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Donovan's Bookshelf

November 2024 Review Issue


Table Of Contents

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


Fantasy & Sci Fi

2040
Robert Albo
Independently Published

979-8870085470             $14.99 Paperback/$4.99 eBook
https://www.amazon.com/2040-Robert-Albo/dp/B0CP83VYJH 

In 2040, the future may be embedded with high tech, but poses the same problems as in the past because social issues have not been resolved. Ask 40-year-old Michael about this issue, because he’s well versed in anxiety and faces a fork in the road that has little to do with futuristic change and everything to do with furthering scientific advancement and research. 

The problem emerges when said research becomes part of a personal experiment as Michael and his twin brother probe the possible applications of dark matter in human affairs—using Michael as the scientific guinea pig. 

Perhaps predictably, things go awry because these all-too-human subjects have not yet arrived at the truth about either dark matter or human transformation. But, this isn’t the end of the story. In many ways, the event is not even its crux, but portends a new form of investigation holding the ability to change humanity in new ways that supersede any technological innovation. 

Another truth emerges in the course of events: everything happens at once. With the experiment’s surprising and unpredictable results, the sudden appearance of aliens, ongoing developments in AI, and a pandemic that threatens to devour human consciousness, a number of threads unfold, embedding the plot with a series of unexpected twists and turns. 

Under some hands, these developments would take the action-packed form of a thriller only loosely based on characterization. The power of Robert Albo’s scenario in 2040 lies in the very essence under threat from multiple sources—humanity’s psyche. 

What makes us human? 

As Michael and a cast of characters find their work ultimately leads to this bigger-picture question, readers will find the action nonstop, the tension well-developed, and the characters both flawed and likeable as they attempt to navigate their world’s revised possibilities. 

The dialogue between Michael and other characters gives a realistic feel to the plot’s developments: 

He stroked his chin as he recalled the experience—gray walls closing in on and finally consuming him. He had become part of the gray fog. What did that have to do with Anni? Then he remembered, before fainting, something tugged at his consciousness, something pulled a part of him away. He saw his body fall to the ground as his spirit rose. It was an out-of-body experience. “What happened?” 

Albo doesn’t neglect social or political undercurrents as Michael’s life both expands and unravels. These enhance the story with further thought-provoking moments as Michael’s self-doubt and choices prove to be humanity’s salvation. As for the AI and alien components of the story—who’s to say that either is wholly threatening, or bad? It’s up to the reader to make that judgment call as surprises portend either the end of humanity or a new era of scientific revolution. 

While 2040 is obviously a futuristic sci-fi read, it also represents a study in philosophical, ethical, and psychological undercurrents. These serve as especially intriguing food for thought for college-level classroom and book club reading groups seeking more than an action-infused story of change alone. 

Libraries considering 2040 should be aware that the story concludes with obvious elements to be continued and expanded in another book. This promise makes 2040 more than a singular consideration of the future and humankind’s place in it, adding attraction to a riveting plot progression and elevating 2040 above many competing futuristic sci-fi visions. 

2040

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An End to Kings
Ryan Schuette
Bedivere Press

979-8988598633            
$24.44 Hardcover/$18.99 Paperback/$5.99 eBook

www.RyanSchuette.com 

As the second book in the two-volume epic fantasy duet, An End to Kings proves a satisfying adjunct and continuation to the world introduced in A Seat for the Rabble. If it feels like this continuation actually represents the splitting in half of the original book—that would be true. Industry printing standards may have forced this division, but that doesn’t mean readers don’t benefit from this choice. 

One way that division is a big plus lies in the book’s less weighty appearance, inviting readers who might otherwise have balked at too many pages and the specter of a daunting tale. In fact, An End to Kings, albeit epic, is anything but overwhelming. 

Prior readers will enjoy author Ryan Schuette’s return to Odma, where bastard price Jason Warchild struggles to save his homeland from civil war. His quest for redemption and salvation dovetails with the fate of a kingdom torn asunder by family, political, and social struggles. 

Issues of classism, racism, and political process emerge against an atmospheric backdrop as Schuette brings this milieu to life for new readers while reinforcing worldviews and conflicts for prior fans: 

Above an inn on a hill, the sky lit up blue, as brightly as if it were day. Illuminated walls of rain rolled across the forest. Thunder reverberated through the ground like the footsteps of giants. Standing in the hill’s cavern entrance, Rathos watched the reflection of his torchflame in a puddle. He thought of the night he swore his oath to the Loyal Company in this cavern.

After painting compellingly dark visions of various characters, from Rathos to Jason’s zealot uncle Shaddon and Princess Lorana Eddenhold (who is charged with identifying and eliminating plots to depose her half brother), Schuette injects nonstop action and encounters to keep readers on their toes and engrossed: 

A chair slammed into Adrias, throwing him off her. Lorana heaved for air.
“HELP, THE PRINCESS NEEDS HELP,” Anyasha cried over her. Footsteps thundered toward the tent. By then, Adrias scrambled to his feet at Jason’s bedside. Firelight winked along the curve of his dagger as he fixed it over Jason’s chest, ready to plunge it into his heart.
 

While psychological developments and political clashes form the foundation of a vivid story, the meat of Schuette’s tale lies in how social and political influences entwine and layer further complexity into individual lives, objectives, and hopes for the future. 

By juxtaposing different layers of society into an overriding story of shifting character objectives and perceptions, Schuette documents and explores many world-changing experiences. Readers will find this approach particularly meaningful, given modern political struggles. 

Libraries interested in either the follow-up to A Seat for the Rabble, or an epic fantasy that resonates with readers also interested in challenges to democratic and social process, will appreciate the ability of An End to Kings to document, on personal and broader scales, how rulers rise, fall, and impact followers and challengers alike. 

And, yes: the story will forge on with the next book in the series, A Calvary of Griffins. Fans will want to watch for it. 

An End to Kings

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The Assays of Ata
K.I.S.
Independently Published
978-0-7961-4183-5         $21.60 Paperback/$5.74 eBook
Website: https://k-i-s-inc.com/
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Assays-Ata-Chronicles-A%CC%81itarbith/dp/0796173605 

The Assays of Ata: The Chronicles Of Áitarbith opens in a glass palace, where Ata moves from the kitchen to working as a spy in her efforts to support and protect the kingdom of Cinnae. 

Readers seeking a fantasy trilogy that holds the allure of a woman’s determination to face forces that stem not just from outside, but within the politics and processes of court and society will find Ata a formidable and alluring character. Her growth benefits from K.I.S.’s in-depth probes of her psyche and intentions: 

She had to remember: she was an obedient, hardworking servant girl. A good girl, who recited her prayers and catechisms according to the beads hanging from her waistband and the tomes of the Holy Sacrament of the Benevolent Order of the Gods. At least for now. 

Easily able to absorb and present different personas in the course of her pursuits, Ata’s personal mandates inject a full-bodied feel to the politics, undercurrents, and characters of this kingdom. The story is replete with struggle, special interests, and clashes that continually test her chameleon-like abilities to change directions at a moment’s notice. 

Ata continually tests her assignments, boundaries, and alliances: 

“It is not a question of what I would have done, but what you did not do! ‘Observe and report’ only! Your meddling could have undone all of our plans.” 

These events dovetail with a contentious marriage possibility that further mires Ata in choices not always of her making, family reactions not always under her control, and revised circumstances that continue to challenge her mettle, loyalties, and strengths. 

K.I.S. blends fast-paced action and social and political turmoil with equally vivid psychological clashes that bring the kingdom and its characters to life. She creates a memorable, likeable flawed character in Ata, juxtaposes prophecy with proactive choices, and gives readers more than enough reason to walk with Ata in her journey through treacherous emotional and physical encounters. 

As the first book in the trilogy, The Assays of Ata attends to setting a worthy stage of political and personal interests which leads readers to appreciate Ata’s delicate positions and strong intentions. 

All these facets make The Assays of Ata a top recommendation for libraries seeking series titles that move beyond kingdom-building into the milieu of women seeking to change and control their lives and influence the options of others around them. 

The Assays of Ata

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Desulti
Ross Hightower and Deb Heim
Black Rose Writing
978-1-68513-510-2         $24.95 Paperback/$6.99 eBook
www.blackrosewriting.com 

Desulti is a prequel to the Spirit Song fantasy series, offering an epic introduction to the setting and nuances of this world that make it a ‘must’ for both prior series readers and newcomers alike. 

