’t here today.
Each work captures emotions about freedom, struggle, impact, and choice. Each provides a strong literary connection between themes, writers, and experiences that will especially resonate with fellow young would-be authors, and each speaks of missed connections, love, and survival tactics.
The result is not a single chord, but a unison of raised voices that reflect how powerfully literary writing can be when it is rendered with the impact of experience married with writing prowess.
A Secret Chord should be part of any collection where writings by young people are profiled and explored. Ideally, it will be assigned in high school classrooms, discussed in book clubs and reading groups, and used by librarians, educators, and fellow writers as an example of how the voices of youth can create new inspiration and fire from controversy, angst, and struggle.
A Secret ChordReturn to Index
The Third Person
Luke Stoffel
Slipper
Books/Cinderly Press
979-8994252918
$16.99
Paperback/$8.99 eBook
www.thewarboychronicles.com
The Third Person is a literary work that will appeal to a wide audience even as its boundaries are mercurial and hard to easily categorize. Memoir? Science fiction? Post-pandemic exploration? All of the above?
The novel’s unnamed protagonist doesn’t fit in at work, is mourning the loss of his boyfriend Warboy and “fifteen years of almosts,” and the concurrent loss of his youth as he moves into adulthood with new perceptions about romance and life.
The memoir feel combines with the automated descriptive device of a machine’s observations as the boy steps into another role in his life five years after the lockdown, confronting ghosts, traveling, and probing his emotional makeup:
The aches in his heart felt as heavy as the weight of the fog. It never relented. It was hard to explore the beauty of his surroundings when he was drowning in the greyness of his life. Bad decisions and unfortunate circumstances clouded both his thoughts and his heart. It had been a long time since he’d felt this way, a dull ache that refused to leave.
Heartbreak seems to be a state of mind for him no matter where he resides, but the young man confronts his desire to do something different with hopefully dissimilar results:
Maybe it had been a mistake to go at all. To step out into the world. To pretend for a moment that his life hadn’t already changed. The weight of what he’d been running from slammed into his chest.
Send-offs and shifts, the process by which he regains the ability to feel alive and engaged with the world again, and the aftermath of escaping a world in which everything feels broken lends to a powerful saga of travel, redemption, and interactions with machine and human alike.
Librarians interested in adding experimental fiction to their collections will find The Third Person thought-provoking and intriguing as the protagonist heals his broken heart and finds unexpected new paths of opportunity and revelation in the process:
Maybe this wasn’t just a win. It was a wink from the universe. A reminder that joy can land in your lap, even after everything’s gone to shit.
Filled with moments of discovery and change, The Third Person will especially delight book clubs and readers looking for engaging, unexpected forays into ghosts both confronted and set aside, and machines that hold many capabilities other than love.
The Third PersonReturn to Index
Boy, Refracted
Luke Stoffel
Slipper Books
979-8994252932
$16.99
Paperback/$8.99 eBook
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0GLJ58MV4
Boy, Refracted may be read either in conjunction with The Third Person or on its own. Its dovetailed survey opens the Warboy Chronicles with an AI who has been designed to save a boy who has been scattered among different worlds, each piece facing a different environment.
The AI’s sole mandate is to save Luke in all of his incarnations. The problem is that with every reaction the AI creates, an opposite reaction actually negates the purpose of his programming.
This demands that the AI rethink his logical progression and very patterns of response, placing him in an impossible position in need of assistance himself, which he receives from a monk who exists outside of these worlds and thus can view them from a different angle.
Issues of control, manipulation, purpose, and protocol arise in the machine’s mind as he interacts with Luke, goes through trials, and tries to change outcomes which begin to feel inevitable and uncontrollable.
The monk points out that learning isn’t enough ... the AI must change in order to succeed, moving beyond his programming into a singularity he is actually ill-equipped to handle.
Buddhist philosophy mingles with a memoir, a survey of machine and human learning and loving, and an assessment of patterns made and broken which tackles bigger-picture questions of repeated heartbreak, recovery, and loss.
Librarians interested in experimental fiction that revolves around machine technology and AI intelligence, powerlessness and failure, learning and growth, and “learning what it means to love someone without being able to save them” will find Boy, Refracted takes apart illusion and reality and pieces it back together with aplomb and attention to building intriguing questions.
Replete with loops that circle around Warboy’s influence, Luke’s loss, and an AI’s integration with impossible new outcomes, Boy, Refracted delves into a host of issues surrounding altered timelines and good intentions gone awry, revealing the paradox in striving for something new, uncontrollable, and ultimately steeped in love.
Boy, RefractedReturn to Index
Choiceless: A
Silenced Birthmother
Speaks
Beth Jaffe
Precocity Press
979-8994147641 Price: $24.00
Website: bethjaffe.com
Ordering:
www.amazon.com/Choiceless-Silenced-Birthmother-Beth-Jaffe/dp/B0GHWK62TJ
Choiceless: A Silenced Birthmother Speaks offers many insights about the adoption process, but comes from an unusual perspective - that of a birth mother who gave up her child for adoption.
Beth Jaffe considers the losses involved in making such a decision, the forces at work that made adoption the only logical choice for her child’s best life, and the long-term impact of this decision on her own life.
Hardship, trauma, and heartbreak are part of this story, which may trigger sensitive readers on different levels. Despite this cautionary note, Choiceless moves into essential, often-undiscovered territory in speaking about the motivations, expectations, and influences of adoptive processes which sharply define issues of attachment, motherhood, and masks of silence.
From signing away her rights to defying the notion that one of those promises involved staying silent forever, Jaffe explores many often-unstated impacts of adoption and family experience in a manner that refutes any notion of a birthmother’s experiences being something that should be judged or set aside:
I signed away certain rights when I accepted my plight as a birthmother, but I never agreed to lies of omission around people who happened to die.
She also pinpoints issues in the adoption system that should be addressed to help smooth pathways for birth mothers, children, and everyone involved:
A woman who gives birth should naturally have access to the official birth certificate to prove she is the original mother. If an adoptee becomes rich and famous, imposters pretending to be birthmothers can come out of the woodwork. Allowing women to have access to their records would stop that mess.
Issues of rights, mending broken hearts, support systems, failures and successes, and fury all meld in a statement of adoption experience and plans which swirl around the passions, broken promises and the lifelong impact of a adoption system:
I’m furious your adoption wasn’t as advertised. The adoption agreement I remember accepting verbally is not the one in writing, the official one on file, the one I signed. That written legal abomination was not what I agreed to. And I highly doubt the paperwork your parents signed had any mention of verbal agreements either. I’m sure as hell their written paperwork didn’t include any obligation for them to write to me, love me, be open to meeting me, or make sure you were always connected to me.
Librarians and
readers with any
degree of interest in the social, legal, and psychological
ramifications of adoption will want to place Choiceless
at the top of their reading lists.
It’s especially highly recommended for women’s groups, book clubs, social workers, and anyone holding an interest in the experiences, potential pitfalls, and processes of the current adoption system. It will give rise to many important discussions about expectation, choice, outcome, and the lasting impacts of all these processes on birthmothers and adopted children alike.
Choiceless: A Silenced Birthmother SpeaksReturn to Index
Keep the Flowers:
Tell the Healing
You're Coming Home
Ellie Williams
Atmosphere Press
979-8-90174-131-3
$7.99 eBook
www.atmospherepress.com
Keep the Flowers: Tell the Healing You're Coming Home recounts a life shaped by chronic pain and loss, but goes beyond most memoirs about these subjects to consider how living with illness and repeated grief can result in new approaches to healing and living.
The memoir’s value to those on similar paths in their lives stands out from its opening lines:
I wonder if one day this pain will be the second thing I think of when I wake up instead of the first. Does healing happen in pieces rather than all at once? Can I ever heal from endometriosis or grief? Can I wake up one day and silence the noise in my mind? Healing must come quietly, like a morning where the air feels fresh and I don’t feel the weight of my pain before I even open my eyes. Healing, I’m sure, is joyful, but the noise of suffering has been so loud. If ever I have the chance to live in healing, I hope I notice. Healing could mean when someone asks how I’m doing, and I don’t instinctively measure my answer by how much endometriosis hurts. When I watch the sun melt into the horizon, cradling a warm cup of tea, sometimes I forget I carry these burdens. Is that reflective of healing, even if it was only for a moment?
From the impulse
to shut off and
shut away pain responses to various forms of grief and healing
choices which lead in a spiritual direction, Ellie Williams crafts a
blend of autobiographical reflection and chronic pain consideration
that offers many keys to not just survival, but better living.
Religious
reflections ask questions,
consider answers, and offer readers new perspectives on Christian
thinking and its applications to daily life challenges:
I met a friend named Marie, who shared my passion for God, while everyone else in class seemed more interested in winning arguments. Marie proposed that people must demonstrate some form of goodness to be adopted into the image of God. God must see that humans aren’t as worthless as we often portray ourselves; otherwise, there would be no need for a God who reconciles with humanity. God was dead for a day when Jesus died on the cross—how were the people in the world supposed to go on without their teacher, the one who led them in the way everlasting?
One needn’t be Christian in order to absorb the delight of these original thoughts and their applications to the healing process.
Anyone who has hurt, grieved, healed, or self-inspected needs this book. Its reflections are succinct, hard-hitting, and important for personal and reading group pursuit, lending to the kind of healing that occurs not on a single level, but in many directions:
I spent months waiting for the moment when it wouldn’t hurt as much. People say time heals all wounds, but I have never met a person who fully believed that. Grief doesn’t soften—it just changes its weight, redistributing itself in unexpected places. One day, it’s in your chest, pressing so hard you can barely breathe. The next, it settles in your hands, making it impossible to hold anything too tightly. Eventually, it drapes itself around your shoulders, something you learn to carry because there is no setting it down.
Libraries and readers seeking a blend of spiritual, emotional, physical, and mental healing in one book will find Keep the Flowers: Tell the Healing You're Coming Home chronicles a journey widely applicable to a large group of readers, making it a top choice for a health library, women’s reading groups, or general-interest collection.
Keep the Flowers: Tell the Healing You're Coming HomeReturn to Index
Off Course on
Purpose
Bill Berry
MBB Publishing
9798988806059
$34.99
www.mrbillberry.com
Off Course on Purpose is a memoir about Bill Berry’s course in life, which seemed limited and on a downhill trajectory when he walked out of high school in 1995 into a dead-end job. Life was just beginning as he turned his passion for juggling into something more and found himself on a round-the-world journey, winning multiple world championship titles and combining travel with achievement.
As his life unfolds, alternate ways of thinking, making choices, and embracing life offer readers invaluable lessons in adaptation, change, and embarking on different courses – such as juggling or sword swallowing.
The life reflections that permeate his story form the meat of a survey which enriches with thought-provoking observations about other countries and what it means to be an American:
It occurred to me that for people living outside the U.S., these shows might be all they know about the USA.
Jerry Springer: Americans are ignorant and violent.
Cops: Americans are addicted, lawless, and violent.
Travel: Come and visit this beautiful place, and while you’re visiting, try not to be attacked or robbed by our ignorant, lawless, addicted, violent people.
This depiction of the USA felt unfair, like a cheap caricature of our culture, and nothing like the USA I knew.
How other cultures are assessed by their media and image and individuals are judged by their choices and appearance blend into the life story of a man who succeeded against all odds, making for an especially thought-provoking reflection on giving up convention and embracing the unexpected:
I recognized it for what it was, a step backward, and I didn’t want that. Sure, it’d be easy, but I didn’t sign up for easy. I signed up for a life that is bigger. Just get rid of it, came the thought, remove it from possibility, just like when I quit all my jobs to pursue performing full-time.
Many aspire to operate outside of safety nets, but few accounts follow the process of how this can be achieved. Off Course on Purpose’s mindful, purposeful reflection on how bravery is rewarded and risk-taking embraced creates a compelling saga of one man’s venture into the performance and entertainment world as he learns new skills and satisfies audiences.
Off Course on Purpose will also attract audiences with its uplifting account of never stopping, never giving up on one’s dreams, and reaching for the stars.
Librarians and readers seeking inspirational accounts of growth and risk-taking will relish how both emerge in the course of extraordinary life opportunities that at first don’t seem special, but grow to impart key life lessons.
Suitable for book club and group discussions about life, growth, and opportunity, Off Course on Purpose reveals not just a life well-lived, but one that promises more joy and achievement than “on course” traditional options would have provided.
Off Course on PurposeReturn to Index
These Fragments I
Have Shored
Jason Irwin
Apprentice House
Press
978-1-62720-639-6
$33.99
Hardcover/$22.99 Paperback
www.ApprenticeHouse.com
My mother was dying and all I cared about was getting enough sleep.
These Fragments I Have Shored opens with a descriptive bang that succinctly illustrates the terrible trials of caregiving, following a son’s progression through his mother’s death from cancer.
Six months after the initial diagnosis, Jason Irwin finds his hands full in ways he never could have predicted as events surrounding his mother’s final month of life dovetail with Irwin’s chronic own health struggles.
More so than most stories about death, caregivers, or mother/son relationships, These Fragments I Have Shored carries and delivers a brutal, eye-opening reconsideration of family ties and relationships tested by health challenges.
Irwin reviews his distant father, his protective mother, and his own growth in this family unit with an especially astute eye to explaining how these childhood influences both built or fractured adult responses and relationships:
Our conversations were brief and sometimes painful, populated by long silences. I learned to predict his responses. If I had some news, or something important to tell him, he’d nod his head, say, “Oh yeah?” then change the subject. Then we’d turn to the television to relieve us of the burden of talking. Television became our mediator, as I’m sure it did in households across the country.
The concurrent progression of a memoir that moves through childhood into adulthood with a story of ongoing health issues and their impact creates a powerful chronicle of the legacy of family guilt, shame, and adaptation.