Desulti assassin Brie has attracted Alle'oss woman Tove’s admiration, demonstrating strengths and abilities Tove never believed could be hers to wield.  Diminutive Tove also never thought she could become a Desulti (a secret coven of female fighters), making Brie’s offer even more astounding. 

Tove’s background as an orphan surviving the streets of Kartok and the torture of the Inquisition has given her a strength that ultimately serves her well in this story, which centers on women’s power, evolution, and the choices which come with new abilities. 

Ross Hightower and Deb Heim craft an engaging story that opens not from Tove or Brie’s perspective, but the historical review of a monk who immerses a young boy in a saga reflective of many vying forces. Most of all, it probes the proactive determination of one young woman to not just survive, but thrive. 

From insights on fighting by wielding wealth rather than a sword to battles between realm walkers, determined women, and thieves and would-be survivors, the disparate characters are not only well-drawn, but powered by subplots and motivations that lie well beyond a singular desire for self-empowerment. 

This world runs on a combination of violence, politics, and clever moves. Tove and Brie represent a union of all these forces and more. The action surrounding their efforts is steeped in thought-provoking moments and questions about their perceptions of history and their place in the world: 

The taciturn Alle’oss boy, Lief, surprised her. She met him briefly in Richeleau the previous winter and dismissed him as a simpleton. That he put his finger on the similarities between the goals of Oss’stera and the Desulti caught her off guard. And it unearthed troubling questions. Did the Alle’oss have less right to exploit the fruits of their own land to protect themselves than the Desulti? Did the Order owe anything to the Alle’oss? 

Even more enlightening and absorbing are situations each character faces as a host of special interests and plots swirl around them, both thwarting and enhancing their efforts and missions. 

Hightower and Heim offer insights and solutions many epic fantasy genre readers won’t see coming, always couching the action with a satisfying offset of atmospheric insights and “you are there” moments: 

The best thing she could do was follow the instructions she gave her sisters; protect the women of the village. She retreated to the first intersection and set off at a jog down the street. The village had descended into a nightmare. Screams drifted in the night, both male and female. No one lit the street lamps and men and women appeared out of the shadows and disappeared before she could reach them. 

While libraries seeking to build their fantasy collections with strong epic series additions will find Desulti an excellent introduction and choice, readers already familiar with the milieu presented in Spirit Light and its companions will be especially attracted to Desulti’s background-building saga. 

Begin here. The journey embraces women’s empowerment and struggles, and is especially highly recommended for fantasy fans that appreciate a winning blend of sweeping world-building description, epic events, manipulation, and proactive female characters whose growth is at the heart of all experiences. 

Desulti

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Finding the Past: Elven Roots
Jennifer Abrahamsen
Independently Published
‎979-898998520
$19.95 Hardcover/$14.95 Paperback/$5.99 eBook
https://www.amazon.com/Finding-Past-Elven-Roots-Book/dp/B0D35C5ZFY 

Finding the Past: Elven Roots is the first book in a fantasy series that presents an unusual protagonist. She’s not your typical youthful warrior that tends to power stories of elven worlds, but forty-year-old Kindra, who has extensively researched her mother’s lineage, but knows next to nothing about her father. 

All this changes when a singing sword introduces new truths that leads to the revelation that, despite appearances, she is not completely human. 

Perhaps predictably, she holds magical powers. But, unpredictably, the truth about her heritage lands her in a position of power in what translates to an alien world. This event charges Kindra to not only interact with a foreign family in a strange milieu, but to defend them. 

Jennifer Abrahamsen creates a moving, compelling saga that moves from a genealogical research project into discoveries most researchers won’t experience. Kindra’s revelation that she is the daughter of Leif introduces more dilemmas as she questions why he made certain choices about her life, gets to know him, and faces a decision about which world she wants to live in (or owes allegiance to). 

On the surface, Jennifer Abrahamsen has crafted a fantasy about empowerment, family heritage, and a middle-aged woman’s feisty revision of everything she thought was true about her life. Dig deeper to see that the real story lies in how she tackles and confronts these shifting perceptions of reality and her place in it. 

The psychology of Kindra’s choices, including her “natural predisposition to following others’ wishes,” creates a series of encounters in which she is forced to not only reinvent her past with new knowledge, but needs to reassess her innate reactions to life, power, and altercations to formulate new definitions of survival and success. 

This in-depth psychology weaves nicely into the plot and action as bridges are crossed, extraordinary journeys undertaken, and events unfold that force Kindra to change direction. 

Libraries that choose Finding the Past: Elven Roots for its fantasy foundations thus will find it easy to recommend to patrons and book clubs interested not just in action, but a non-formula adventure that moves beyond confrontation into realms of stepping into empowerment in an entirely different manner. 

Finding the Past: Elven Roots

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Look ‘N Up Invasion
Janice Carr Smith
Look 'N Up Books
979-8-9875179-0-1         $20.99 Paperback/$3.99 eBook
Website: looknup.us - Website
Ordering:  Look 'N Up Invasion  

Look ‘N Up Invasion: An Exercise in Empathy is a fictional fantasy survey that depicts an unusual form of alien invasion when the green-skinned royal family of a tiny, primitive world is accidentally transported to the Look'N Up Pomegranate Ranch in California. 

Luckily for them, they’ve landed in the perfect spot. The ranching family that hires them as immigrant farm workers harbors their own genetic oddity and an affinity for helping those who have few options and no financial resources.

More than just another alien invasion story, however (despite its title), Look ‘N Up Invasion represents a meeting of minds, foreign cultures, and blossoming concepts and ideals. These receive not only intense examination, but illustrates adaptation and transformation as the two families come together on the ranch. 

Just as they are formulating these new connections, the discovery of another, less benign alien entity on Earth, which has also found its way to the ranch, forces the two disparate families to join in an effort to curtail a real invasion’s impact on humanity. 

Janice Carr Smith adopts a whimsical, revealing tone in her examination, embedding a sense of play into its encounters and shared experiences. This translates to many surprises for those expecting serious, action-packed confrontations (of which there are some, but juxtaposed with an unexpected sense of humor): 

“I told you guys, no guns.”
Felsic withdrew his hand from the goose gun and moved it to the weed eater. Elmer snapped again. “You guys don’t have gas for it. I told you that, too. That stuff is for if we have to fight them critters here on Earth. For Nauve, you can take the steel blades and points, bows and arrows, and them potato guns. You’ll never run out of ammo.”
 

The fact that the story’s drama stems as much from shared cultures and ironic encounters as it does from coming together and thwarting dangerous forces paints a different form of alien encounter onto Look ‘N Up Invasion’s events. This results in a creative, appealing story that goes where few alien/human encounters can match. 

This is why libraries and readers interested in creative sci-fi and out-of-the-box scenarios will find Look ‘N Up Invasion a winner. It’s a standout from other genre productions, featuring a special brand of meeting of the minds and discovery which translates to a rollicking good read. 

Look ‘N Up Invasion

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Robot Run! The Hidden Perils of Suicide
Russell Lee Baldwin
Baldwin Books
979-8-218-49227-4         $3.99 eBook
Website: https://baldwin-books.com/portfolio/robot-run/
Ordering: https://mybook.to/RobotRun

Sci-fi readers familiar with various fears and opinions about the approaching Singularity should prepare for a wild ride in Robot Run! The Hidden Perils of Suicide.

Russell Lee Baldwin's vision of the future is anything but predictable. And although it's written by a '100% human author' without AI assistance, the perspective of his AI narrator is stark and surprising.

As Book 3 of Baldwin's Catapult of Singularity series, the story is an invigorating glimpse of the future. It opens with a shocker, and such impacts keep coming until the closing twist. Adiari De Barcelona, who loves her racehorse, is about to perform a surgery which will lead to the mare’s demise. Why would this woman put down a beloved, race-winning thoroughbred? But all is not as it first appears, and as the plot unfolds, Baldwin’s many unique threads take their own sweet time to blossom into fascinating truths.

This novel will delight sci-fi readers who anticipate a predictable techy shooter war—it leads from a lovely country winery estate into a clown courtroom, where Adiari works her day job as a federal prosecutor.

Equally rich is the futuristic environment in which plasti-metal bots, attractive humanoid bot escorts, a supreme AGI, and the emotional needs of the characters meld in unique and engrossing scenes. These events blend with a biotech promise of unlimited human rejuvenation and the legal threat of the IRS, which finds such rebirths the perfect opportunity to collect on unpaid tax debt.

Baldwin creates a mordant yet playful weave of human and AI goals, juxtaposing life-changing choices with surprises which develop from one-off moves by human and AI characters alike.

This is no one-dimensional beach novel. Readers should expect challenging complexities to this world and its vastly evolved cultural and technological norms. Baldwin’s world building is colorful and fun, and Robot, Run! is a full-bodied probe into the future, expressed in riveting action. The plot receives its power from unexpected events and strangely acceptable options, plus the sometimes unpredictable human encounters. There are many fresh and original ideas at play within these pages.

All these elements make Robot, Run! a ‘must’ read for sci-fi fans, thanks to eerily plausible outcomes of the Singularity. Baldwin’s story world is as steeped in social and political oddities as it is in the power and foibles of AGI.

Libraries that choose Robot, Run! for their sci-fi holdings will find this novel a unique, winning premise and presentation. 

Robot Run! The Hidden Perils of Suicide

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The Waydowns
Robert Rife

Deep Portal Publishing
‎979-8986280622             $16.95 Paperback/$4.95 eBook
https://www.amazon.com/WAYDOWNS-COOL-THING-SCIENCE-FICTION/dp/B0DDTH2VLH 

She’s not coming. It’s too late now. Blood gushes from his empty arm socket, spattering onto the deck. He hears the pounding and tearing at the hatch cover. It wants the rest of him. 

The Waydowns is the third book in the Cool Thing Science Fiction series, opening with a prologue delivered with a bang. This compelling paragraph leads to the first chapter, which dives into aliens, humans, and genetic experiments gone awry. 

Then the tale moves to the crux of the matter. What does a new homeowner do when the fabulous old house purchase proves to harbor peculiar forms of ‘ghosts’ who consider the house (and its contents) theirs? 

As more characters emerge, they include an antiques dealer: the love-sodden and liar Rastus Leroy, (RL) who has just taken the dangerous step of becoming engaged. Rife’s story juxtaposes disparate interests and realities. This is done in such a way that readers may not immediately realize that the central characters rely as much upon alien experiences as human reactions. 

This situation erupts as the inhabitants of a UFO buried under said house collide with humans who once believed their new home would be their peaceful love nest. 

The irony these new owners discover is that: 

There is love in this house. A deep, all-consuming love.  

Oh, there’s love, all right. But it may not reside in the couple alone. As events unfold, readers learn surprising truths about what promises and secrets the house really holds:  

Love is real. Love is magical. And it can be as hard as a big fat anvil.             

 Rife creates an atmosphere charged with action, unexpected developments, and a wry thread of humor which runs through the plot. Readers who think they know what they’re in for with either a haunted house or UFO scenario will be in for a big surprise, because while this story embraces both, it does so in novel, unexpected ways. Past history and present developments are entwined into the story in such a way that new arrivals to this third book won’t waste any time navigating its background or milieu. 

The result defies the normal pegging of a story as a sci-fi piece, a paranormal story, or anything else. It enthusiastically embraces elements of classic developments in these genres, yet carries them to new territory by melding these features into a refreshingly different perspective. 

Libraries and readers seeking science fiction that profiles the unexpected in a manner even seasoned readers won’t see coming will appreciate the opportunity to read and recommend The Waydowns to friends, book club reading groups, and general-interest readers who normally eschew the sci-fi genre for its formula writing approaches.   

The Waydowns

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Biography & Autobiography

Beyond Fear: A Woman's Path to Enlightenment
Karen Chrappa
Mango Moon Media
978-1-948749-95-4         $21.99
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1948749947?ref=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_dp_5GMBP3PZSS9JTGNWB03C 

How does the objective of embarking on a mountain hike with her dog leave Karen Chrappa stranded in the remote wilderness with few options for survival? This memoir of experiences on the road to enlightenment begins with the bang of life-altering confrontation and doesn’t let up. This gives readers a thoroughly engrossing atmosphere that supports the drama of discovery and challenge: 

I was in a situation far beyond anything I had ever experienced. 

As the story evolves into “you are here” experiences of climbing, musings about family and tragedy, and the exhilarating experience of mountain climbing, the promised subtitle’s reflections on the enlightenment process comes to life:  

My first encounter with an Apu left an indelible imprint on my mind. One step at a time. That is all you have to do. 

Given the book’s subtitle, readers may be surprised to find this is not a ‘how to’ exploration, so much as a memoir about mountain climbing and how these efforts, as well as the focus on walking away from one’s comfort zones, results in enlightenment. 

Embedded within these features are revelations about the path and process—but they are contained within the broader context not of a nonfiction advice guide, but in the author’s experiences. “The memoir of one woman’s path to enlightenment” would add an appropriate emphasis on the personal nature of Chrappa’s processes. 

Readers who are intrigued by the possibilities of cultivating their own routes to enlightenment will follow in her footsteps as Chrappa tackles not just mountaineering, but matters of her own heart and growth. 

From the challenges involved in settling into a new life and new routines which include another to influences on her desire to uproot her life, Chrappa captures thought-provoking growth experiences in a manner that will encourage readers to consider their own paths to growth: 

I never could have configured the steps that were guiding me to a life so foreign to anything I had ever known. 

Even while building new patterns of action and reaction to methods that range from releasing and clearing rituals to lessons learned from difficult life experiences, Chrappa always embeds her growth with reflections on the changes that buffet and support her processes. The underlying motivation for change is succinctly and clearly related: 

I was looking for truth: truth about love, about purpose, about the meaning of life. 

While those expecting a boilerplate step-by-step plan might be surprised, the real value in Beyond Fear: A Woman's Path to Enlightenment lies in its ability to meld memoir with movement in a way readers can more easily absorb. 

Libraries and readers seeking life stories that hold important lessons for rejuvenation and discovery will find this book outstanding. 

Beyond Fear: A Woman's Path to Enlightenment

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Braveing the Way
Laurel C. Fox
Independently Published
979-8990498198     $29.99 Hardcover/$19.99 Paperback
https://www.amazon.com/braveing-way-Laurel-C-Fox/dp/B0D7FTCMJH 

Braveing the Way documents a mother’s journey through her teen daughter Taylor’s life-changing event. It’s an emotional, personal story of tragedy, adaptation, and transformation that will especially appeal to parents facing their own family health challenges. 

The impact of tragedy often rests on how it emerges instantly to challenge all assumptions, life trajectories, and possibilities. Angst and recovery is especially well captured in passages that depict immediacy and pain. This may prove triggering to some, but is ultimately the crux of a story replete with eye-opening scenes of stark discovery: 

I was pleading, crying, gasping for air, and having a breakdown—and yes, that’s exactly what was happening to me. I felt it deep down in my chest. Even though I was attempting to cry quietly, it wasn’t working. I sat on the floor of the shower and let it out. I was scared. I was mad, and I needed something to finally give. It had been so many days of doing the same thing, and I desperately wanted to go home. All I kept thinking was, I need some kind of sign or something that I can hold on to because I’m starting to lose my grip. Something had to change or I wasn’t sure I’d be able to hang in there. The more I thought of Taylor and what she used to be like, the harder I would sob. 

There are many instances of such raw, candid reflections as Laurel C. Fox navigates unfamiliar territory she’d never thought possible, alongside a much-changed daughter. 

Her journal of these experiences provides immediacy and further intimacy as the timeline unfolds from initial event through an adaptation process that embraces not just much-changed psyche and abilities, but love. 

Fox’s special strength and allure in documenting her daughter’s story lies as much in her exploration of changing love under health challenges as it does in the physical realities of handling a traumatic brain injury. Psychological consultations and advice pepper the journey, adding a professional overlay of insight that further expands upon Fox’s growth as a mother and caregiver: 

Taylor acting out physically was the most difficult thing for a while. She would throw punches or grab things that were on the table and throw them at us. We made a deal that when I saw her start to get frustrated inside herself, she would have to go into her room and take a five-minute time-out. Luckily for us, her long-term memory knew exactly what a time-out was, and it worked like a charm. Not being able to do things like she used to, was becoming extremely frustrating for Taylor, and these outbursts were happening more frequently at home. Therapists explained that her limitations, as she was slowly coming back into her brain and body, would become challenging in more ways than one. 

Braveing the Way is highly recommended for any family member or caregiver coping with the sudden effects of traumatic brain injury. 

Libraries looking for a memoir that nails specific stepping stones of recovery will find Braveing the Way exceptionally precise in its outline of moments which challenge mother, daughter, and everyone around them to adapt and grow into new lives and expectations. 

The tension, developments, and discoveries are exquisitely and delicately wound into a compelling story that proves not just enlightening enough to be essential for healthcare library collections and individuals navigating their own experiences of sudden brain trauma, but book club discussion groups. 