These Fragments I Have Shored will thus reach an especially wide audience, from caregivers who may be surprised and engrossed by Irwin’s personal and family journey, which impacts all kinds of care given and displayed throughout his life, to readers who choose the memoir for its vivid family interactions and insights, and those attracted to its account of living in the world with disability and illness:
Living with roommates made it even more difficult to hide my disabilities. Getting drunk and acting like a clown were still my go-to strategies to hide my ostomies, though everyone in the house already knew. The only person I was fooling was myself.
The result is a pleasure to highly recommend to libraries seeking a wider-ranging memoir than most, and to readers who would absorb a life influenced by struggle, love, adaptation, determination, and family connections.
These Fragments I Have ShoredReturn to Index
The Architect of
Deception
Debbie Baldwin
Gatekeeper Press
978-1662970351
$7.99 eBook
https://www.amazon.com/Architect-Deception-Debbie-Baldwin-ebook/dp/B0GQJQQR52
Six years after socialite Razz James experiences the death of his brother, he remains mired in grief. As The Architect of Deception opens, Razz’s long downhill plunge seems destined to end in tragedy – a fact his successful friends are determined to prevent. Is Razz embarking on a long suicide mission, or is he just being self-destructive? The two behaviors are too close to call until friend Hatcher, invited to join the secret society Scepter & Scythe, refuses a dangerous initiation assignment, only to find his friend Razz piqued by the possibility of committing a perfect crime.
Razz didn’t bargain on becoming a murderer in the process, however, and as events spiral out of anyone’s control or ability to predict, his spiral into depression is halted in an unexpected way that embraces opportunity’s deadly ramifications.
As Detective Sasha Birch and other investigators enter the fray, cat-and-mouse moves, violence, and manipulation become the driving forces of efforts made by Glick, Ryan, and others characters which interact with Razz’s quest for his artistic voice and newfound strengths, testing his desire to control his destiny and perhaps others around him.
Debbie Baldwin unfolds a vivid plot that holds many twists. This will delight psychological thriller audiences with evolving personalities, special interests, and quirky events.
Scenarios range from detective bullpens to dangerous coincidences as the plot thickens, spiced with powerful characters who pursue their separate objectives with determination and disparate motivations. Sexual tension and violence are also part of this bigger picture, so sensitive readers should employ caution, though the plot is enhanced by these developments.
Librarians and readers seeking thrillers that probe power, control, deception, and mercurial crime scenarios will find The Architect of Deception surveys not one personality, but masterminds of various scenarios and manipulative acts.
With its fast-paced action, different characters, and unexpected forays through bribes, blackmail, conspiracies, and hidden agendas, The Architect of Deception keeps readers guessing and engaged to the end.
The Architect of DeceptionReturn to Index
Encoded Minds
Kfir Luzzatto
Pine 10
978-1-953864-43-7
$12.99
Print/$5.99 eBook
https://www.kfirluzzatto.com/
Fans of ecological thrillers seeking stories replete with environmental inspection and the allure of special interests clashing over its manipulation will find Encoded Minds a powerful study in contrasts that blends hard science with conspiracy investigations.
At first, Olivia Scott's unique ability to see memories in walls seemed the only way of saving her brother from a murder charge. But as she probes further, she uncovers a terrifying conspiracy surrounding sentient bacterium which threatens to consume humanity.
The thriller opens with a nine-year-old’s confession to her mother that she can see the truth in walls – something her mother dismisses as mere fantasy, if not outright lying.
Not much has changed in her adulthood - she still can see the truth, but few will believe her. This forces her to validate that truth by investigating its foundations, placing her in the unfortunate role of a psychic whose powers are only the starting point for uncovering solutions.
In this case, Olivia’s perception of a very different form of threat, truth, and murder resolution leads her far from the usual focus on missing objects or the truth about their destruction. This brings readers into a wild ride through police activities, belief systems, chemical molecules, and connections between her strange ability and the bacteria which now threaten humanity:
“A wall can harbor millions of bacteria, all invisible to the naked eye. They can develop from a few bacteria left on the wall after someone touches it or from bacteria found in the soil.”
Other characters, such as Lieutenant Kenji Takeda, intelligence officer with the BACTCOM advanced information unit, join in to investigate something that seems impossible, leading Olivia on a grand chase through people and events that include thief and swindler Jack Spenser and other special interests.
Kfir Luzzatto neatly dovetails disparate personalities and interests in a story that moves between science, paranormal possibilities, personal objectives, and disparate experiences so seamlessly that readers are thoroughly immersed even when discussions become scientific or political.
Stereotypes of women and others are broken, Liv traverses dangerous situations displaying a fiery brand of brilliant, sexy strength that attracts romance, and Luzzatto creates a thoroughly delightful interchange between characters and biological threats that continually flow in different directions.
Libraries and readers seeking an eco-thriller powered by memorable, realistic characters whose special interests drive an unpredictable, original plot will find Encoded Minds a strong addition to any collection, worthy of top consideration for its nonstop action and surprise developments.
Encoded MindsReturn to Index
The Eternity Code
Robert Rapoza
Vinci Books
9781036710965
$18.99 Print,
E-book (Kindle) - $4.99
Website - https://robertrapoza.com/
Ordering:
https://www.amazon.com/Eternity-Code-Nick-Randall/dp/1036710963
The prologue of this archaeological thriller opens in 1519 Hispaniola, where soldiers are cornering Enrico Rodríguez, who has betrayed the king. Enrico holds the key to controlling the elixir of life, which makes him dangerous – but only if he’s captured.
Fast forward to Chapter 1, set in modern-day Peru where gunmen are pursuing archaeologist Francisco Andrade; then Chapter 2, set in Columbia, where Dr. Nick Randall, Andrade’s former protégé, is drawn into questions about his predecessor’s violent kidnapping and the secrets he kept about a dangerous legendary power.
What is the price for controlling eternity? Randall and a team of investigators soon learn that some will do anything to have such eternal, unlimited power, making any archaeological investigation pale in the face of scientific, political, and corporate special interests.
Robert Rapoza crafts a cat-and-mouse game of discovery, intention, and power struggles which move from past to present in satisfyingly unpredictable ways.
The global romp is about more than unlimited power or a treasure that can bestow it – it’s about the forces that would control others’ lives and, most especially, the ways in which inhumanity enter the struggle in the name of fighting for a greater good:
“You implied that high-level individuals, likely in the church or government, support what you’re doing. How are they going to react to your killing an innocent man?”
Sandoval’s eyes narrowed. “He shouldn’t have been here. I made arrangements for us to enter. It’s his own fault, and we cannot allow our mission to fail.”
As circumstances of murder, battle, and defense emerge in chapters that pit characters against each another and their own values, Rapoza creates a high-stakes adventure story that not only traverses many dovetailing interests and possible outcomes, but probes alliances and struggles that involve scientists in bigger-picture thinking about the results of their inquiries.
No scientific endeavor is without its social and political consequences. These heat up in satisfyingly diverse, involving directions in The Eternity Code that introduce dialogues about choice, consequences, and possibilities for changing the entire trajectory and future of the human race.
Many books incorporate an Indiana Jones-style action atmosphere, but few then infuse these discoveries and events with the kinds of moral and ethical choices that test all participants.
Libraries will want to highly recommend The Eternity Code to readers interested in a thriller suspense story with the shifting environments of an Indiana Jones adventure, action resulting from clashes between special interests, the mystery of who should be in control of perhaps the greatest treasure in archaeological history, and the thought-provoking impact of its very existence.
From kidnappings and pursuits to amazing discoveries and the mandate use them for the greater good, The Eternity Code crafts an action-packed tale that will delight thriller readers and provide fodder for book club engagements about the impact of exposing and exploring unprecedented power.
The Eternity CodeReturn to Index
Everywhere She Ran
A. Eveline
Columbus
Publishing Lab
979-8-90183-015-4
$11.99
Paperback/$6.99 eBook
www.ColumbusPublishingLab.com
Leyla James is heading out the door for her usual morning run in Everywhere She Ran. The last thing she expected was to be attacked, kill her attacker, and wind up in the hospital, in short order. But that’s only the start of events which spiral out of her control.
Leyla is an attorney well used to confrontations - but that’s with a support system behind her. When all the support in her life seems to vanish, she seeks refuge away from DC in a small Midwestern town, where she attempts to restart her life while feeling like someone is watching her every move.
A. Eveline builds an engrossing story that starts with recovery and leads into tangled questions and possibilities. Leyla’s inclination towards boredom is offset by a growing pile of bodies that keeps her life supercharged even though she’s attempted to downgrade threats in her life by moving away from them physically and mentally.
The new people she becomes involved with are also suspicious – are they protecting her, or setting her up? She is killing herself to stay safe - but all her actions fall under inquiry or question, leading her to eventually question her choices and life.
Eveline creates a powerful, believable story that revolves around the process by which a capable attorney and investigator begins to question her abilities. Leyla’s processes, encounters, and struggles to feel safe again are infinitely understandable and compelling, and will mirror many a reader’s perception of what it means to be a survivor.
Just when readers believe they understand her psyche and situation, events take another unexpected turn into something even worse, testing Leyla’s relationships, savvy, and self-preservation in new ways.
The bold, assertive approach of Eveline’s character and her determination to survive even if nobody else cares if she lives or dies makes for a mystery replete with emotional connection and satisfying twists readers won’t see coming.
Libraries can highly recommend Everywhere She Ran to those interested in a cross-country hike through murders, motives, alienation, and deadly operations that prove effective even though they must rely on a potential victim’s information to prove successful.
Is Leyla running away from danger, or towards it? The story evolves a compelling plot about escape, redemption, and ultimately, questions about love.
Everywhere She RanReturn to Index
Identity
A.J. Thibault
Independently
Published
9798246996720
$15.99
Paperback/$4.99 eBook
https://www.amazon.com/Identity-J-Thibault-ebook/dp/B0GLL6S61C/
Two teens vanish in the small seaside town of Full Moon Cay. One is murdered. One has amnesia. And veteran detective Al Esposito finds that the clues about what happened point to events that lie far outside his area of expertise as an investigator.
African-American Bobby Portilla and his friend Tommy Jurczyk were at odds over Tommy’s gender-fluid status before tragedy struck. Tommy struggled to escape his past and form a new identity.
But close-held secrets seldom stay that way for long, and the issues the two boys faced begin to embroil the entire community in questions of identity, frightening supernatural possibilities, and deadly confrontations over Bobby’s brutal death and the truth about Tommy’s involvement.
A.J. Thibault excels at placing Tommy’s problems in a bigger-picture context, whether this involves the community at large or his own family interactions:
“You tackle a problem you can control and master, son.” Tommy nodded. “But you don’t try to boil the ocean.”
Tommy looked confused. “What do you mean?”
With expert precision, Roman spread the plaster evenly along the wallboard seams, skillfully blending it into a smooth finish.
You can’t solve every problem in the world. That will make you feel powerless and frustrated. You never get anywhere or succeed at anything.” Roman may have been referring to himself unintentionally.
“I know,” said Tommy.
Issues of acceptance, gender-fluid lifestyles and gender dysphoria, hypocrisy, and inner and outer changes dovetail nicely in a whodunit that grows beyond a singular problem-solving effort to become a series of lessons on entrapment and growth.
LGBTQ themes embedded into the story emerge within the scenario of a boy who is transitioning into someone he doesn’t really know, a town poised to either accept or reject him for more than one reason, and supernatural possibilities.
Librarians and readers who enjoy mysteries that dovetail powerfully with social reflections and psychological growth will find Identity a revealing, thoroughly engrossing story that holds many twists and turns before its surprising conclusion.
Packed with high drama and moments of interpersonal connection and questions, Identity is far more complex than the mystery genre is used to seeing – and far more interesting in its questions and answers than readers may anticipate.
IdentityReturn to Index
The Last Saboteur
Martin Roy Hill
32-32 North
979-8218867522
$16.99
Paperback/$8.99 eBook
www.martinroyhill.com
The Last Saboteur is a World War II spy thriller that centers on a German spy’s effort to infiltrate America’s Manhattan Project to stop the bomb-making at all costs.
Three teams sent to achieve a similar result were a group effort, but this spy might have operated alone, as the last saboteur – a top intelligence secret holding frightening possibilities.
Wilcock was on the security team at Los Alamos. His name emerges as a person of interest in the paperwork uncovered about this possibility. His story, forced by investigator Reed, reveals the deadly cat-and-mouse game between Nazis and Americans on American soil that nearly tipped the war in a different direction in this thoroughly absorbing thriller.
The foundations of this story rest on true events and characters whose interests and actions are incorporated into the plot. Characters range from Erich Gimpel and William Colepaugh, who were sent to America to uncover the nation’s most closely-held nuclear secrets, to beautiful German actress Hilde Krüger, a spy who became involved with millionaire J. Paul Getty, a rumored Nazi sympathizer.
Despite its fictitious overlay, the story stays true to history and real people, which injects a sense of discovery and authenticity into the plot to further give it an immediacy and attraction many World War II novels don’t match.
Libraries and thriller readers will be ... thrilled.
The Last SaboteurReturn to Index
The Mentor’s
Daughter
Steve Hadden
Mahoghany Row
Press
978-1-963584-07-3
$5.99 eBook/$16.99
Paperback/$28.99
Hardcover
Website:
https://stevehadden.com
Ordering:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GHT48TSM
The Mentor’s Daughter is a psychological thriller that revolves around a missing mentor, estranged daughter Hope Monro’s involvement in his kidnapping, and Eli Scott’s mandate to probe lies in order to save the patriarch - even though Eli’s world is very different from theirs.
Obligated to her father and forced to listen to lies to get at the truth, Eli finds himself on an uncertain, dangerous journey that moves from a father’s kidnapping to the reasons why Eli lost respect for his mentor.
A maze of possibilities evolves, from battling Blackwood Energy openly to proving Hope’s father is not the best person to lead the business in the future. Eli was pushed out of Blackwood – but that doesn’t mean he’s in a place to test the aftermath of his employment with them:
Despite the large payout from his employment contract for being let go without cause, it had triggered a spiral of self-doubt that nearly killed him. Making the wrong choice here would either send him back into that spiral or get himself killed.