Braveing the Way

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Finding Dad, Paranoid Schizophrenia: An End to the Search
Amanda LaPera
Adamo Press
978-0-9862471-7-0                
$32.00 Hardcover/$20.00 Paperback/$4.99 ebook
Website: www.adamopress.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DK4XGNSB  

Finding Dad, Paranoid Schizophrenia: An End to the Search should ideally be read after pursuing Amanda LaPera’s original Finding Dad, which recounted the family’s experience of a father’s mental illness. 

This sequel opens with LaPera’s wondering if her father’s body has finally been located. Then comes a surprising revelation that changes the course of her assumptions and experience. 

Knowing her father’s fate is only half the battle. Enough tantalizing detail is offered to confirm matters without giving her information which would give her closure. 

Finding Dad, Paranoid Schizophrenia: An End to the Search is about putting the pieces together to achieve this finality. It surveys the legal and investigative efforts LaPera engaged in, the snafus and barriers of a system designed to protect privacy at the cost of putting up barriers to a family’s inquiry, and the lasting impact of this search and discovery mission. 

As COVID raises additional fears and impacts, LaPera is forced to consider reality from different angles. These illustrate how perception in the mentally ill differs heavily from that of those living outside of, but adjacent to, one with a mental condition. 

From issues of legal and psychological control to false narratives that emerge from COVID and interpersonal conflicts and clashes, LaPera’s story is replete with insights and progressive discoveries. These will especially resonate with readers struggling with their own family member’s mental condition. 

The result fills in many gaps in the first book, moving the saga into arenas of new developments that further send LaPera into unfamiliar territory. How she narrates this journey, these contrasting perceptions and experiences, and the specter of mental health amidst the backdrop of COVID’s threat makes for a compelling memoir especially highly recommended for readers facing their own impossible family journeys. 

Libraries that choose Finding Dad, Paranoid Schizophrenia: An End to the Search will find it easy to recommend to psychology and book club reading groups interested in schizophrenia, from altered perception and family interactions to the disparate incarnations of suffering and connection which rise from mental illness. 

Finding Dad, Paranoid Schizophrenia: An End to the Search

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The Full Catastrophe
Casey Mulligan Walsh
Motina Books, LLC
979-8-88784-041-3        
$26.99 Hardcover/$18.99 Paperback/$6.99 eBook
Website: www.caseymulliganwalsh.com  
Ordering: www.MotinaBooks.com

The Full Catastrophe: All I Ever Wanted…Everything I Feared is a memoir about connection, disconnection, and the odd dichotomy of grief and joy which often arrives hand-in-hand to stymie the heart. 

Casey begins her story with an experience steeped in the immediacy of her son’s death as she tries to reconcile both her loss and the impact of his absence in her world: 

Eric’s death, so quickly old news for the rest of the world, though it’s only been six weeks. But the telling makes it real again. Makes him real. They say his name and it brings him back, if only for a moment. 

If life begins when a child is born, does it then end upon his untimely death? What evolved from Casey’s experience was a series of revelations about connections, transitions, and rebuilding which creates a vigorous dialogue in her story. This will attract (and potentially heal) others on their own journeys to reflect, reconcile, and recover from grief in a revised life. 

From a bill collector scenario in which the mere mention of Eric’s name provides comfort as she thwarts their final attempts to reach him to her story of raising her children and living her life, The Full Catastrophe can best be understood via moments of the past which are captured in succinct, moving passages about family interaction and connection: 

It seems that nearly everything of significance begins like this. One moment, it’s the ho-hum events of everyday life. The next, not an earthshattering change, just another little thing to take in stride. A new thing, to add to the last thing, followed by the next thing, and so it goes. It’s not until later —sometimes much later—that we look back and see that that call, that conversation was the one thing that changed everything. 

Readers get to know the living, breathing Eric and his world as they absorb the impact of his death, giving The Full Catastrophe a full-bodied experiential flavor that is as much immersed in life as in death. 

The pivot points of this life and grief in general are covered in a manner that gives equal power to both personal memoir and bigger-picture thinking about life, death, survival, and love. 

It should be noted that The Full Catastrophe isn’t a singular effort. It incorporates the author’s deep exploration of resources on grief and recovery; many of which are provided in a concluding bibliography and extensive list of websites, podcasts, and other supportive materials. 

This juxtaposition of research, personal reflection, and experiences makes The Full Catastrophe a highly recommended pick suitable for libraries interested in adding to their grief memoir literature. It begins with a personal life story, but expands its subject and revelations into a sequence of events that hold special meaning and opportunities for grief and book club discussion groups, as well as recovering readers. 

The Full Catastrophe

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Hitchhiking to Madness: A Memoir (New Edition)
Carol Hamilton
Owl Haven Press
979-8-9904101-0-7
$18.99 Paperback/$8.99 eBook
Website: carolhamiltonmd.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D95WD6LX/ 

Hitchhiking to Madness: A Memoir captures the experiences and flavor of the 1970s through Carol Hamilton’s eyes in a hitchhiking journey across America. Modern readers will relish the opportunity to journey alongside Hamilton through her self-portrait of a spiritual and psychological expedition. 

Imagine Kerouac’s classic On the Road—but delivered with more self-examination, taking place in a different era of American culture, and embracing the encounters of a wife and family whose deeply religious foundations are shaken by schizophrenia’s emergence (which often masquerades as religious fervor). Underlying this reach for understanding are drives to better understand God and self. These facets also lend a very different flavor to Hitchhiking to Madness than readers might anticipate. 

Why madness? Because the major insight and discovery relate to her husband Jeff’s mental illness, which Hamilton explores during the course of their journey. This expands the physical boundaries of their trip into psychological and spiritual realms to give readers important insights into the challenges of perception and survival. 

When a loved one becomes unrecognizable due to schizophrenia, what does a family do? In this case, experiences that lay far from the familiar spark discovery, recovery, and new approaches to life that prove not just healing, but revealing. 

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Jeff is convinced that his wife just “wants him to settle,” when his drive is to pursue the Lord and spread His Word. He notes that: 

“The Church of Christ and other churches are filled with men who want power. They’re the moneychangers in the temple. They’ve got nothing to do with God.” 

These insights alienate him from institutions and established routines, further complicating his relationships, goals, and journey. Hitchhiking to Madness’s insights balance psychological and spiritual pathways of enlightenment. These, in turn, lead to revelations about “doing the Lord’s work” which illustrate how mercurial intentions and life purposes can actually mask underlying psychological conditions. 

Mental health professionals and patients and their families will find Hitchhiking to Madness an important survey of mental health, illness, and healing processes. It pulls no punches in its astute representations of spiritual and psychological growth. Young women, and those who counsel them, will also take heart as they engage with Hamilton's journey of self-discovery, finding that her voice and inner strength are formidable. 

This makes Hitchhiking to Madness a top reference for book clubs and reading groups interested in the intersection of mental and spiritual health. It also will attract general-interest readers seeking a memoir vivid in its stories, revealing in the challenges of living with mental illness, and ultimately uplifting in its multifaceted account of family, God, shifting relationships, and new beginnings.

Hitchhiking to Madness: A Memoir (New Edition)

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My Boston Marathon
Steven Clark
Independently Published
‎979-8334262379             $18.25 Paperback/$6.99 eBook
https://www.amazon.com/My-Boston-Marathon-Running-Dream/dp/B0DBG5Y41K 

My Boston Marathon: Running to Live a Dream is the third in Steven Clark’s memoir series. It covers his life from 1985-1994, when he became steeped in Boston’s culture and pursued his dream to become a writer. 

A series of black and white photos of Clark accompanies his reflection that he stands on Boston’s streets as a “…serious thinker, a Nathaniel Hawthorne plopped into modern times but in a city not quite giving up its past.” In reality, Boston is impervious to both his dreams and his personal race to achievement, and so he has trouble even getting a stranger to stop, step out of their own hectic rat race, and take his photo. 

After the photos, the opening chapter depicts not a writer’s studio, but Clark’s entry into a security office where he works. His flare for literary description and cultural observation emerges within just a few lines: 

Being a veteran boozer himself, Joe was the Einstein of watering holes.  Donohue admitted his roistering into the wee hours made him pretty chummy with the milkman, prowling cats, and, when he conked out on lawns, garden gnomes. I should have disliked Donohue, but he was colorful and talkative, like a lot of Boston Irish I worked with. 