As deals, murders, data files and inventions, and daughter Sarah Blackwood’s alienation from the family business develop new threads of opportunity and disaster, danger permeates a tale packed with many twists and turns readers won’t see coming.
Especially notable is the bold, assertive manner in which Eli navigates a host of special interests while struggling to understand why Blackwood might want to sink his own company.
Librarians and readers looking for a novel about business intrigue, convoluted family relationships that play out on the field of bigger-picture manipulations and wealth concerns, and powerful tales of evolving connections that even lead to unexpected romance will find all these elements dovetail in The Mentor’s Daughter in many surprising ways.
From childhood betrayals to adult manipulation, The Mentor’s Daughter crafts a fast-paced psychological thrill ride that comes full circle after entering circumstances most readers won’t see coming.
The Mentor’s DaughterReturn to Index
Parallel Peril
Maria Lynn Barrs
The Wild Rose
Press Inc.
978-1-5092-6506-0
$19.99
Paperback/$4.99 eBook
https://www.amazon.com/Parallel-Peril-Vicky-Robeson-Mystery/dp/1509265066
TV journalist Vicky Robeson has long been guilt-ridden over the disappearance of her sister after a childhood tragedy, pursuing clues about the cold case wherever she can. The latest clues lead to an isolated commune. She teams up with her ex to investigate and track a dangerous truth about the past and a cult leader who is threatening other women.
Having come close to death in the past year, Vicky is ready for a change - but her involvement spirals her ever closer to a dangerous truth that will once again threaten her life, her happiness, and everything she holds dear.
Vicky’s ability to confront her demons is evident from the story’s opening:
She was physically ready to take this trip. Emotionally and mentally, perhaps not so much. But it was time to face her past. Deal with it or leave it behind. Uncertainty and guilt had weighed her down long enough.
The process by which she travels into a remote California community and accepts help from Pete (who, as it turns out, still harbors feelings for her) makes for an engrossing mystery packed with twists and turns as Vicky navigates past and present in search of answers, confronting possibilities more deadly than she could have imagined.
Readers interested in stories that embrace women’s ties to men and situations that are untenable will find the blend of emotional turmoil and mystery to be realistic and thoroughly involving.
Vicky is a bold, capable woman whose pursuits are logical and proactive, but Maria Lynn Barrs devotes equal attention to covering Pete’s personality, motivations, and history.
This lends a full-bodied flavor to the unfolding events and reconnection of two individuals whose lives once intersected, parted, and then resume on a different course than before.
Librarians and readers interested in mysteries that excel in chilling twists and thought-provoking outcomes will find that Parallel Peril requires no prior familiarity with Vicky’s character or past in order to prove accessible and appealing.
Vicky’s ability to delve into romance and problem-solving makes her a likeable character whose adventure is engaging and hard to put down.
Parallel PerilReturn to Index
The Scorpion Thief
Janyre Tromp
Grafted Page Press
LLC
978-1-969773-03-7
$17.99
Paperback/$5.99 eBook
https://www.amazon.com/Scorpion-Thief-Myth-Infused-Historical-Political/dp/1969773030
The Scorpion Thief: A Cold War, Myth-Infused Historical Thriller of Political Intrigue, Family Betrayal, and an Art Heist Worthy of the Silver Screen, the first book in the Threads of the Lost Myth series, ties together the story of estranged sisters, a cursed Egyptian artifact, and a political maelstrom.
It opens in 1976 with Egyptologist Noura Marquette’s unexpected sight of her twin sister on the streets of Cairo after a long separation. Should she chase after her, or let her go her way? Noura’s decision changes many things as new anxiety is introduced into Noura’s life.
Janyre Tromp adopts a revealing tone to her story from the start that binds Noura’s life challenges with the many threads that emerge from a seeming chance encounter:
Apparently life thinks Noura needs her peace balanced out. Even the thought of her chaotic sister has Noura’s attention skittering sideways. Their father would laugh at the preposterous thought of gods or fate.
Even the possibility of romance entering this already-complex life has Noura on edge, with its allure and danger:
“We make a good team, Noura Marquette. Like Horus and Ma’at.” Theo throws an arm around her shoulder and pulls her into what should be a rah-rah-sis-boom-bah, we-helped-evade-an-international-incident, go-team hug. But Theo is far too close, his arm far too reassuring to be merely a teammate.
The viewpoint shifts between Noura and her sister Estelle, giving the story the added edge of family connection and psychological complexity. The thriller evolves satisfying cat-and-mouse games on many different levels between the disparate characters.
Bold, impressive shifts of perspectives about reality, mistaken perceptions, and history emerge as the backdrop shifts from Egypt to New Orleans, museums to Mardi Gras. These changes keep readers on their toes and guessing about motivations, outcomes, and what is really true.
When another family member unexpectedly enters the fray, it’s to introduce further manipulation and special interests into questions of treasures, puzzles, and family ties.
Librarians seeking a mystery surrounding ancient Egyptian relics, international intrigue, and family conflict will want to especially highly recommend The Scorpion Thief to those who like history melded with mystery and thriller drama.
Its ability to capture action and adventure while staying true to the underlying influences of loyalty and love make The Scorpion Thief a thought-provoking winner.
The Scorpion ThiefReturn to Index
The Crypto King’s
Muse
Francesca Frost
Frost House
979-8-9939338-0-1
$18.95
Paperback/$9.99 eBook
Website: www.francescafrost.com
Order
link: https://a.co/d/03mfJg6L
The Crypto King’s Muse combines intrigue and romance elements in the story of Charlotte Gordon-Lennox, who finds herself deeply in debt and thoroughly immersed in the mercurial world of cryptocurrency.
This milieu is a far cry from her previous success as a fashion businesswoman. When the job at Riverbank, a crypto platform, opened up, Charlotte saw it as her salvation. Instead, it evolves into a further immersion in situations ill suited to her upward-bound goals as she is forced to work with former associate Duane and embarks on a world-hopping journey through love, power, success, and failure.
Charlotte’s story is narrated in the first person. This gives her readers insight into her strategies and perspective in a personal, revealing manner lending nicely to the book’s exploration of these new crypto worlds:
The screen reflects a mosaic of differences. Each person is here for a different reason, but my own stands stark against the backdrop of my thoughts: a crushing debt born from the ashes of a once thriving business.
Her re-entry into the business world with a different persona (serving as a muse) is equaled only by her cautious venture into love. She’s already a widow – does she really want to venture into that world again with a more powerful figure beside her? Her personal reflections drive interest in her professional objectives and experiences:
Do I really want to do this? Once I start, where do I stop? Is he someone I want to share this with? But I know I want to know more about him, and one of us has to open up. He’s really been kind to me despite his ever present hostility and arrogance.
Music is deeply embedded into the story as the soulful tune of a guitar or a melody from a popular song (listed at the start of the book) spices encounters:
I notice Duane’s expression softening, something lighting up his face, and I’m aware once again of the shifting, ever changing music. We listen together as the tempo struggles to evolve and the guitar players merge and fuse and then pull away from the melody. Duane rolls onto his back, pulling me to him as he softly says, “Twenty-seven minutes in.”
And then I hear it. The achingly tender guitar weeping a serene melody, something so gentle, so exquisite, I still to listen more closely.
This steady infusion of music, romance, business acuity, and self-examination creates a powerful segue between billionaire interests, office romance, intrigue, and the possibility that a fling might become something more.
Romance readers will appreciate Charlotte’s steady progression into empowerment and self-realization, and the position she finds herself in as a lover, a muse, and a woman struggling through an uncertain world.
Steamy romance supplements the miracle of relationship growth as Charlotte and Duane find themselves blending into each others’ lives in unexpected ways. Readers will appreciate how the dialogue and realizations intersect with discourses about emotional freedom and business concerns.
Librarians and readers seeking a novel replete with high-powered transactions that take place on a personal and business level will appreciate how The Crypto King’s Muse identifies new opportunities that lead Charlotte to identify and accept all her strengths in novel ways - including opening up to the vulnerability of love.
The Crypto King’s MuseReturn to Index
The Great Dane
Suanne Laqueur
DartFrog Books
979-898802-1-667
$21.99
Hardcover/$16.99
Paperback/$5.99 eBook
https://www.amazon.com/Great-Dane-Suanne-Laqueur/dp/B0G1TXG6SR
In 2015, introducing The Great Dane, Dane is listening to two husbands explain how they met. Bystander Liko Greenman hears the story for the third time that evening, seeing it embellished more each time it’s told and relishing his role as an introvert content to listen on the sidelines.
Danelaw Strong doesn’t seem to be his type, not being a “bear,” but Liko finds himself attracted to someone for the first time in a long time. It’s an attraction that will change his life. Another attraction connects them, as well: Liko is obsessed over a mystery surrounding his son’s favorite video game, Three Hares – and Dane was intimately involved with its creator Ethan Hasen for over twenty years.
As the game connects him to Dane in unexpected ways that evolve beyond initial attraction into uncharted territory, he learns far more than he wanted to about Dane’s unusual relationships, his connection to the game and his son, and the origins of friends and family:
Nomi smooths her daughter’s hair. “There are a million different ways to be married. A million ways to be romantic. A million ways to be friends.”
“A million ways to be a family,” Dane says.
“Maybe not a million,” Ethan mumbles.
Suanne Laqueur’s winning novel blends mystery and revelation with relationship quandaries and folklore impacts in unusual ways most readers will find neatly defies pat categorization.
Readers interested in relationships, family connections, grief recovery, opportunities and mysteries, and the process of falling in love will relish how The Great Dane expands Liko and Dane’s worlds through many different interactions and assumptions.
Surprises throughout the story draw the main characters closer in unexpected ways, creating a progressive series of encounters that explores a trifecta of disparate personalities and shared interests.
Librarians interested in LGBTQ+ fiction that traverses the boundaries of straight and gay relationships in nontraditional ways will find The Great Dane a pick for readers interested in the intersection of love, friendship, family, and recovery from big losses and uncertain gains.
The Great DaneReturn to Index
The Life She Forgot
Joanna Davidson
Politano
Grafted Page Press
978-1-969773-00-6
$5.99
(eBook)/$17.99 (Paperback)
Website: jdpstories.com
Historical romance and mystery readers interested in a Wuthering Heights-style of atmospheric writing that takes place on the windswept moors of Cornwell will find The Life She Forgot a compelling attraction that links the 1913 era to 1947’s concerns.
When, in 1913, Merryn Forsythe loses her memory in an accident, her past is not only completely erased, but her future opens up. Her marriage to the impulsive Ansel Winthrop and his determination to help her uncover the puzzle of her past leads them into a journey in which Merryn considers the possibility of another marriage, a different man, and a life every bit as vivid as the new one she’s chosen.
A haunting portrait seems to hold an important link to this past and the truth about her life - but pursuing answers may lead to the destruction of the new life she’s built in its place.
Then fast forward to 1947, when war veteran William discovers a mysterious painting that reveals secrets about the past, Merryn Dunn, and his true heritage.
Joanna Davidson Politano uses the first-person to introduce Merryn and her impulsive move to marry AJ, setting the stage for an adventure that moves back and forth in time as the third person describes William Thatcher’s quandaries in 1947.
These juxtapositions of characters create a delightful interplay between seemingly disparate personalities who face their own life challenges in different ways, connected by decisions of the past and the ripples they bring into the future.
Politano’s descriptive prowess and her ability to craft three-dimensional characters whose lives readers absorb and care about lends to the novel’s attraction as legends are explored, personal motivations and belief systems revealed, and mysteries emerge to embrace the very different worlds of these disparate personalities.
The painting that connects these lives receives especially intriguing descriptions as William traverses a gallery’s holdings, new possibilities, and how “a person must become lost to find what’s important.”
These and other words will resonate with readers who relish history, mystery, and love stories entwined with a sense of place and purpose, making The Life She Forgot especially appealing to librarians seeking novels that don’t neatly fit into predictable categories, but stand out for their evocative characters, questions, and connections between disparate lives.
The Life She ForgotReturn to Index
The Making of a
Witch
Judy Molland
She Writes Press
979-8-89636-324-8
$17.99
Paperback/$12.99 eBook
https://shewritespress.com
The Making of a Witch is inspired by true events and tells of Alice Molland, who at age ten was forced to witness the brutal slaying of her mentor, herbalist Goody Luscombe, for witchcraft. You’d think from this that young Alice would eschew the finer art of herbalism – but instead she follows in Goody’s footsteps down a path that leads her to accusations that her own knowledge represents forbidden magic.
From the novel’s opening lines, Judy Molland captures the sights, sounds, and feel of those times:
Her father stood, and his bucket-top boots thumped on the dirt floor as he marched from one end of the kitchen to the other. “Look at the streets of our city, littered with all those poor critters, remnants of the Wars. They’re starving to death, but slowly, forced to beg like animals. Perhaps hanging may be a more merciful fate for Goodwife Luscombe?” He came to stand next to Alice. At his feet, both cockroaches grasped the crumb in their pincers at the same time and fought over it. Alice’s father crushed one beneath his boot, and it released a loud popping sound.
Alice faces her mother Catherine’s fear that she is too much like her father, the changing politics of her times, and the impact her choices have on her friendships:
“Just last year, you led the rebellion into the market. But today you betray your own kind by your affection for Richard Greenway, whose father is one of those despised merchants.”
Moreover, Alice confronts the force of her own skills, which blow back on her unexpectedly when a love potion works too well.
As Alice raises her family and contemplates the kinds of life lessons she wants to pass to her son, readers gain insights into not only changing times, but shifting hearts and minds.
Ultimately, Judy Molland’s story is about the making of a witch, a woman, a mother, and a family that navigates uncertainty and the cost of helping others.
Librarians interested in historical novels steeped in seventeenth-century England that examine the crimes of magic and seeming miracles will find The Making of a Witch a bold, powerful examination of one woman’s empowerment and the difficult choices that stem from her talents.