And, we’re off. Entering the portals of Clark’s life is like embarking on a cultural journey through Boston’s ethnic groups and interests. From his stint in the National Guard and his ongoing involvement in peacekeeping to his spicy relationships, which reflect Boston’s many undercurrents and residents, readers receive a lively, engrossing probe into Clark’s background. This experience encourages readers to consider revised insights about Boston’s history and culture. 

From his move back to Missouri to literary reading which gives him added reflections and insights about his life trajectory, Clark exhibits an ongoing talent for atmospheric description. These not only allow readers to walk in his shoes, but to see through his literary eyes: 

On a trip to Hartford, I visited the Mark Twain house, where, the guide assured us, all of his great works were written here. I found the house gloomy and sad, too large, but probably what Twain thought was his reward for literary fame. No chateau or villa in Italy. Twain settled for Yankee Hartford and the status of this mansion. Alas, his daughters died here. He went bankrupt, and had to sell this literary nest to survive. But peeking at the windows, shades, the shadows reminded me of my family’s Faber House. All sadness, old wood, the view through windows of yards, stripes and hands of light touching summer grass that swayed from New England breezes… 

Now, those who choose this memoir because of a title that leads them to think its contents will be solely about preparing for and running the Boston marathon race may be disappointed. The race under consideration is, indeed, far broader and more personal than a singular footrace. It thus holds far more value, both to prior readers of Clark’s prior memoirs and newcomers to his life. 

Libraries that choose My Boston Marathon for these literary qualities and cultural insights will find it a top recommendation for patrons interested in links between literary history and modern-day inspiration. 

Any book club or reading group harboring a special affinity for evocative, reflective memoirs that hold additional value in a Boston-centric examination will find the humor, serious life inspections, and literary connections in My Boston Marathon hold fine examples of powerful writing. 

My Boston Marathon

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One Ripple at a Time
Janice Jensen

She Writes Press
‎978-1647427948             $17.99 Paperback/$12.99 eBook
Website:
https://janicejensenauthor.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/One-Ripple-Time-Mothers-Story/dp/1647427940 

One Ripple at a Time: A Mother's Story of Life after Loss is a memoir that dovetails Janice Jensen’s loss with the process of grief in a way that families who have also lost a child under the age of thirteen can learn from her insights and experiences. 

One can say that the writing of such a loss is cathartic. But when presented as a series of insights that hold important lessons on adaptation and survival, these considerations can also provide important pathways to understanding that help grieving families emerge from their own darkness. 

Jensen’s journey was long and arduous; the waves of pain unrelenting. The highs and lows of these emotions ripple through her story like a wave. Underlying loss is a probe into why the accident that claimed her son’s life could not have been prevented by government oversight or better knowledge. 

The process of her investigation into matters of the heart and equally important quests for answers create interweave emotional journeys to embrace not just her recovery process, but how her family grieves and takes small steps, as individuals and as a whole, to move forward: 

I managed to keep our daily life comparatively stable through the first four of Erika’s elementary school years. She went to class every day, continued gymnastics and piano lessons, and had regular sleepovers with her friends. The three of us welcomed overnight visitors when time, energy, and steadiness allowed us to be congenial hosts. 

The process is not the same, or easy, for any family member. Her struggles with her husband and daughter and their own coping methods emerge as both healing and struggle as they try to stay together despite a shared grief that, at times, forces them apart: 

When we lost Brian, Oskar and I had made a joint, conscious choice to help Erika enjoy a long, happy life. He had jeopardized this resolve. I hoped that our near-disaster would be a serious enough wake-up call to prompt him to seek help. Erika and Pam seemed to have taken the rollover in stride, joking about it several times. When I continued to ask my daughter whether she was really okay with her feelings, she kept insisting she was. 

These insights are key to understanding how family structure survives and changes. 

Readers should also anticipate a full-bodied feel to this account. All is not about grief and death … notes about exploring dancing, traveling the world, and understanding leadership roles and follower importance supplement the growth opportunities illustrated in One Ripple at a Time. 

The result is a memoir that libraries should consider an essential acquisition. It goes beyond many singular discussions to embrace the processes of family, life, and the dynamics of returning, albeit much changed, to a different reality. 

Book clubs, grief groups, and parenting circles will find plenty of topics suitable for debate and discussion as Jensen reveals the ups and downs of navigating her child’s death. 

One Ripple at a Time

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Searching for John DeWitt
John Chase, MD
Hellgate Press 
978-1-954163-93-5         $15.99 Print/$9.99 eBook
www.johnchasemd.com  

When author John Chase uncovered a box of lost letters from his grandfather, written in the trenches of World War I, they provided him with revelations about the small-town lawyer that he’d never known before. Searching for John DeWitt: How 80 Forgotten Letters from the Trenches of WWI Revealed Timeless Lessons of Honor and Courage chronicles this journey of discovery, publishing John Ryder DeWitt’s writings and experiences for audiences who will be completely unfamiliar with the man, but interested in the milieu and experiences of ordinary soldiers who were conscripted into battle. 

When Chase discovered that his quiet, unassuming grandfather was in fact a war hero, it revised his ideas of the man, his family, and the times. The letters sparked a personal journey to go beyond DeWitt’s writings to examine the real experiences and nature of the war, leading Chase on a quest of discovery that revealed aspects of World War I that rarely are considered. 

From the brutal deaths which were a daily fact of life for ‘trench runners’ to filling in the blanks omitted from his grandfather’s communiqués, Chase’s reflections are as important as the figure he probes: 

…familiar with the entire set of letters my sister had found, I realized my grandfather’s notes home were like the North Atlantic icebergs he and his fellow soldiers dodged on their way to France in November 1917. Beneath the surface of his chatty notes home was a more important story, not just about my grandfather, but about entire generation of young men now for the most part forgotten.  

As he learns about various romances his grandfather cultivated, absorbs the experiences and special challenges of being behind the lines or immersed in the war, and the daily turbulence of raids and military strategies, Chase offers readers a personal inspection on World War I’s progression and experiences which many won’t find elsewhere. 

John Chase excels in blending personal and historical experience in such a manner as to appeal to fans of memoir, war history, and action-packed stories that bring the times and its influences to life. His attention to building emotional overlays upon details of World War I history that bring readers to confront battlefields encounters and presumptions about the times in their own minds lends a vivid countenance to the story, making it hard to put down. 

The result is a blend of memoir and military history highly recommended for any library strong in World War I experiences. Those who add Searching for John DeWitt to their collections will find the experience of such a search as riveting as the discoveries it unfolds, and will want to recommend it to patrons that harbor special interest receiving a boots-on-the-ground experience considering the overall milieu of the times: 

John DeWitt did not realize it at the time, but being in a hospital, bored or not, was the best situation any soldier in France could embrace. Another enemy was afoot, one that
would kill more soldiers than combat itself. The Spanish flu was beginning to insert its deadly ways into daily life in Europe.
 

Searching for John DeWitt

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Mystery & Thrillers

Black Yéʼii (The Evil One)
Joseph Lewis
Black Rose Writing
978-1-68513-537-9         $24.99 Paperback/ebook TBA
Website: www.jrlewisauthor.com
Ordering: https://tinyurl.com/25w95xcn        

Black Yéʼii (The Evil One) combines several disparate elements into a blend of Native American cultural exploration, police procedural, and coming-of-age saga firmly rooted in all three attractions. 

This gives readers added depth and dimension as the story surveys psychological growth and challenges, cultural norms and changes, and a mystery that revolves around the puzzle of why and how four members of MS-13 died. 

In many ways, the action and plot mirror modern yin/yang contrasts in life. Joseph Lewis captures family conflict and the impact of four young men in a small Wisconsin town whose recovery affects their community, detailing how evil re-emerges to plague the survivors of this trauma. 

While the backdrop creates classic good/evil confrontations, in reality the character motivations, reactions, and choices offer far more conflict than a simple juxtaposition of or clash between bad and good alone. 

The Navajo culture and spirituality embedded into the story is one example of unusual depth and detail that belays any pat categorization of “good versus evil.” The mythos surrounding the concept of ‘Black Yéʼii’ receives a succinct introductory explanation that not only defines evil’s parameters, but allows readers to keep this thought in mind as thriller elements emerge to create a cat-and-mouse atmosphere. 

Also replete in the story are growth opportunities stemming from the surprises of two cases that immerse George and his friends in a secret they were never supposed to uncover. 

MS-13 is back and seeks revenge. In addition to the youths, Detectives Graff, O’Connor, and Eiselmann also have a vested interest in gaining answers. 

Lewis builds a powerful plot that moves through various Wisconsin towns like a house afire. Diverging elements of intrigue and psychological confrontation keep the narrative fast-paced—and yet, the action is not so frantic as to lose characterization strength along the way. 

Clues and memories merge in a satisfyingly unpredictable manner to keep the story multifaceted and on track for discovery and revelation. 

Libraries seeking stories that are not easy to define as either thriller, mystery, police procedural or coming of age genres will find the inclusion of all these elements and more will attract a wide audience. This includes those already familiar with Wisconsin, who will appreciate the injections of history and lore that pepper the drama with unexpected insights. 

Black Yéʼii (The Evil One)

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Bluebird
Chris Kneer

Spartan Entertainment
ASIN: ‎B0DFYYW2PC             $9.99 eBook
www.ChrisKneerAuthor.com 

Bluebird is a thriller about a man who sets aside his past to enter a revised world of family, friends, and stability that he’s always coveted. Unfortunately, his past follows him, challenging his goals for a more peaceful life and ultimately demanding he respond when he stumbles into a tax fraud scheme at his new banking job and confronts the special interests of the hoi poli behind the plot. 

Caught in a web of subterfuge and choices that swing from protecting his new life or doing the right thing, Jason is pulled back into a milieu he thought he’d finally left behind. 

Chris Kneer weaves a compelling story from the start, employing the first person to give Jason’s dilemmas an immediacy and emotional component. Bluebird draws readers from the opening scene, which is set in 2013 Jerusalem, where Jason’s new job at the Bank of Israel has led to him being pulled into an interrogation room. 

Kneer’s descriptions of Jason’s reactions to his sudden, shocking dilemma draw readers into Jason’s perceptions with a ‘you are here’ feel: 

Alone and paralyzed with fear, I have trouble thinking clearly. I don’t know if I am being arrested or maybe something even worse. I don’t have much back home and thought a job in a foreign country might offer a fresh start. Clearly, I made a mistake. 

Accused of being a spy in his new job, Jason finds himself on the lam and in trouble once again. The theme of how he can clear his name and achieve his goals dovetails nicely with the additional angst of finding his closest supporters may not be who they say, and indeed may have betrayed him. 

Kneer takes Jason’s evolving dilemmas and runs with them. His step-by-step account of how Jason changes his identity and transforms his persona in response to new challenges lends notes of realistic insight into his choices and rationales for his actions. 

Even more notable is the added value of flavors of change that buffet Jason’s attempts to stabilize his identity and solidify his intentions in building a new life. He may be “becoming a different guy,” but the past is never far behind. 

As investigator Lia and his best friend Oak become embroiled in the turmoil Jason navigates, Jason comes to question whose side even his closest confidantes are on: 

I want to know more about the woman named Lia. How does she fit in with this group of alpha males? Is she kind or just playing a part? She seems to be full of contradictions. 

Issues of trust, believability, and hidden goals permeate Jason’s movements and confrontations, creating a powerful emotional interplay between objectives, secrets, and support systems. 

Many of Jason’s revelations are intrinsic to life outcomes and choices: 

I think about the heroes’ journey and realize it starts every day. Stop being a victim and create the life I want. 

These elements place Bluebird a cut above the usual action-packed thriller, creating added value with psychological and ethical dilemmas perfect for book club and reader group discussions. 

Libraries will find Bluebird’s special blend of action, unexpected developments, and emotional self-inspection to be the perfect choice for thriller audiences seeking more depth and discovery in their reads than intrigue alone. 

Bluebird

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Call Me Carmela
Ellen Kirschman
Open Road
978-1-5040-9575-4         $21.99 Paperback/$14.99 eBook
Website: www.ellenkirschman.com
Ordering: www.openroadmedia.com 

Call Me Carmela adds to Ellen Kirschman’s previous Dot Meyerhoff mysteries, but requires no prior familiarity from newcomers. All readers will appreciate the powerful character of a psychologist who typically works with cops, but finds herself pulled into the dilemma of an adopted teen searching for her birth parents. 

The last thing Dot expected was to find this pursuit replete with intrigue that demands police involvement, but as she delves into the world of illegal adoptions and their lasting impact, Dot comes to realize that her friend’s goddaughter Ava Marie is in trouble—not just curious about her origins. 

Dot has no experience with teenagers. Perhaps this gives her an edge, because her approach to Ava Marie is different than those harboring such knowledge. She presents a refreshingly direct, honest form of interaction that prompts revelations in return. 

Under another hand, the mystery might center largely on illicit operations. Kirschman’s focus on exploring the emotional costs and challenges of families impacted by illegal actions sets this mystery apart from any other focus on illegal adoption rings. 

Kirschman adds personal revelations to the intrigue, cementing the story with elements of discovery and impact that draw readers from the start. This approach helps them understand the real issues involved not only in such operations, but crime-busting attempts. 

These, in turn, impart a deeper understanding to the police procedural side of investigations, prompting food for thought and discussion which will prove especially alluring to book clubs. 

From issues of identity and handling or delivering devastating news to earth-shaking revelations that keep not only the disparate characters, but Dot herself on her toes, Call Me Carmela crafts a story replete with the impact of secrets, good intentions gone awry, and those who would profit from others’ misfortune or misdirection. 

Libraries and readers interested in mysteries that present a healthy dose of police investigative action, but temper these scenes with emotional connections and growth, will welcome Call Me Carmela’s attention to strong characters placed in challenging positions. 

Call Me Carmela

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Cops Gone Bad
Donald E. McInnis
J&E Publications
979-8-9865516-6-1         $18.95 Paperback/$6.99 eBook
www.donaldmcinnis.com 

Cops Gone Bad is an A.J. Hawke thriller. It focuses on another legal system dilemma which drags the young lawyer into a conundrum that challenges his legal and ethical prowess. 

The police are supposed to be part of the justice system’s peacekeepers, but here their unwritten code of honor and support for one another spills over into a murder case in which they hide a fellow officer’s actions. 

Even police officers aren’t immune to forces that become criminal in nature. The mandate to support one another becomes one of entering the criminal realm when the bond between policemen is tested to its breaking point. 

How fair is the legal system? Only as fair as its supporters and protectors. When that fine line is crossed, A.J. and others find themselves making difficult choices about which side of it they should be on. Despite seeming cut-and-dry justice system rules, the gray area of possibility and interpretation turns out to be murky, alluring, and confusing. 

Readers who choose this legal thriller will find its cat-and-mouse moves offer windows into corruption and law enforcement quandaries. 

A.J.’s mandates and values are challenged as the case and investigation unfold, drawing readers into changing standards of prosecuting cases, gathering evidence, and acknowledging underlying motivations and rules of engagement. 

As secrets, surveillance, and scary moments evolve, A.J. finds additional tests to his legal and ethical prowess that both educate him and move him into threatening new directions in his career and life. 

McInnis builds a close inspection of how justice can be thwarted and warped. The tension and characterization are well done, but especially notable are themes that run through the plot to provide food for thought to individuals and discussion groups interested in legal processes and precedents. 

A.J. is forced to move away from his training, expectations, and comfort zone in his effort to track down the truth and make the right assessments and decisions, as do many supporting characters in his latest dilemma. 

Cops Gone Bad is a legal thriller that libraries will find highly accessible, filled with action and insight, and perfect for patrons interested in more than courtroom proceedings, but bigger-picture thinking about social issues, justice, and criminal definitions. 

Cops Gone Bad

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The Evil to Come
Thomas Holland
Independently Published

‎979-8393835637             $14.99
https://www.amazon.com/Evil-Come-Big-Elmore-Novel/dp/B0DC57VNN8 

The Evil to Come returns Big Ray Elmore to historical mystery fans in another action-packed novel that further reveals his abilities and actions as he faces a new dilemma. 

Here, the small-town police chief tackles the aftermath of a shooting spree that leaves the little town of Split Tree, Arkansas in emotional turmoil. 

In 1954, such events were not only uncommon, but extraordinary. This makes Big Ray’s job uniquely challenging as he confronts an evil that has its roots (and prologue) in 1945 Japan, and then moves forward in time and place to evolve in one of the most theoretically ‘safe’ places in the U.S. 