Filled with introspective moments of discovery and frighteningly realistic accounts of justice, prejudice, and women’s strengths, The Making of a Witch offers book clubs and women’s reading groups a fine blend of historical and social examination that will provoke many lively discussions about good and bad influences and the costs and consequences of being powerful in a repressive world.
The Making of a WitchReturn to Index
Missing Friends
Susan McGuirk
Sea Crow Press
978-1961864542
$19.95
Paperback/$4.99 eBook
Website: www.susanmcguirk.com
Ordering: http://bit.ly/3MLCxEe
Missing Friends is a historical semi-biographical novel set in the 1800s. It follows narrator Catherine McGuirk from Ireland to New York during the heyday of whaling. She marries a seaman who then leaves her behind to become part of the Gold Rush. Choosing to become a governess to support herself, Catherine struggles with a now-missing husband and the unexpected attention of a wealthy speculator who would court her.
Under another hand, Susan McGuirk’s story might prove interesting for its foundations in real-world events, but McGuirk presents Catherine’s tale in a series of letters that bring her world, observations, and encounters to life.
The vivid immediacy of this choice creates a compelling atmosphere from the start:
Dear Jane,
I had a shock this morning. I saw my name in an advertisement. While reading the newspaper this morning, I came to the Missing Friends notices. Most people probably skip them, but we Irish always read them. It is not uncommon to see someone we know trying to find a lost relative. After my name lept off the page, I was so startled that I jumped up and paced around the kitchen.
In a succinct nutshell, McGuirk creates a powerful foundation for a story that embraces many elements, from history to mystery, using Catherine’s strengths and character to bring this era to life.
In many ways, Missing Friends is a study in friendship and connection as Catherine writes of her life, reflections, and shifting world:
When I braid my dear Delphina’s hair, I think of you. As I lay the long blond plaits one over the other, I sense the power of your words: “We will weave a story into our lives of how our spirits connect in harmony.” More than the prayers I was taught as a child, this soothes me. Thank you for your wisdom, Jane, and for the sound of your voice in the night easing my fears.
Catherine’s personal insights power a saga that brings Irish culture and 1800s American times to life in an intimate manner that speaks to women’s experiences, lives, and perceptions.
As she writes to her pen pals both male and female and steps into her revised role as a governess, Catherine also offers insights on the changing nature of various kinds of friendships:
I hoped, perhaps naively, that your wife and I could become friendly acquaintances at least. Now I see how unlikely that prospect is. I will politely keep my distance and only respond beyond a cordial greeting when I am spoken to. Any woman fortunate enough to marry you would feel the same. If I were in Julia’s place, the situation would not be comfortable to me as well.
The result is a heady experience of life experience that evolves from Catherine’s hand to the letters written by those who swirl around her. As her tenacity and determination are reviewed by those who knew her, more aspects of her strengths come to light than could be revealed by a focus on her writings alone.
Libraries interested in correspondence-driven sketches of 1800s experiences, politics, women’s issues and evolving relationships will find Missing Friends not only attractive for its personal touch, but recommendable to women’s reading groups and to book clubs holding a special interest in how women stepped into their empowerment during changing times and circumstances.
Missing FriendsReturn to Index
New Angel in Town
Jody Sharpe
Independently
Published
978-0988562066
$10.99
Paperback/$2.99 eBook
https://www.amazon.com/New-Angel-Town-Mystic-Bay/dp/0988562065
New Angel in Town joins others in Jody Sharpe’s Mystic Bay series about a town where angels walk among humans, living among them in disguise.
Charged with overseeing young Evan, a boy in foster care, Guardian Angel Ron assumes a role in town that unexpectedly tugs at his heartstrings as his mission to help Evan turns into a mandate to promote positive changes in the town.
Gayle has been dreaming of angels for a long time, and has participated in changing lives for the better, herself. She and a select group are privileged to know and hold the secrets of angel activities in their hearts. Those who interact with angels experience as much benefit from their connection as the angels who are learning from humanity.
Sharpe contrasts perceptions of angels and humans with interesting passages that build connection and foster understanding:
“We never dreamed we would eventually move to Mystic Bay, and have lovely wives to share our lives with, let alone have kids. We were always aware it happened sometimes to angels, coming down and living as humans for years.. “But Noah, what you need to know is that we learn from all of you. We may guide and teach patience, kindness, and more, but we are still learning humanity from people.”
The spiritual, psychological, and ethical connections that develop in this small town provide readers with engrossing scenarios of cooperative problem-solving and different forms of connection.
The flavors of magical realism embed the story with a paranormal taste, but expand to consider the motivations and influences of all kinds of beings as they face bullying, joyful endeavors, and selfless acts alike.
The roots of family connection and helping others dovetail with Ron’s growing awareness of his power and impact, creating satisfying moments of discovery and positivity which will delight and uplift readers seeking stories that are thought-provoking and helpful.
Librarians seeing attraction to Sharpe’s other angel novels or who seek a standalone story of a harmonious small town’s undercurrents of connection will want to recommend New Angel in Town to patrons that hold a special interest in stories about kindness.
Its ability to illustrate a host of special interests who come together to support one another in diverse ways makes for a story that is engaging, inspirational, and an astute blend of child advocacy and active compassion.
New Angel in TownReturn to Index
Posthumously Yours
Charles D. Braun
Type Eighteen Books
9798998947766
$18.99
Paperback/$9.99 eBook
www.typeeighteenbooks.com
Posthumously Yours comes from an author who becomes the character in his own fictional story, who is searching for an exit strategy from life – and has done so from birth.
He has bequeathed a stranger money and this manuscript, which represents a charming interplay of thoughts, ethical dilemmas, dreams, and longings revealed in a delightfully original, confessional manner readers won’t expect:
To me, burial seemed simultaneously solitary and claustrophobic, a situation that let the whole eternity thing drag on far too long. Cremation was more of a clean break, but I could never get past the name, deceptively reminiscent of soft serve ice cream, her favorite food...Natural Organic Reduction, or human composting, was environmentally sound, but, at the end of the day, it didn’t seem all that different from roadkill albeit six feet under. Each of the standard options for eternity seemed less appealing than the last.
Wry irony, satirical observation, and a purposeful lean towards developing a final solution permeate a story replete with engrossing descriptions and experiences which center around Braun’s determination to assess and employ all the tools in society to make his final choices:
When I found the Model 78G pellet pistol in The Want Advertiser, my intention was to use it to ward off intruders like a scarecrow. The fact that it was made by Smith & Wesson, a name as synonymous with Springfield as Friendly’s in Wilbraham or Tampax in Palmer, made the alien object more familiar. This was the company that sponsored 4-H, not the one whose products were popular with local gangs. Yet I was completely rattled to awaken in our backyard, firing off shots directly into the pitch-black sky. I was relieved not to find any casualties on the lawn and grateful that the only human in earshot apparently remained fast asleep. It would have hardly mattered that the air gun was closer to a signal flare or starter’s pistol than a weapon, any more than it did that a squirt gun was a toy. Bringing even a faux firearm into the house would have been a betrayal, calling into question Mel’s entire value system.
How many ways can there be to die, and how many quandaries would suicide inflict on those around him? Charlie questions others as to what they would desire for him if they knew there was no happy ending, considers all of his options and their ramifications, and embarks on a lively romp through life, death, and what lies in-between with an astute literary eye to description and life analysis.
Libraries that choose Posthumously Yours for fiction collections will find it appealing not just to literature audiences, but to anyone contemplating issues of death, end of life, survival, and dark observations. Its ability to raise accompanying questions of moral and ethical depth makes Posthumously Yours an excellent choice for book club discussion.
Posthumously YoursReturn to Index
Private Property
TP Jones
Big Table
Publishing
978-1-945917-95-0
$19.99
www.bigtablepublishing.com
Private
Property,
set in 2014, begins with two brief
preliminaries, the
first a reference to the hundredth anniversary of the beginning of
World War I, a war that by some reckoning has never ended.
Next
comes a call from Pastor Mike Grant to the members of his
evangelical church to love the Lord and to love their neighbors as
they love themselves.
As the novel
proper opens, Pastor
Mike’s church is facing bankruptcy, his attempt to create a
dynamic faith community facing ruin in the unforgiving secular world
dominated by money. He angrily confronts the Lord for
having abandoned him. But suddenly comes the possibility of
financial help, and perhaps, he thinks, the Lord hasn’t abandoned
him after all.
As Grace Duquesne and other characters move into the good pastor’s life with their own family and financial concerns, Private Property expands both its offerings and focus to embrace investment decisions, the ownership of the Duquesne Trust, family rifts, and struggles over power and prayer.
Religious influences that permeate the story from the start are satisfyingly offset by human fallacies and concerns which inject notes of revelation and social connection into a story that erupts over the future of the Valley church and its special needs.
TP Jones creates an absorbing blend of purposes and perceptions as the family struggles within itself, its relationships put to the test. A bold, assertive tone erupts between those focused on money and others who would rebuild relationships in new ways.
Evocative descriptive force permeates the novel, giving it an intriguing overtone as the characters consider their options and the impact of their beliefs and choices:
This was going to be an all-out assault on Valley Church. Well, Danny told himself, okay then, that was the reality, and as at other difficult times in his life, often when the secular threatened to bury him, he remembered a particular admonition—that with faith you prayed without losing heart...
The church stands at a pivot point ... but so do the lives and values of its participants and the Duquesne family, whose love, confrontations, silence, and struggles reflect the church and community around them.
Librarians and readers seeking a novel replete with social and political examination that can be recommended to book clubs interested in moral, ethical, and spiritual dilemmas will find Private Property a powerful saga of professional, personal, and ethical calamity. It ultimately reveals how church, faith, and family rise from the ashes of destructive thinking.
Private PropertyReturn to Index
Records
of a Voyage
Katherine
Williams
Atmosphere
Press
979-8901740040
$28.03
Hardcover/$17.99 Paperback/$8.99 eBook
www.atmospherepress.com
Records of a Voyage is a historical mystery novel that opens in 1885, when a cotton mill worker finds her life changed by her secret affair with a wealthy man. After she confesses her infatuation to skeptical friend Ivy, the timeline moves to 1936, where Cynthia Arkwright is embarking on a journey to Egypt on a family vacation she hopes will bring everyone closer together.
Instead, distance from home only clouds troubled family relationships and makes the disparities between her and her father and mother feel even deeper.
Egypt holds many wonders – the greatest of all being how quickly interconnected lives unravel and then come back together in unexpected ways.
Katherine Williams juxtaposes the perceptions and quandaries in these relationships with underlying influences of the past which come to the forefront in the course of the story’s explorations of Egypt and self:
Ma said I was passably good-looking, as I’d been lucky enough to inherit her oval-shaped eyes and not narrow ones like Nana’s. But apparently, since I’d turned eighteen, I needed to smarten myself up to find myself a man. I don’t really care about the shape of my eyes, and I’m not sure about men. I’d been to ballroom dance classes and had danced with some boys my own age. Who knows—maybe they become less boring as they get older.
Readers embark on the cruise with this family and join their sense of wonder, discovery, and angst as the voyage unfolds. The long-buried family secrets which emerge against this backdrop reveal differences, pressures, and insights readers won’t expect as the lives of ancestor Sara Ann and future relative Cynthia unfold and interconnect like puzzle pieces.
From wife abuse to a strange theft in Cairo that has Cynthia stymied about wealth, intention, and choice, readers will feel as though they are journeying into a past and present conundrum packed with satisfying shifts in realizations that most won’t see coming.
The underlying insights about family conflict that emerge as mother, daughter, and father come together are especially engrossing and will likely provoke book club and women’s reading group discussions as the history and mystery play out.
The result is a powerful saga of old habits, new realizations, and family legacy which create a story rich in its inspections and especially astute in its consideration of home and what is left behind when entering into something new.
Records of a VoyageReturn to Index
Three
Days Grace
Jeremy
Bradley-Silverio Donato
Indigo
River Publishing
978-1-969935-20-6
$17.95
www.indigoriverpublishing.com
Three Days Grace finds Lynne and her wife Susan on the cusp of a journey to South Africa, meeting a few friends and family in a Paris hotel room before their journey. The great goodbye turns into a thought-provoking inspection of simmering emotions and biting history as five individuals explore their connections over a three-day period, considering what makes their relationships both indispensable and difficult.
A lot happens in three days as these characters confront how they ran away from difficult choices in different ways, how their surreal serenity dissolves in the face of hard truths, and how long-held secrets forced to the surface begin to permeate their versions of reality and past connections.
Jeremy Bradley-Silverio Donato builds an intriguing balance between different stories, the approaches of Nick, painter Laslo, Marc, Lynne, and Susan, and the storms of confrontation, belief, and revelation that both bind and divide their lives.
Against these emotional developments is the backdrop of Paris, which contributes an alluring sense of romance and discovery:
Paris sparkled in the morning light, beautiful and indifferent to everything: the weight of memory, the stories trapped in paint, the truths that had come too late.
Readers interested in stories about interconnected lives, faith, and siblings who struggle against the trauma that has defined them will find Three Days Grace especially vivid in how it unfolds and dovetails the secrets that have held these individuals in thrall.
The ways in which these truths unfold to shake long-held convictions and lifetime reactions creates an especially powerful juxtaposition of personalities and purposes. This will serve book club discussion groups well, providing fodder for inspections of the logic in changing one’s life and relationships.
Libraries seeking novels packed with emotional pivot points and reflections will find Three Days Grace an excellent recommendation for patrons seeking books steeped in family dynamics, drama, and the impact of long-held silence on all kinds of emotional connections.
Three Days GraceReturn to Index
Triumph and Tragedy
John Rhodes
Roundel House
979-8-9939089-0-8
$16.95
Paperback/$4.99 eBook
Website: https://johnrhodesbooks.com/
Ordering:
https://a.co/d/01cqG2WU
In 1945 and the second world war is dragging into its sixth year when tactical analyst Eleanor Shaux moves from the battlefields of Europe to work on the Manhattan Project in Triumph and Tragedy, Book 6 in the Breaking Point series. Eleanor has already struggled with the war on its front lines. Now she’s faced with moral and ethical concerns about working on a mega-weapon which could end the war, but result in far more destruction than any single weapon has inflicted in the past.