Thomas Holland does a masterful job of capturing the town’s nature and atmosphere from Big Ray’s first-person viewpoint, from the start: 

I was looking out the window of my office. The weather had taken a turn over the last couple of weeks; it wasn’t cold, at least compared to how those people up north measure it, but it was cool enough that the few trees we have in our county were starting to anticipate the winter, and now the yards needed some raking. Hank Jensen’s two teenaged boys were working on the courthouse lawn, though neither of them showed much enthusiasm for their job, and I reckon I spent more energy watching them than they spent in getting anything accomplished. 

While his town isn’t anything to really talk about, the fact that violence places it on the map to challenge his leadership and problem-solving abilities makes for an intriguing opening to a mystery that just gets bigger the more the story evolves. 

Holland’s ability to build Big Ray’s character for newcomers while maintaining a sense of discovery and growth for prior fans of Elmore conundrums gives this story an impressive position as both an addition to and expander of a series, and a fine stand-alone tale. 

From searches for evidence to community connections and surprises, Holland moves the plot along with the combined power of a police procedural and community psychological insights. 

These elements create a satisfyingly realistic backdrop in which Big Ray comes to realize new truths about historical events and impacts, dangerous plots, and unspeakable truths. 

Libraries and readers seeking either another Big Ray detective probe or a new collection addition that juxtaposes small-town politics and nature with bigger-picture problems will find The Evil to Come notable not only for its appealing characters, but for dilemmas that fit together like puzzle pieces at the end, complete with satisfyingly unexpected twists. 

The Evil to Come

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Fatal Farming
Bonnie Oldre
Gatekeeper Press
9781662951404              Paperback/$16.99; eBook/$4.99
www.bonnieoldre.com
 

Fatal Farming is the third book in the Beth Williams and Evie Hanson cozy mystery series. It is set in the 1960s, where they are working to help reopen a theater into which Logan Rusk has poured his heart, soul, and money when Vern Cedar steps into the scene and gets into a heated argument with Logan. 

Cedar is a farmer who also hosts a little radio show that excels in belittling people who call in, at his encouragement. That makes him obnoxious, in Evie’s book: 

“Farmer and insult disc jockey. That’s quite the combo. I wonder if he insults his livestock.” 

But, does his attitude also translate to a killer’s personality? 

A perhaps-predictable tragedy sends Beth and Evie into another investigative mode. This involves them in former classmate Vernon Cedar’s life and relationships, where they uncover more small-town secrets and connections. 

As in her previous books, Bonnie Oldre builds a story of this librarian and her friend and fellow investigator with a solid foundation of local color, relationships, and probes of motivations and hidden secrets. Her ability to juxtapose Beth and Evie’s lives with bigger picture thinking about the world around them translates to not just intriguing revelations and unexpected twists, but a sense of community. This approach embraces connections tested by loss and love alike. 

Add the colorful conundrums posed by a hippie commune, new possibilities derived from lifestyle differences and challenges, and a sense of discovery that places The Library Lady in dangerous situations for a sense of how attractive and unexpected many of the events prove to be. 

Libraries looking for cozy stand-alone mysteries that also operate well as a series will relish the tone and attraction of Fatal Farming, which draws together disparate special interests in ways mystery genre enthusiasts won’t see coming. 

Fatal Farming

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Gone Mia: Deadly Deception
Tess Raynes

Pages By The Lake, LLC
979-8990187047            
$14.99 Hardcover/$8.99 Paperback/$4.99 eBook

https://www.amazon.com/Gone-Deadly-Deception-Psychological-Thriller/dp/B0DB1CW8KB 

Readers of psychological thrillers well know that the strength and attraction lies in how adept an author is at weaving psychological dilemmas into suspense. Tess Raynes develops unexpected twists to both lines of inquiry in Gone Mia: Deadly Deception, which portrays an introvert searching for love. She finds something quite unexpected in the handsome Alex Bartlett. 

Mia’s drive to be loved and to have a meaningful, deep connection proves her undoing when she flees home, only to find Alex in hot pursuit. This kind of ‘winner’ will never lose his prize. His dark and dangerous personality takes over, forcing Mia to acknowledge truths she’d never anticipated confronting. 

Tess Raynes creates a powerful story of attraction and deception. Her character is forced to reinvent her life in order to find real freedom from her past. The story begins with a tire change on the road, where Alex and Mia come together. 

After cementing Mia’s psyche and Alex’s secrets into a slowly simmering evolution of hidden truths, Raynes then develops a suspenseful pursuit and reinvention which forces Mia to engage in her own games of deception in order to survive. 

While such descriptions may prove trigger points for women who have also fielded stalkers, narcissistic and pathological personalities, and dangerous embraces, they inject notes of realism into dilemmas that demand the protagonist’s strategic and uncommon problem-solving skills development. Mia must rise (or lower herself) to new levels, if she is to survive love. 

The psychological components of Mia’s journey are reinforced by chapter headings (‘Trust Issues-Alex’, ‘Time to Break Free-Mia’, ‘Time to Find the Me That’s Gone-Mia’). These not only identify themes and plot progression, but cement the psychological logic of both Mia and Alex as the story unfolds. 

Another strength to the story lies in how Raynes shifts perspectives between Mia and Alex. This allows his perception of self and the world around him to be understood: 

He may not be good at math—may not be as smart as Mia, but there is something he’s good at, and that’s people. 

Contemporary communication methods similarly cement the psychological components of Mia’s escape and Alex’s pursuit, as in a series of cell phone texts: 

Mia finally powers her phone back on. She has 67 missed calls from Alex, and a slew of texts.
Baby, where are you?
Mia, are you okay?
Where did you go?
Why aren’t my messages delivering to your phone?
Answer your fucking phone.
This is really how you’re going to treat me?
Yeah, sure, treat me like shit. Nobody else will ever want you. ANSWER YOUR PHONE
 

Just as astutely rendered are insights into Alex’s family background and interactions. These offer added value to the insights about his motivations, perceptions, and actions. 

All these elements blend nicely into the action, revelations, and twists of the story, making it highly recommended for thriller, suspense, and psychology audiences. Libraries that choose Gone Mia: Deadly Deception will find it easy to suggest to these audiences, as well book clubs seeking hard-hitting stories of deception, murder, and just desserts. 

Gone Mia: Deadly Deception

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The Gulf
Owen Garratt
Runding Pelham Publishing
978-1-0689438-0-5
Hardcover - $24.99/Paperback - $17.99/Kindle - $4.99
https://OwenGarratt.com 

The Gulf is the third book in the apocalyptic thriller series that opened with The Pulse, depicting a world changed by a cataclysmic EMP. 

Jack Broderick continues to face challenges to survival long after a solar flare changes the world. Day 10 after the event, Jack’s Florida refuge has turned into a nightmare in which he and his traveling companion Skinny find themselves seeking refuge on an abandoned yacht during a hurricane—only to discover it really isn’t abandoned. 

Their encounter with the winds and ravages of the Florida gulf, fellow evacuees, and uncertain healing processes is delineated in passages which reinforce a ‘you are here’ feel via first person reflections on the costs and process of survival:

Much wincing at the stiffness from the fight with the toughs outside the bike shop. Ginger cleaning of the crescent-shaped pattern of punctures left by a bull shark on my torso. And calf. Did you really think your mind would be unscathed? 

As wounds heal, ambushes are thwarted, and objectives evolve beyond surviving each day, readers who walk this revised world in Jack’s footsteps receive a gripping set of confrontations with death, the military, and forces that would either redirect or end their lives. 

Owen Garratt’s ability to delve into the atmosphere of Florida past and present, dovetailing these impressions with a growing group of fellow survivors who also harbor new skills and challenges, creates a particularly moving story powered as much by psychological discovery as physical changes and conflicts: 

“There’s inside monsters that need beating before the outside monsters,” she said. 

These add up to a satisfyingly compelling, immersive survival experience that will prove a haunting standout in apocalyptic EMP survival novels. 

The Gulf and its prior companions The Pulse and The Three Sisters are all top recommendations for libraries seeking not just the physical challenges of a changed world in an engrossing series, but underlying mental motivations and mystery that embed the story with a sense of discovery, action, and transformation. 

The Gulf

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The Memory Trap
Donna Joppie
DartFrog Plus
978-1-961624-44-3         $15.99
www.DartFrogBooks.com 

The Memory Trap is a good example of thriller and suspense writing at its best, when married with a powerful sense of place. In this case, that setting is Texas, where young lawyer Rob Chambers is conducting research for the Tolland Law Firm’s latest case. 

Called on the carpet for appearing to question his colleague’s work, Rob enters into a conundrum when firm owner Mr. Tolland’s fondness for him appears to have caused an unfair decision, causing Horton to first dislike his new intern, then try to undermine Rob’s position and opinion. 