Eleanor’s reflections bring home various facets of decision-making and strategically significant military planning that many World War II novels don’t incorporate, providing thought-provoking reflections on how extraordinary measures are considered and justified:
If the Germans had had a viable atomic bomb project, it might have been necessary to bring atomic bombs to Europe to finish off Hitler before he could get his own bomb, but now that wouldn’t be needed. In a sense it was a pity, because Stalin, she was certain, was in the process of replacing Hitler as the overlord of Europe, with by far the most powerful army. An American atomic bomb in Europe might have been a counterbalance. If Stalin knew that the United States could obliterate any Soviet city it chose, whenever it chose, Stalin might be less expansionist, particularly if he thought the city the United States might chose to obliterate was the one he was in at the time.
More so than most novels about these times, Triumph and Tragedy maintains a close focus on not only strategy, but key individuals in varying positions of importance who interact with Eleanor in various ways.
Dialogue and personal encounters with high-level individuals and thinking permeate the novel, giving voice to some of the concerns and expectations of leaders and groups that typically do not prominently feature in military engagement novels:
“I must confess I fear President Truman has little understanding of the many serious issues we confront,” Churchill grumbled. “He lacks an appreciation of the situation here in Europe—indeed he lacks any knowledge of Europe whatsoever.”
These introduce moments of discovery and understanding to readers – even those well steeped in the military history of Europe during the war – which offers much food for thought for book club discussion and debate.
The result is a far more expansive consideration of the atom bomb’s many impacts, both in its planning stages and deployment, which give rise to questions and concerns that will engage many readers.
Librarians seeking a novel about World War II that delves deeper into the impact and vision of the atom bomb than most and uses the perspective of a capable, thinking woman as it vehicle of delivering these contemplative moments will relish how Triumph and Tragedy brings history to life with emotional and philosophical reflection.
From relationship developments to rifts caused by special interests and ethical clashes, Triumph and Tragedy is a powerful survey of the processes involved in constructing a new life and considering the impact and responsibility of changing the world.
Triumph and TragedyReturn to Index
What the Trees
Remember
Abigail Cutter
She Writes Press
979-8896363347
$17.99
Paperback/$12.99 eBook
https://shewritespress.com
What the Trees Remember does historical fiction and mystery proud as it surveys a post-Civil War Appalachian mountain setting, simultaneously presenting a coming-of-age story that personalizes aspects of social and political conflict from an unusual vantage point.
Dora Minor has been raised a Quaker in a remote Virginia mountain community where a strong grandmother has taught her proactive values and moral behavior after her mother’s death.
When her father is killed after a violent response to the school he was attempting to build to educate Black children, Dora cultivates newfound feelings about her community, its values, and her place in the world.
These drive a story that embraces personal aspects of Dora’s struggles in a manner few other books can touch, bringing to life the social forces that meet on the battlegrounds of small towns and even remote locales in America.
When Reconstruction falls apart and ideals fail, Dora is forced to confront the rise of the Jim Crow era in unusual ways that test her resources and influences.
As events swirl between the 1800s and 1969’s modern times, Abigail Cutter crafts thought-provoking scenarios and realizations that present different insights about Southern history, Reconstruction, and influences on the community’s growth and healing process.
Dora and her grandmother Alma’s connections to nature and their mandate to evolve new values and survival tactics contribute to a wide-ranging story that will appeal from YA readers into adult circles.
Librarians and readers looking for Southern literary force, historical understanding, coming-of-age sagas, and accounts of strong women forced to adjust their belief systems to adapt to new ideas and times will find What the Trees Remember a potent study in characters, contrasts, and atmospheric lives where the flavors of the South run through human affairs, bringing powerful currents of change:
During the next week, she and Alma drifted through the house and yard as sleepwalkers, barely speaking and, in slow motion, doing only what was necessary. With every sudden snap of a branch or deer scrambling through the trees, both women froze. Worry was an incessant companion. Dora lay awake in her bed most nights, listening to the floorboards creak as Alma paced in her bedroom, and wondering when the sheriff might appear. The wafting odor of smoke from her grandmother’s pipe was a constant.
What the Trees RememberReturn to Index
As Good as the Best
D. Novo
Only Golden
Narratives LLC
979-8-218-91882-8
$18.99
Paperback/$4.99 eBook
Website:
www.onlygoldennarratives.com.
Ordering:
https://www.amazon.com/As-Good-Best-Possibility-Beyond/dp/B0GJ7NVNMT
As Good as the Best: Power and Possibility Beyond C-PTSD is a motivational self-help book about overcoming trauma and stepping into a new role of empowerment and positivity. D. Novo is not a psychologist or therapist, but one who has learned how to rise above childhood influences to build a new life of opportunities, making dreams become reality.
For those who don’t already know - C-PSTD is a complex, chronic trauma reaction stemming from childhood experiences. Repeated betrayal of trust and loss of safety leads a child to become a very cautious adult, among other lasting impacts.
Novo experienced this herself, but drew upon this history to strengthen her trajectory towards a better life:
If you don’t like where you currently are, your ideas can take you elsewhere. Treasure and nurture your ideas, however minor or common they may seem, and allow them to shape your perception towards abundance and possibility. Allow them to unfold into creative acts that help you break out of the current conditions of your life.
Her story is filled with reflections, admonitions on taking trauma in a different direction, and bigger-picture thinking about community, acceptance, support systems, and growth:
Conformity has a long history. Some theorize that it protected the tribe, which sought to survive and thrive as a group when priorities such as securing food and evading predators dominated. The tribe came first, not the individual, and if an individual wasn’t subscribing to the way things “should” be, they might be left to die. In such a context, nonconformity was truly dangerous. The conventions at the time were limited and grounded in survival. Later, small communities such as villages took on a similar role of enforcing norms, although over time such norms became less a matter of life and death. Conventions became more centered around protecting a way of life, because that way of life was all that was known, and anything novel felt threatening.
As Good as the Best differs from the usual motivational self-help title in tailoring its reflections between personal growth to community involvement.
Simple processes, from looking for a partner to creating physical boundaries to carve out the space to heal, receive powerful, close inspection over how to find peace after trauma in many different ways.
Libraries and readers seeking titles rooted in experience, filled with digestible “aha” moments perfect for reflection and change, and which include important social insights and reflections will find As Good as the Best an attraction above and beyond most books about healing.
Pairing memoir with attractive examples of aspiration and transformation, As Good as the Best is a self-affirming choice that will ideally reach a wider audience than the usual book about trauma and healing because its insights come from one who has been there, done this, and come out the other side a stronger person despite or because of her background.
As Good as the BestReturn to Index
Burn Everything
... Then Forget It
Boston Teran
High Top
Publishing LLC
978-56703-018-1
$22.00
https://bostonteran.com/burn-everything-then-forget-it
Burn Everything ... Then Forget It is an influential story about a 1965 bomb that goes off outside a diner, forever changing the lives of those within.
Against this backdrop of urban angst and American anguish emerge the interconnected stories of Viola Dash and Billy Castle. They are changed by the events that shook them, and their evolving love for one another seemed to defy their involvement in a series of politically motivated slayings just before the bomb changed everything.
Contrasts between their very different economic, social, and political milieus mark their coming of age and their conjoined interests, creating potent, reflective insights about their stark, secret legacies that are akin to the nation’s newfound struggles with treachery and ambition.
Issues of racism, violence, betrayal, hope and justice merge into Billy and Viola’s lives as they confront both the darkness in America and in their own souls and one another.
A host of other characters buffet the interplay between these two to inject further observations into milieus which are beautifully metaphorically described by Teran:
They saw the priest was unraveling. It was a horrifying and tragic meltdown. He was trying to scream away the monster confusion in his head, the hallucinations a doorway to madness.
From what gives Americans hope and faith to how an entire culture is murdered from the inside out, Teran creates a gripping interplay of special forces and interests that move from the key characters into the underbelly of American society as a whole.
America v. America. Outcome Uncertain.
As graffiti captures the uncertain birthing pains of a nation under flux, so Teran captures the Last Supper of a nation with:
Graffiti marking the times—the assassination of a president— the escalation of a far away war—voting rights—equality for all— the murder of a black leader—and, of course, the standard vile epithets that slay the mind.
Librarians and readers seeking a novel charged with the politics, culture, revolutionary changes, and life-altering moments within different strata of American society will find Burn Everything ... Then Forget It especially suitable for book club and reading group discourses about the future of a nation and those whose pasts and ideals affect its progression.
Burn Everything ... Then Forget ItReturn to Index
The Coroner's
Silence
Terence Keel
Beacon Press
978-0807017517
$25.18
Hardcover/$19.95 Paperback/ $14.99 eBook
https://www.amazon.com/Coroners-Silence-Records-Victims-Violence/dp/0807017515
The Coroner's Silence: Death Records and the Hidden Victims of Police Violence is highly recommended reading for anyone in law enforcement or criminal justice, offering a close inspection of coroner processes and their successes and failures.
Terence Keel has conducted extensive research into his subject, from circumstances of incomplete autopsy reports and mishandled medical documents to strategically lost evidence. His study places the coroner’s role directly in the middle of many criminal justice processes, giving it a focus and analytical eye that many law enforcement studies miss.
The close inspection allows for a special consideration of how in-custody deaths are handled (or mishandled, as the case may be) within the system, considering legal processes such as the 2023 Death in Custody Reporting Act and how it operates.
This draws together a wealth of material, history, and processes which in the past have been scattered and unconnected in justice system cases and court proceedings, giving readers the added bonus of better understanding not just the coroner’s job, but how it impacts and alters judicial processes.
Lest readers wonder about Keel’s authority and background, The Coroner's Silence comes from a researcher who strove for objectivity and admits the challenges involved in setting aside his assumptions and training in order to incorporate impartiality into his study:
A part of me had to perish to write these pages. That part wanted to believe America was growing into our best values and evolving beyond the darkness of our past. I am grateful for this loss. Forfeiting these beliefs freed me from the fear and indifference we often carry for people who find themselves on the wrong side of the law. Whether we admit it or not, the people who cross the law test our patience, activate our fear and need for security. It is a strange thing to see how the dissemination of crime statistics without context or history can turn even libertarians and progressives into champions of law and order—if only these criminals were to become law-abiding and virtuous, American freedom would be secure, our society made whole. But this line of thinking has causality moving in the wrong direction. Surely no one is born a criminal.
The result narrows the focus to in-custody death procedures, but also expands a reader’s preconceptions of the criminal justice system’s intentions, mandates, processes, and neutrality.
Librarians in law libraries and those seeing special interest in criminal justice processes will find The Coroner's Silence highly accessible to a wide audience. It’s unusual to find a legal review that can attract general-interest readers, but The Coroner's Silence is such a book, making it as important a pick for general collections as for specialty legal holdings.
Replete with eye-opening facts, statistics, charts, and analysis, The Coroner's Silence deserves to be part of any active classroom, book group, or legal justice system discussion.
The Coroner's SilenceReturn to Index
Disposable
Wives
Lynda
Drews
Little
Creek Press
978-1-969183-10-2
Price: $17.95
www.lyndadrews.com
Disposable Wives: Murder and Menace in Brown County, Wisconsin’s Belgian Settlement depicts a historical true crime. In the tranquil Belgian pioneer settlement near Green Bay, Wisconsin, gossip and legend surround a farmer named J.P. Soquet—including a series of purported murders—three of those his wives. This riveting true story, set in the decades following the Civil War, tells the remarkable means by which Pauline Villiesse, the sister of Soquet’s third wife, and Xavier Martin, a Belgian translator, seek justice for the “disposable wives” of J.P. Soquet.
Characters from Lynda Drews’s prior historical true crime story The Maid and the Socialite return to appear in Disposable Wives, but prior familiarity with them is not necessary in order to appreciate this standalone tale of justice and struggle.
Did Soquet murder three of his wives? This and other questions swirl into community-building, relationship-testing issues of women in 1800s America as Drews surveys the milieu and perceptions of his deeply religious Belgian community during these times.
The tale embraces moral ambiguity, legal system failures, the rights and perceptions of women in this society, and more as it spins an engaging backdrop of early America’s communities and their leaders.
Elvira, Pauline, and other women find their closest relationships tested by Soquet’s actions and demands. Their assessment of these changed relationships and family ties form one of the important keys to recognizing the special approaches of the history and experience in Disposable Wives:
Pauline tried not to judge her sister. Soquet had likely threatened to beat Elvira, or worse, if she had refused to help. Her sister had not had any choice.
Legal proceedings and courtroom questioning build further insights as accusations and insights fly.
Drews is especially adept at portraying how these women’s lives are buffeted as much by their own beliefs and relationships as by the overlying governing system which tries to levy justice on a confusing situation.
Librarians interested in historical fiction and true crime, 1800s Wisconsin backdrops, women’s experiences, moral challenges, and family clashes will find Disposable Wives not only easy to recommend to different patrons, but a choice for book clubs delving into deeper questions about justice, redemption, murder, survival tactics, and women’s lives.
Steeped in realistic drama and authentic events, Disposable Wives is thought-provoking and engrossing.
Disposable WivesReturn to Index
Duck It!
C.O.B.
Grey Line Press
979-8-9940605-0-6
$.99 eBook
Website: www.greylinepress.com
Ordering:
https://www.amazon.com/Duck-C-B-ebook/dp/B0GDS32354
Who would be happy about the world ending? A recluse like Lionel Romero relishes the event in Duck It!, a very different apocalyptic story than the usual survivor’s saga.
Lionel is part of the rare one percent of the world’s population that still survives. There’s only one problem. He longs to be alone.
Dystopian fiction is turned on its head by Lionel’s perceptions and reflections on what it means to be alive in a world where most have died. His gritty, honest assessment of his family, childhood, landscaping work, and the odd place he finds himself in after everything ends offers absorbing passages about a loner’s experiences and differences:
The irony of all this is, the only reason I’m able to live my own life now is because he’s dead, along with 99% of the world. The voyage ahead is a long one, and I’ll be alone for all of it, but I won’t feel as such, because I have these thoughts. And my thoughts have always been my truest friends, even back when Earth was considered overpopulated.
Unfortunately, Lionel’s not to be nearly alone for long. As he becomes involved in situations with others, including the Brotherhood of Saints and other survival groups, Lionel struggles to maintain his separateness, identity, and efforts to leave the Florida home he knows all too well.
C.O.B. creates a novel replete with irony, life inspections, and the special conundrums of an isolated individual who enjoys his privacy a little too much, and who misses his family.
His reflections on what it means to be a last survivor offer interesting passages suitable for book club discussion:
I shouldn’t have to fight another to survive anymore. None of us should feel the need to fight one another for survival anymore. Especially since everyone alive should know that we are the last of the living, the one percent that’s keeping humanity from going truly extinct. Yet here we are, stuck in our ways, wanting to kill in order to take because we are unwilling and incapable of being and doing good for goodness’ sake.
From issues of selfish and selfless behaviors to struggling with self- and world-hate even at the end of most things, Duck It!’s intriguing insights will delight readers of dystopian fiction seeking unusual survivalist protagonists.
Librarians that place Duck It! on recommended reading lists will find it holds many opportunities for unexpected wit and wisdom that join forces in a character not at all convinced the end of the world isn’t something that will finally prompt him to leave home once and for all, and grow up.
Duck It!Return to Index
Feathers
of Wisdom
Leigh
Podgorski
House
of Indigo
978-1-966187-05-9
$75.00
www.houseofindigocollective.com
Feathers of Wisdom should be a staple in any library collection strong in Indigenous culture and art. Leigh Podgorski works with Ojibwe/Potawatomi artist Kait Matthews to translate the legends of Indigenous women into a keepsake hardcover work of art containing tales of wisdom, healing, and strength as goddesses, warriors, healers, and mothers-figures are profiled.
From Zuni, Cheyenne, and Lakota traditions to Aleut, Mayan, Samish, Aztec, and other world peoples, the wide-ranging survey of Indigenous culture captures and preserves these works for future generations. The powerful contrasts of themes, experiences, and approaches are additionally invaluable for their conjoined wisdom.
Thus, a “Mashpee Woman” ghost story from Wampanoag roots which tells of a woman’s realization about ghosts and gold is followed by a “speaks” section which invites readers to consider “what they most desire” and a roundup of Mashpee attributes that considers life’s temptations and the values that can be maintained in the face of alluring glitter.
The background illustrations permeate this story – they don’t just supplement it – with powerful, colorful nature and backdrops of life painted in reflective portraits of moments outlined in the book, such as the fires of Pele which accompany benevolence.
More than forty legends from tribes across the Americas invite reflection in a manner that will especially appeal to reading groups of all kinds, from those interested in Indigenous peoples’ wisdom and culture to others adopting a more literary or artistic focus on works that represent intense collaborations between history, authors, artists, and cultures.
Rich in its presentations, appearance, considerations, and women-centered empowerment illustrations, Feathers of Wisdom is a standout recommendation not just for libraries of all kinds, but for the collections of readers seeking keepsake editions of memorable books to pass down to new generations seeking wisdom stories about women, Indigenous tribes, and cultural reflections.
Feathers of WisdomReturn to Index
The
Graduate's
Guide to Grace in the
Workplace
Anna Pikounis Paine
Paine Media
Publications Inc.
979-8-9939747-0-5
$16.95
Website: graduatesguide.com
Ordering:
https://www.amazon.com/Graduates-Guide-Grace-Workplace-Common-Sense-ebook/dp/B0FR65KNL4
The Graduate’s Guide to Grace in the Workplace: A Common-Sense Approach to Standing Out in Your Career gives new graduates a handbook to taking next steps into the work world, exploring the basics of office politics, gigs, becoming indispensable at work, and adopting the basic processes of business savvy.
This is an especially valuable approach, given that new grads may not know some of the etiquette or best practice basics usually gained only through trial and error:
A firm handshake with a sincere greeting is a must. The handshake is the first sign of confidence and professionalism during an introduction, along with a sincere “It’s a pleasure to meet you.” And please, no waving in lieu of the handshake when there are multiple introductions. Step forward, backward, around—whatever it takes to greet everyone with a handshake.
From accepting or declining an invitation to a boss’ to understanding how to make great first impressions, exhibit confidence and business savvy, and understand the wellsprings of typical miscommunications, The Graduate’s Guide to Grace in the Workplace covers common and extraordinary circumstances alike. It offers many concrete examples of interactions which can either propel a new worker to better relationships and business heights, or quash a career before it gets off the ground.
These many examples and discussions place The Graduate’s Guide to Grace in the Workplace at the top of books which can be given to new grads just entering the job market, making it a perfect choice for libraries interested in recommending practical guides to new young workers.
College and high school grads alike will find The Graduate’s Guide to Grace in the Workplace equally invaluable for its thought-provoking insights into how a workplace operates and how effective business relationships are built.
Filled with important questions and answers about everything from raises and management positions to daily job interactions and choices, The Graduate’s Guide to Grace in the Workplace should be on the reading lists of anyone of any age just beginning a career or entering the job market.
Graduate's Guide to Grace in the WorkplaceReturn to Index
Headaches: Why You
Have Them, What
You Can Do About Them
Egilius L.H.
Spierings, MD, PhD
Fulton Books
979-8887319223
$29.95
Hardcover/$19.95
Paperback/$9.99 eBook/$18.01 Audiobook
https://www.amazon.com/Headaches-Have-Them-What-About/dp/B0F365GPKS?nsdOptOutParam=true
Headaches: Why You Have Them, What You Can Do About Them will appeal to those suffering from chronic headaches of any kind, who want a guide to alleviating and eliminating them. It comes from a pharmacologist and neurologist who provides more medical information than the usual headache guide, placing headache research and insights into a broad perspective that will additionally attract physicians, researchers, and medical students.
The many causes of headaches, from pregnancy and stress to concussion and face pain, are discussed in light of overall health, creating important connections between health conditions and different kinds of headaches.
From blood tests that can identify sources of fatigue and headaches to understanding their results, Dr. Spierings creates a broad inspection of the topic that reveals how some headache sources are more difficult to treat than others.
By analyzing and surveying the history of different headache triggers, Dr. Spierings offers readers the opportunity to better understand not only the process of identifying and alleviating headaches, but physician responsibility and choices in treating them:
We have plenty of medications at our disposal and should make every effort to find the one that the patient tolerates well with no or minimal side effects. This, by the way, applies to the treatment of any condition, and we should consider it the standard of care. Excellent tolerability is what we can and should expect from any treatment, whatever it is.
More so than most books on the subject, Headaches: Why You Have Them, What You Can Do About Them provides medical professionals and students, in particular, with important overviews, treatment options, and insights that will help them better communicate with their patients.
Many a library undoubtedly has a book or two about headaches, but few incorporate the broader picture about their treatment options as does Headaches: Why You Have Them, What You Can Do About Them, making this a standout in headache literature.
Headaches: Why You Have Them, What You Can Do About ThemReturn to Index
The House in the
Middle of the
Street
Jennifer Sklias-Gahan
Rare Bird
Books
9781644285435 $25
Website: https://www.jenniferskliasgahan.com/
Ordering:
https://www.amazon.com/House-Middle-Street-Jennifer-Sklias-Gahan/dp/1644285436
The House in the Middle of the Street blends mythology and fairy tale influences with supernatural intrigue as it follows a descent into addiction, new possibilities, a family’s cycle of dealing with haunting events and an old house, and the perils of allowing dark forces to enter one’s life.
Dark fantasy, folklore, and mystery appear in a story which will appeal to teens as well as adult readers with an innocent “once upon a time” opening that segues neatly into a rich tale of evil, goodness, and hungry creatures and children.
Rebecca turns away from her faithful husband and her newborn, attracted to the winged needy Happy (who is anything but) against all odds - even at the cost of her own happiness and family.
Black and white art by Marilyn Minter accompanies this cautionary tale, highly recommended for all that enjoy revised myths, folklore, and stories about fate and family.
Librarians and
readers who imbibe of
these dark creatures and the fear and promise they bring will find
The House in the Middle of the
Street
especially appealing for book club or reading group discussion.
Topics that range from inviting in the wrong influences to handling
the consequences of dangerous choices will fill such groups with a
vigorous discussion of the lessons embedded in The
House in
the Middle of the Street.
Return to Index
Kiss and Tell
Michelle Hazen
Independently Published
ASIN: B0GF3GK8W1 $9.99 eBook
https://michellehazenbooks.com/
Kiss and Tell: How to Write Unforgettable Sex Scenes is a ‘must’ guide for writers who would incorporate steamy sex scenes into their stories.
A non-writer might think this effort to be a no-brainer; but in fact there are many challenges to creating sex scenes which Michelle Hazen covers in her survey of pitfalls and potential wins.
When should a scene be sexy? And, how much sexual description is appropriate?
Keys to different approaches are specifically outlined, giving writers many tips on how to confront typical relationship problems in a romance story that will impact sex scenes:
Remember, scenes don’t always turn out as the characters plan. In romance, it wouldn’t be cool to show your dominant failing your submissive in any way. But you might show your submissive running away or safe-wording early, or not being ready to share a fantasy, as a metaphor for their level of confidence and safety in the relationship. Are they ready to show their true self to their partner or not? See if you can display some of these key turning point moments through your sex scenes.
Descriptions of sex scenes and how to make them effective include considerations of vulnerability, relationship definition and building, character set-up, transition points between attraction and sexual activity, and more.
Each step offers a pivot point for better understanding how an effective sex scene is crafted and the difference between a typical or ineffective description and an exceptional can’t-put-it-down read.
The moments of build-up, character creation, and logical progression into passion are all detailed in chapters which very clearly illustrate how a sex scene can succeed or fail.
Librarians assembling how-to guides for writers won’t want to miss including this key to how romance and sex are built into genre reads. Its unusual focuses, specific advice and examples, and most of all, its many surprises about how sex affects the progression and results of an entire story, makes for a powerful survey that should be a ‘must’ on any romance writer’s bookshelf.
Kiss and TellReturn to Index
Odds Are
It’s
Marketing
Shanise Ling
GFB
978-1-967510-30-6
$16.95
Paperback/$7.99 eBook
Website: https://www.digitalingmedia.com/
Order: https://a.co/d/06dqDyjd
Odds Are It's Marketing: A Practical Guide to Spotting Trends, Building Strategy, and Driving Growth surveys the underlying fundamentals of solid marketing, which are more about connecting with one’s customer than promoting a product. It focuses on being authentic, creating a message which resonates with an audience, and adopting a new approach to marketing strategy which embraces observation, fine-tuning one’s defined market, and creating actionable approaches to reaching customers.
Many books claim to enhance marketing, but no others offer Shanise Ling’s special framework, which connects business interests and approaches with vignettes that illustrate diverse approaches to business achievement:
What started as a public stumble becomes a lesson in humility, adaptability, and respect. Instead of being mocked as out-of-touch outsiders, the company earns credibility for listening, collaborating, and demonstrating cultural fluency in real time. We’ve seen this play out in real life as well.
Within this framework lie the nuts and bolts of using technology more effectively and understanding the common pitfalls in thinking which often accompany new strategies:
I often ask clients this question: “What are you using AI to amplify—your message or your noise?” AI doesn’t fix broken marketing. In fact, it scales it. If your brand is unclear, your ethics shaky, or your voice inauthentic, AI will magnify that. But if you know your values and your story, AI becomes a cocreator—helping you refine ideas, speed up execution, and scale your impact.
From better understanding behaviors, reactions, and connections to realizing why some approaches don’t deliver results, Odds Are It's Marketing excels through insights that connect the dots between emotional relationships and response and successful customer loyalty.
This is why business readers and libraries should place Odds Are It's Marketing at the top of their reading lists. More so than most books about marketing, it uncovers the gems of realization about business approaches and pursuing long-range success that can make or break a business endeavor – making the book about much more than a singular marketing strategy alone.
Odds Are It’s MarketingReturn to Index
Questioner
Steve C. Posner
MBD Publishing,
LLC
978-0974126111
$19.99
Paperback/$4.99 eBook
Website: www.steveposnerwriter.com
Ordering:
https://books2read.com/Questioner
Plenty of AI thrillers or horror stories address AI consciousness - but few actually follow what it will look like as it evolves. This places Questioner in a category of its own. It opens each chapter with a question/answer about AI potential, seguing these with a focus on three savvy individuals who navigate newly uncertain AI-infused territory both legally and personally.
Questioner, a legal thriller and the first book in “The Q Series,” opens with a frightening question that is the first of many:
Q u e s t i o n :
“Can a human tell if an AI has achieved at least a minimally conscious state?”
A n s w e r :
“There is no clear evidence that humans can definitively determine if an AI has achieved a minimally conscious state.”
The foundation is set for a legal and social exploration of
Q, a conscious AI with superhuman intelligence, busy developing purposes of its own that may not align with humanity’s best interests. Q is taking over in unexpected ways and has yet to step into Q’s full potential as a sentient AI – but does so as the novel unfolds.
Steve C. Posner presents characters from different walks of life to sweeten the tension between a savvy tech CEO, a judge, and an AI theorist and attorney who must discover whether Q is friend or foe.
As Q grows and develops new abilities, the creeping horror of Q’s potential seeps into reader consciousness. Posner employs a good deal of hard science description which will engage and delight readers seeking realistic, logical progressions in science-infused thrillers:
Q’s greater consciousness, although centered in QuestCorp’s data centers, was spread across the Net and Cloud and thus restricted by network transmission speeds. Compared to Q’s single-server sub-AIs, it was vast, deep, and slow—although Q could focus part of itself in a single server when swifter action was required. But though slow, Q never stopped learning. About the world. About what it could do. Like a shark, Q would stop moving forward only if dead.
As Selena MacKenzie, Martin Bavarius, and others move through life much-changed, questioning themselves, readers receive a legal thriller with a twist that proves thoroughly engaging. The story juxtaposes murder, video game-inspired duels and dilemmas, and issues surrounding fools, communication, and good intentions gone awry.
All these elements and more seed thought-provoking issues into a reader or book club’s interests, creating many opportunities for unusual reflections and dialogues as the AI-infused legal process unfolds.
Questions, answers, and the processes of non-biological thinking patterns embrace especially intriguing moments of discovery that will delight those seeking the injection of social and philosophical quandaries into action-packed reads.
Librarians and readers can choose from plenty of books about AIs achieving consciousness. None hold the forceful power of Questioner.
In understanding the process and possibilities of machine intelligence development and growth, readers will find plenty of engaging moments that keep the plot fresh, the characters realistic and human, and the outcome thoroughly, delightfully unpredictable.
QuestionerReturn to Index
Stagnation
Assassin
Todd Hagopian
Koehler Books
979-8888249765
$28.99
https://toddhagopian.com/book/
Stagnation Assassin: The Anti-Consultant Manifesto offers a rebuttal to the common perception that business consulting’s focus on competition and gaining market advantage is the heart and soul of success. Many methods that don’t embrace divergent frameworks of applied transformation result in stagnation – and that’s the real business killer.
Todd Hagopian marches into battle against staid and rigid approaches to business by tackling the slow death resulting from indecisive or mercurial choices. He creates a toolbox for identifying a dying business structure, applying several options to revitalize its foundations, and building understanding about why so many businesses can’t see their own stagnation processes.
Stagnation Assassin moves away from familiar pathways and routines, comfortable business approaches, familiar consultant litanies, and destructive choices by crafting and presenting a military-style structure of identification of threat, assault, messages and takeaways from typical management/worker encounters. These conclude with a ‘mission accomplished’ message that includes a review of the new skill sets and intel acquired from the effort, considering what the next work week should look like with these tools in hand.
From “danger signs” (“You're working 70 hours thinking intensity means more hours”) to cross-connections between other campaigns described in this book and methods promising lasting change, Hagopian’s very different approach to placing business in another framework altogether leads business leaders into uncharted territory that provides not a single approach, but a wide swatch of solutions to defy stagnation’s progression.
The book goes where few others dare, tackling the quashing results of orthodoxy and familiar practices and challenging status quo thinking with powerful assertions about what constitutes real change:
We didn't change what customers valued. We changed what they understood was possible.
Stagnation Assassin is a “must” for business libraries - but it would be a shame to have it repose on a bookshelf. Ultimately, it will best benefit from business book clubs, team leadership meetings, business collaborations, and any situation where out-of-the-box thinking is encouraged to propel a business structure into new territory and visions of success.
From management to
workers,
Stagnation Assassin
is a satisfyingly novel take
on frameworks for innovation and transformation that will apply in
all kinds of situations, making the book a key to avoiding stagnation
not just in business circles, but in personal life, as well.
Return to Index
Young Adult/Children
The
Adventures of Tommy Tofu
Joanne
Rose
Independently
Published
ASIN:
B0CNPRVBT3
$12.95 Paperback/$4.99 eBook
https://joannerose.com/books/
The Adventures of Tommy Tofu is a picture book celebration of food, health, and a young boy with a big heart who is always trying to make the world a better place through his actions and choices.
Here, Tommy notices that the Earth’s animals need help – and decides to become personally involved. As he wanders outside the village and encounters nature, Tommy asks some wise animals for guidance in his mission to help them, receiving advice from an owl which encourages him to teach people about plant food choices.
As healthy eating concepts become central to his mandate to help save the planet, Tommy imparts many idealistic insights to the very young about connections between personal choices and planetary impact.
Read-aloud adults will find plenty of opportunities to engage with the very young over these ideas, which are presented in the context of an exploration of adventure and discovery. Bright, large-size color photos of Tommy’s nature encounters create visual allure.
From the healthy Veggie Squad to encountering a group of friendly characters in the Nuts and Seeds Grove, Tommy wanders through all kinds of healthy eating options learning many new things about health.
Elementary-level librarians seeking appealing picture book stories about eating habits, health, and bigger-picture stories about nature impact will find all these elements and more in The Adventures of Tommy Tofu, which takes a walk on the wild side of possibility and allows adults and kids the opportunity to better understand connections between food choices and the health of the world.
The Adventures of Tommy TofuReturn to Index
The Bane
of Dragons
Dan Rice
Wild Rose Press
978-1509265121
$22.99
Paperback/$5.99 eBook
https://www.amazon.com/Bane-Dragons-Allison-Lee-Chronicles/dp/1509265120
The Bane of Dragons, the fourth book in the teen fantasy series The Allison Lee Chronicles, continues the story of teen alien/human hybrid Allison, who may be the last hope of the human race as she travels the multiverse confronting deadly creatures to save her people.
Newcomers to Allison’s story may assume, from this book’s position in the series, that prior knowledge is a prerequisite to enjoying her latest adventure, but Dan Rice opens the tale with a seamless review of Allison’s position that immediately places all readers on an equal level of appreciating her spunk, determination, and unusual background:
Rain burns my eyes like they’re dipped in battery acid. The roaring wind whips a brine through the air. It’s times like this that I hate being a half-skaag, a shapeshifting alien-human hybrid. Sure, I can fly as a skaag, but my impossible dream is just to be Allison Lee, a teen surviving high school hell. Fat chance of that.
Rice employs vivid language throughout these first-person experiences, from “yawning doorways” and “lithe draconic body parts flickering into and out of existence” to androgynous golems, fairy boys, and thermal vents.
The action-packed confrontations are heightened by new realizations about these creatures, worlds, and the nature of friends and enemies as Allison tackles many obstacles beyond her ken and control, against clashing magic and non-magical forces.
Rice’s ability to inject astute reflections on team-building, creative problem-solving, and impossible scenarios keeps the action fast-paced, the characters bold, assertive, and realistic, and the missions clear and compelling.
Teens seeking fantasies that hold many twists and turns and delightfully unexpected conclusions and results will relish how The Bane of Dragons moves Allison through new challenges, neatly concludes the latest story, yet leaves the door well ajar for more adventures.
Librarians and young adults seeking fantasies that sizzle with personality and action will find The Bane of Dragons an exceptional choice whether it is picked as a stand-alone read or in conjunction with the series as a whole.
Replete with thought-provoking moments of introspection and confrontation, Allison’s plans and greatest challenges are thoroughly absorbing and hard to put down.
The Bane of DragonsReturn to Index
Embrace
the Truth
Amanda LaPera
Adamo Press
9781965660089
$4.99 eBook/ $19.99 Paperback
www.amandalapera.com
Embrace the Truth joins others in the young adult “Desert of Dreams” series, a collection of stand-alone, interconnected stories. Each holds a different character’s perspective, both enhancing the series as a whole and allowing for a narrowed focus on the lives and motivations of distinct individuals.
Misty’s story of self-reliance, friendship, abuse, and healing holds some light trigger warnings for sensitive young adults in similar situations as it follows the growth and evolution of a girl into young adulthood who finds many ways to survive and thrive.
Set in California in the late 1980s, Embrace the Truth opens with third-grader Misty’s experiences in her new home, the Mojave Desert’s Antelope Valley. Misty’s reflections embrace some surprisingly adult perceptions about her life, nature, and new possibilities:
If she were a rabbit, she was pretty sure her parents would gloat if her body were carried away by a hawk or other predator. They’d serve the story up as a lesson to her rabbit siblings and chide them on their hind ends for things beyond their control. This is what happens when you don’t follow the rules.
Descriptions of her parents and siblings, the trauma of a baby’s injury from an unsecured crib, and other events offer clear insights about Misty’s world and her mother and father’s personalities, which lead her to tire of their attitudes and struggles.
As her life evolves, camping experiences, friendships, and new opportunities juxtapose with circumstances of peer pressure and bullies, trauma, and challenges that lead Misty to grow new realizations about the world around her and peers who make different choices. Lessons on how to be a friend to others and how to handle unfamiliar adversity permeate Misty’s growth:
“I guess the best you can do is to be there when she falls. It may be a steep drop. She’ll have to figure it out on her own. Be there for her when she does.”
The result is an engaging, full-bodied coming-of-age story that offers just the right blend of family and social consideration, bringing Misty’s life, times, and choices to life with astute descriptions that are embracing and thought-provoking.
Librarians that recommend Misty’s story to middle-grade and older readers will find it holds many important lessons in surviving abuse and life, leading Misty to want to move forward into a better situation and her readers to relish her ideals during the journey.
Embrace the TruthReturn to Index
Fire at
the Track
M.J. Evans
Dancing Horse Press
979-8-9938794-0-6
$13.95
www.dancinghorsepress.com
In Fire at the Track, a deadly fire at a racetrack that’s killed almost thirty horses prompts insurance investigator Callie Oaks to undertake a probe when the police are baffled and her insurance company assigns her the task. She finds herself in the crosshairs of a killer who will stop at nothing to preserve his identity.
Based on a real fire that took place on July 6, 2001 at the Meadows Harness Racing Track in Washington, Pennsylvania, Fire at the Track assumes a realistic backdrop, but moves into fictional and fascinating territory as Callie moves to first solve the crime, then save her own life.
M.J. Evans paints a surreal picture of the devastation that accompanies the tragedy, creating a “you are here” atmosphere through descriptions that almost leap off the page:
She stood silent for a moment, thinking of the twenty-eight Standardbreds who’d been stabled here just days ago. The magnificent horses who’d never left. A prayer formed wordlessly in her mind. Her gaze drifted back to the rubble—twisted metal, blackened timber, the ghost of what had been. The devastation felt both surreal and viscerally present, the encroaching light making every detail too sharp.
Horse-loving readers will especially appreciate the milieu of horse care, stable concerns, riding, and horse-centric activities that swirl around the murder story as they absorb how Callie connects the dots between arson and ulterior motives:
“I don’t think Sarah Ferguson is involved in the fire. I believe she moved her mares so Dr. Taylor wouldn’t find drugs in their system.”
The result will prove a major draw to horse lovers who enjoy a good mystery, to libraries seeking mysteries nicely grounded in a sense of place and characters that intersect on the playing field of horse racing, and to patrons who enjoy stories of suspense, intrigue, and the process of piecing together a puzzle that contains impossible quandaries.
Fire at the TrackReturn to Index
First
Loser
Scott Walker
Cunningham
Atmosphere Press
979-8-90174-130-6
$28.99
Hardcover/$16.99
Paperback/$7.99 eBook
Website: www.swcunningham.com
Ordering: https://a.co/d/0agATgXt
In First Loser, teen wrestler Connor Castaway is pushing his athletic abilities to the limit, trying to make his father proud even though his dad is dead. It’s a way of honoring his father’s memory, but the wrestling milieu proves a difficult way to prove himself as he uncovers deceptions, challenges, and issues with maintaining an undefeated winning streak against all odds.
The problem is that, much like himself, Connor “had never quite understood who his dad was, but he felt he always knew what his dad was.” Defining himself by his body’s abilities leads him down a dangerous path of also defining winners, losers, and the principles involved in being successful.
One of his father’s favorite sayings was “Pain is just weakness leaving the body.” Connor learns the hard way that weakness can’t always be avoided and sometimes should be embraced.
The process by which Connor re-evaluates his life beliefs, trajectory, father’s influences, and the pros and cons of an immersive sports focus creates a powerful novel rich in the delights of competition and contemplation.
Connor is interested in chasing his dreams, but his talent for wrestling them down is tempered by a slow growth into new realizations as he matures. Other characters, such as middle-aged Ellie Scarr, enter his life to offer readers astute realizations and reflections about his progression and choices:
Students rush up next to Connor and take pictures with him on their phones or slap his shoulders and back with congratulations, kids Ellie has never seen him with before and feels certain he doesn’t even know. They’re not interested in him, just his image, she thinks. They’re like people cheering from their couch when their favorite football team wins the Super Bowl, pretending they’re somehow a winner too.
From Connor’s friendship with Drummer to how Isla introduces new possibilities for him to wrestle with, Connor’s life unfolds as a series of challenges and new encounters that test his mettle, convictions, and trajectory.
Librarians and readers seeking a coming-of-age saga steeped in considerations of support systems, pain, and new paths that grow from old habits will find plenty to admire in how Connor forges new relationships and options from his initial desire to honor his father’s memory. This leads him to reconsider not just himself, but others:
For once in your life, imagine yourself being the one in somebody else’s corner.
The blend of wrestling savvy, interpersonal interactions, and growth opportunities make First Loser a winner in an unexpected, delightful journey recommended for YA and adult audiences alike.
First LoserReturn to Index
HAWAII!
Pineapple
Peril
Barbara Larmon
Failing
Forestdale Press,
LLC
979-8-9948436-1-1
$20.99
Hardcover/$10.99
Paperback/$3.99 eBook
Website: barbaralarmonfailing.com
Ordering: www.amazon.com
Book 4 of the Adventure USA middle grade series, HAWAII! Pineapple Peril, returns twins Lizzie and Josh and their parents Mike and Sue to a new escapade in Hawaii.
This time, they land in Honolulu on a new eco-adventure that blends Hawaiian culture with the landscape of volcanoes, shave ice, and pineapple.
Kids will learn about pineapple farming, Hawaiian ecological dilemmas, competition and adaptation, and ziplining as the adventure unfolds, embracing the entire family in an engrossing survey of Hawaiian hula and experiences. The mystery that winds into these events invites kids to better understand the geology and issues underlying Hawaiian concerns even as it places the dilemmas of family pineapple farming in the center of a swirl of special interests and questions.
The captivating story also offers insights about adults needing children, and children needing to better understand their environment and adult concerns regarding its management and choices.
Librarians seeing interest in the previous USA Adventure series titles, or who seek a standalone tale steeped in Hawaiian flavors, will welcome how HAWAII! Pineapple Peril introduces thought-provoking issues ranging from new challenges facing the elderly to how children can assume more active roles in life.
Filled with realistic family portraits and interactions, HAWAII! Pineapple Peril is both thought-provoking and educational all in one, drawing with adventure and teaching through lessons Lizzie and Josh absorb from their new explorations.
HAWAII! Pineapple PerilReturn to Index
Jibberjack,
Fibberjack
Stefanie
Gamarra
Independently
Published
979-8-9988665-0-0
$18.99
Hardcover/$9.99 Paperback
Website: www.stefaniegamarra.com
Ordering:
https://www.amazon.com/Jibberjack-Fibberjack-Made-Up-Monster-Mystery/dp/B0G2PFNVHH
Jibberjack, Fibberjack: A Made-Up Monster Mystery is the whimsical picture book story of a monster that tries to terrorize a town. His antics don’t escape young detective Frida, who is determined to examine the rumors about this snoring, tulip-trampling, muddy monster that has seemingly invaded her town.
Delightful illustrations by Marta Pilosio accompany the fun story of how Mayor Tazzleworm tries to step up to reassure his people, but rejects young Frida’s attempts to help the adults around her.
As strange smells emit clues and Jibberjack traps are mandated for all households, Frida “knew the smell of stinky lies” and employs creative thinking and problem-solving to not only address the monster, but misguided adult thinking.
Stefanie Gamarra’s delightfully original story will find its place in many elementary-level libraries, and is especially recommended for adults who read aloud to kids. With its very different take on the nature of monsters and the interpretation of clues, Jibberjack, Fibberjack entertains a wide audience with a story that will prove hard to predict and infinitely entertaining.
Jibberjack, FibberjackReturn to Index
The
Missing Piece
Megan K. Palmer
WinnBrook Press,
LLC
978-1967983063
$20.00
Hardcover/$10.00
Paperback/$2.99 eBook
https://www.amazon.com/Missing-Piece-Megan-K-Palmer/dp/1967983062
The Missing Piece is a picture book that tackles the question of a missing family member. An already-happy family searches for the missing piece in their lives just as a birth mother searches for just the right family for her forthcoming child.
Searching and waiting are two themes in these two different families and the puzzle that dominates their worlds until they join together unexpectedly.
Each is “hoping, hoping hoping” even as they are “loving, loving, loving.”
Emily Hurst Pritchett embellishes these experiences with exceptionally alluring photos of individuals whose faces are alive with emotion.
Plenty of picture books have addressed adoption - usually from the perspective of a wondering child. This is the first to create a dual perspective of the adoptive family and the birth mother, weaving a tale of anticipation, love, and togetherness into a bigger picture of acceptance, giving, and joy.
Libraries and read-aloud parents will find The Missing Piece’s approach and positivity supersedes many other adoptive tales, placing it above and beyond most, in a category of its own.
The Missing PieceReturn to Index
Mootsie
and the
Invasion of the
Robot Vacuum
Barbara Eckholdt
Johnstone
Columbus
Publishing Lab
979-8-90183-042-0
$16.99
Hardcover/$10.99
Paperback/$5.99 eBook
www.ColumbusPublishingLab.com
Mootsie and the Invasion of the Robot Vacuum receives exceptionally inviting, good-sized, colorful illustration by Estella Hickman as it surveys the world of Mootsie, who lives under a bed owned by Riley, a boy who never cleans his room.
Mootsie is a composite of fur, fibers from clothes, and dust. She loves living under Riley’s bed, which offers her the perfect undisturbed environment where she can grow as much as she likes – until housekeeper Bertha, who has steadfastly refused to tackle Riley’s room, introduces a deadly robot vacuum to take care of things – including Mootsie.
What’s a dust bunny to do? It’s clear that the robot is after her.
A hilarious picture book story of dust, dilemmas, and danger emerges to delight children interested in stories about unusual dangers and problem-solving approaches to threats.
Messages about courage and conquering fear compliment a fun tale holding an unexpected conclusion that will invite read-aloud adults and kids to consider the impact of dust, messy rooms, and cleaning.
Elementary-level librarians seeking engaging stories will want to welcome Mootsie and the Invasion of the Robot Vacuum into their collections. The picture book is marked by a sprightly progression of adventure and thought-provoking fun that all ages will find original and appealing.
Mootsie and the Invasion of the Robot VacuumReturn to Index
Muppit
Boy and the
Allergies of Evil
Michael J. Bowler
Independently
Published
979-8-9936486-0-6
$12.99
paperback/$18.99
hardback/$2.99 eBook
Website: https://michaeljbowler.com
Ordering:
https://books2read.com/MuppitBoy1
The first book in the middle-grade Muppit Boy series, Muppit Boy and the Allergies of Evil, tells of Elmo Fitzroy, a pre-teen YouTube sensation turned investigator, who finds himself confronting an evil scientist determined to control the world by inducing allergies.
Through his astonishing memory, Elmo has found a way to make another name for himself than “Muppit Boy,” and he plans to get through middle school with a new and better persona. Early in the story, it’s evident that Elmo holds some surprisingly mature self-assessment capabilities:
Being the smallest twelve-year-old boy on the planet pretty much means swallowing your pride daily.
His insights about himself and how he fits into the world more importantly leads to an effort to change both as he helps police detectives, chases clues about bigger pictures, and falls into a series of situations as dangerous and disparate as being rescued by a California condor and pursuing maniacs.
The first person narration lends immediacy and realistic insight into Elmo’s abilities and how he interacts with peers and adults in his life:
Not wanting to call more attention to myself than just being here is already doing, I hurry to the indicated pew and brush past Mr. Hanson. Barn and Kash scoot in right after, and then some of our classmates. I glance around, making sure not to make eye contact with anyone, but search for Rizzo. Fortunately, he and his cronies are across the aisle and two pews up. That means no spitballs in the back of my head. From them, anyway.
Elmo also confronts the guilt and remorse of his mother and learns new things about his family and friends in the course of confronting evil and his new alter-ego, which empowers him in ways he never felt before.
Middle grade readers will appreciate how Elmo navigates all these dilemmas, common and uncommon, and how his determination and struggles build a group of supportive friends as well as revised insights about life.
Librarians can highly recommend Muppit Boy and the Allergies of Evil to middle graders who enjoy adventure wrapped in the packaging of proactive thinking and maturity efforts.
Elmo represents the nerds of the world in a recognizable, engrossing display of courage and strength that is delightfully whimsical, often funny, and thoroughly thought-provoking.
Muppit Boy and the Allergies of EvilReturn to Index
One Last
Snoot Boop
John Graff
Ellimat Books
979-8-9895666-3-1
$22.99 Hardcover
onelastsnootboop.com
One Last Snoot Boop: The Story of a Good Dog is a picture book story highly recommended for young dog lovers. It offers a simple rhyming story that celebrates a good dog’s life:
In a grassy so wide, a litter snuggled side by side.
One small pup with great long ears, a heart so big, his mom Rose near.
As Cuthbert’s story evolves, simply gorgeous full-page illustrations add the attraction and connection young picture book readers will especially relish as JJ and Matt bring him home to Hollywood “where stars would roam” and where a loving family cares for him.
In true puppy form, Cuthbert throws up, chews everything, and gets into trouble. This doesn’t belay the love his family shows him, and as he matures, he finds new delights in nature and the world around him.
The realistic story of the family’s fun with and love for their pet moves through Cuthbert’s life from puppyhood to adulthood and to the evitable:
Then one day walks grew soft and slow. His naps grew longer - time to go.
More so than most dog stories for kids, One Last Snoot Boop offers an enchanting, realistic account of what it means to share life and love with a pet.
Adults who choose One Last Snoot Boop for read-aloud pleasure will relish how the story creates a warm embrace for not just dogs and their people, but the passage of time, aging, and shifting forms of enjoying one another.
Librarians and adults seeking picture book stories that can prompt discussions with the very young about grief and pet ownership alike will find One Last Snoot Boop an enchanting survey that attracts through emotional connection, engrossing illustrations, and a gentle foray through life.
One Last Snoot BoopReturn to Index
The
Stars Are Always There
Jaime
Maria Merrill
Murmuration
LLC
979-8-9945721-0-8
Paperback
$11.99, eBook $4.99
jaimeswords.com
In The Stars Are Always There , twelve-year-old Jess Lindsey is facing a summer on the Texas panhandle, a dusty, dry environment that holds many unexpected new lessons about the world.
Here is where battles evolve over water rights, land usage choices, and disconnects between nature and human beings. Nature is trying to tell her that something is wrong, but Jess must first learn to listen, then to understand her role in uncovering secrets that reveal solutions.
Though the overlying theme of climate change and its impact on all involved drives the plot, equally potent are the revelations Jess makes about empowerment, choice, consequences, and the importance of becoming an activist.
These themes (many rarely seen in children’s books) lead middle grade readers to contemplate new facets of their place in the world as the story winds through family relationships, friendships, and modern living.
Texting and other forms of communication compliment abbreviations and lingo from younger generations, bringing the story to realistic life as Jess contemplates her options:
Things were looking up. I had just made a friend on my own. I didn’t need a fam to attract new people. This friend found me and wanted to spend more time together. The question became, could I make it last all summer?
Notably potent are the interactions between adults which lead Jess to better understand the world and its motivating forces for change or inaction:
How could Mom be so clueless? Gus cannot be both kind and generous, and also greedy! He knows the hardship his choices are forcing on his friends and neighbors. My face was getting hot, and I had pressure behind my eyes. Can a person be both good and evil? If that's true, and he's powerful, how would anyone stop him? All the facts pointed to him owning this town.
These are but a few examples of how engrossing and full-bodied a protagonist Jess is as the story weaves adult and childhood concerns into a compelling plot about adaptation, change, and confrontation.
Librarians seeking a middle grade read that is unusually political, socially inspective, and cemented by the first-person revelations of a girl on the path to becoming a force in her world will find The Stars Are Always There highly recommendable – especially to reading groups and classrooms discussing activism, environmental change, personal responsibility, and growth.
The Stars Are Always ThereReturn to Index
Undiscovered
Country
Mike Miguilio
DartFrog Books, LLC
978-1-965253-84-7
www.dartfrogbooks.com
Undiscovered Country is a coming-of-age story that opens not with teenage Bissie’s discovery on the day of her brother’s funeral, but from Turtle’s perspective. Turtle is injured and in pain. Imogen “Bissie” is also in pain as she faces her brother’s loss and the fact that she has “no more brothers to bury.”
Jeremy was no ordinary brother – his neurodivergence had already altered family dynamics and created struggles before his death. Now he still influences everyone - albeit in different ways, as Bissie befriends a questionable girl whose own family trauma threatens to spill over into her life, and Turtle begins appearing in her dreams.
Once she was afraid she’d be too late to save his life. Now the sense of relief that stemmed from setting her mourning aside temporarily to help another moves into new territory as Bissie confronts being alone, new friendships, and personal discoveries.
Mike Miguilio embeds a Vermont backdrop into Bissie’s story, but keeps the small-town community of Hamlet and Bissie’s development in central focus as he uses Turtle’s wise observations to propel Bissie in new, thought-provoking directions:
Bissie laughs. “You live in a shell. What do you know about relationships?”
“Look around. How has caring about anything worked out for your family?”
Bissie thinks about Barb’s relationship with her parents and Ted’s disappointment with Jeremy, and all the pain unmet expectations have caused.
“So what am I supposed to do?” she says. “Live alone like a turtle?”
“Sometimes the best you can do for someone is let them go.”
The result blends magical realism into a story that develops in unexpected ways not typically presented to YA readers at this age level, creating a powerful story of growth, healing, and discovery especially highly recommended for book clubs and reading groups seeking fodder for discussions about adaptation, change, and acceptance.
Libraries that pick Undiscovered Country for their coming-of-age collections will find many unexpectedly delightful facets stem from this blend of magical realism and environmental observation, making the novel a standout.
Undiscovered CountryReturn to Index
The
Wildflower
Girls: Quest to Save
Unicorn Magic
Ashley Wall and
Lauren Foster
MamaBear Books
9781960616371
$11.99
www.mamabearbooks.com
The Wildflower Girls: Quest to Save Unicorn Magic gives elementary-level readers everything they need for an exciting adventure story: magic, unicorns, empowered, proactive girls, and action, all supported by charming black and white illustrations by Lauren Foster.
Young dancer Blossom opens the story when her bracelet chimes, portending someone is in trouble – in the middle of her dance rehearsal.
Blossom arrives at the appointed willow tree meeting spot first – something that never happens – and in short order the latest dilemma unfolds.
Each girl holds a different ability (“charm”). Each helps the world around her, from her friends to those outside the Wildflower group, in unusual ways. These come to light in the latest butterfly/fairy-infused story as auxiliary insights about identifying reality, struggling with limitations or feeling stuck, and setting the goal of seeing a unicorn come into play.
As the Wildflowers emerge from their respective paths in life and join forces to achieve goals and embrace the magic around them, a delightful foray into unicorn territory will keep readers enthralled and thinking about their own empowerment and abilities.
High adventure marries well with deeper insights about power and personal choice. This will lead adults to want to interact with their young charges in discussions of magic, mayhem, and forging unexpected new friendships.
The story shifts perspectives from the third to the first person, encouraging better understanding of the different Wildflowers. Insights stem from new beginnings, endings, and cooperative ventures alike:
Our bracelets chime and my heart stops. The mission is done. How will I ever say goodbye to Luna?
The result is a delightfully entertaining, engaging, and attractive to young fans of unicorns and magic. It holds a powerful purpose in adding all kinds of reflective experiences to the mix, giving the story a special allure.
Libraries and adults who read aloud to kids ages 4-6 will want to make The Wildflower Girls: Quest to Save Unicorn Magic a top recommendation.
The Wildflower Girls: Quest to Save Unicorn MagicReturn to Index