This isn’t the crux of the story, however—it’s only the introductory salvo to a series of puzzles and encounters which place Rob in increasingly untenable positions. He pursues the truth, reconsiders his legal authority and pursuits, and becomes personally entangled in a case involving a Mexican land grant’s inheritance complexity. 

Rob’s journey to Mexico and his encounters with situations that test even his eidetic memory and abilities are complicated by his relationship with Wanda Snow, his initial friendship with Carlos, and his determination to remain faithful not just to Wanda, but to his firm. 

Tasked with concealing ten million dollars in two weeks before he’s even passed the bar exam, Rob finds himself facing a series of dilemmas that ultimately test his legal commitments, integrity, and professional objectives, too. As he places the lives of loved ones in danger, Rob’s changing relationship with Carlos and his organization leads him and Wanda to be hunted despite the FBI’s protection program. 

Donna Joppie’s engrossing story proves hard to put down, is packed with unexpected twists and turns, and follows Rob’s personal life and relationships as his legal background and situations place him in untenable positions of danger. 

Tension is well developed, the story moves between Texas and Mexico with a smooth precision that carries readers on its current of unexpected developments, and the suspense builds to a surprising conclusion that brings Rob full circle to consider what he really values from life. 

Libraries seeking legal thrillers that also operate well on the stage of interpersonal growth and developments will find The Memory Trap an excellent addition to any thriller or suspense collection. Its ability to juxtapose special interests that attract, then conflict, makes it a standout. 

The Memory Trap

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Novels

All the Broken Angels
Pat Black-Gould and Steve Hardiman
Green Grotto Press LLC

979-8990328600             $15.99
https://www.amazon.com/All-Broken-Angels-Pat-Black-Gould/dp/B0DD8WD5CT 

All the Broken Angels combines a story of growth in the 20th century with a focus on social issues ranging from patriotic teachings to racism, prejudice, and tackling major social obstacles to self-realization. Protagonist Catherine absorbs family history and stories, integrating them with her own life experiences. Readers will appreciate the juxtaposition of faith and discovery that drives the plot and creates a likeable, memorable character. 

The range of subjects that Pat Black-Gould and Steve Hardiman present during the course of Catherine’s life contributes a wide-ranging feel to events that is both realistic and thought-provoking. 

The emotional components of Catherine’s reactions to her world and its layers of complexity build reader attraction to her evolutionary process and the events that buffet and change her life. Meanwhile, the historical backdrop is so well integrated and realistic that readers will readily recognize its milieu while absorbing the nuances of Jersey City life during the Vietnam War. 

The family legacy of the World War II experience is not lost on either Catherine or her readers. Her life develops as the experience of coming of age in 1950s and 60s America receives intense description and psychological (as well as social) insight through dialogue that is especially captivating: 

“If angels keep us safe, we don’t need soldiers.”
I had to think about that for a second. “Maybe soldiers protect us, and angels protect the soldiers.”
“No way,” he said. “An angel couldn’t parachute out of a plane with those big wings. They’d get all tangled.”
Ruthie pushed her glasses back in place. “Why would an angel with wings need a parachute? They could fly right next to the soldiers.”
He held Bazooka Guy up high and flew the toy, Superman-style, above the table. “Soldiers have parachutes. They don’t need angels protecting them.”
“Maybe that’s why angels have wings,” I said. “They can keep soldiers safe everywhere they go.”
 

Undercurrents of humor supplement Catherine’s feisty countenance as she defies religious and social convention in unusual ways: 

Sacraments were sacred. Making what Sister Magnus would surely call “a mockery” of confirmation—in front of a priest, no less—was worse than any stunt Walter had ever pulled. If I didn’t end up in hell, I’d land in hot water. Oh boy. I needed time to think. 

As the impact of Vatican Two and other sweeping changes hit Catherine’s life, readers are treated to a ‘you are here’ story of action, reaction, and discovery that proves winningly realistic, psychologically alluring, and hard to put down. 

Libraries that choose All the Broken Angels for its promise of following a life that moves from the late 1950s to the early 1980s will appreciate not just the decades-long experiences that come to life, but the accompanying social exploration that will lend well to book club discussion groups and leisure readers alike. 

All the Broken Angels

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American Jukebox
Len Joy
Hark! New Era Publishing
979-8335742535          $8.99
https://www.lenjoybooks.com/ 

As a sequel to Len Joy’s small-town novel American Past Time, American Jukebox is both a dovetailing of themes and represents a departure in the story’s structure. Action and experiences are condensed in a manner that delivers their impact with even more succinct growth experiences than the 20-year unfolding story that Joy presented before. 

1950s America was a milieu in which baseball, family relationships, and outdoor playing grounds were under construction (or, at times, deconstruction, as the case might be). This comes alive as young Clayton and his baseball-playing father experience physical and psychological changes in their factory town that impact and alter their lives. 

Tonka trucks, cartoons, school … all these and more flavor the days of childhood as Joy delves into relationships that swirl around legal challenges, minor league snafus, and  a child’s growing realization of who his parents really are beyond their identities of ‘mother and father.’ Expectations and disappointments emerge along with political and psychological impacts throughout the story. 

Joy follows Clayton’s personal growth as well as concurrent threads of American culture: 

“It occurs to me that I may be the first used car salesman to ever deliver a commencement address.” The crowd laughed. “I’ve thought a lot about what I should say here today. I asked my family for advice because I figured if the speech is really bad, I can blame them.” 

The small-town atmosphere grows as much as Clayton and his father ‘Dancer,’ following new road developments and emotional journeys alike. 

Joy’s blend of small town and internal atmospheres is a powerful presentation steeped with emerging politics and confrontations that represent many undercurrents of small-town America’s transformation. 

These elements (and baseball) power a story that stands both nicely alone and as a satisfying adjunct to American Past Time, expanding on many of the threads begun in the first book to add new dimensions of understanding for fiction readers interested in American history and culture. It should be noted, however, that readers need not have prior familiarity with American Past Time to understand and thoroughly enjoy American Jukebox. 

This is why libraries will find American Jukebox a satisfying acquisition. Its mix of leisure interests and community evolution, topped with a dash of political developments, keep readers involved and guessing at outcomes. 

American Jukebox

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Anemone
Jim Frazee
Independently Published

979-8880489411             $12.00 Paperback/$4.99 eBook
Website:
https://www.jim-frazee.com/
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Anemone-Jim-Frazee/dp/B0CWS6R6YM 

If you aren’t vigilant … a single cat’s eye taken up by wind could wipe out a town like Aqua Verde faster than they could recite the Pledge of Allegiance. What a blaze failed to consume, it changed forever. 

Such is the introduction to a story of arson, transformation, and rebirth that begins with Russell and Wyatt’s father’s observation and emerges like a phoenix to haunt sixteen-year-old Russell’s life when a fire rescue attempt gone awry leaves him injured and in a coma. When he awakens, it’s to find that he’s been mistaken for his brother and is under investigation for suspected arson and homicide. 

As deceit, family ties and lies, and reflections emerge through a series of flashbacks and present-day adversity, a bigger picture is presented in which Russell (and his brother) are victims of dysfunctional family dynamics and abuse. 

Jim Frazee weaves the delicate dances of different family members into a story that encourages new realizations about the methods, impact, and mindsets of abuse that’s often inadvertent, but just as damaging as deliberately cruel intentions. 

He also follows the fire’s impact on friends and others, who hold opinions that defy Russell’s own perception about what really happened: 

Edie, too, had proved his deductions faulty about the fire simply by showing up. And while Frank, unequivocally, had encountered enemies capable of incendiary deeds, they remained elusive. What am I not deciphering and why does so much of my past turn back on me as if I’m the likely arsonist? In the early morning hours an epiphany dream brought him clarity. When he woke from it, his mind was made up. 

These supportive characters, through their assumptions and choices, add to Russell’s dilemmas with nicely rounded-out psychological perspectives that enhance the underlying probe of what really happened … and why. 

Frazee’s ability to develop Russell’s past, present, and possible future creates a novel that supersedes any definition of a coming-of-age experience by adding many complex psychological relationships and considerations into the mix. 

Anemone is thus notable not just for its transformative coverage, but for its story of how dysfunction and depravity ultimately tear a family apart. Readers will be especially delighted by the interplays of action and reflection which keep all characters evolving, growing, and changing. 

Libraries seeking novels of discovery that simmer with tension and unexpected twists and turns will find Anemone a delightful choice. It can be easily recommended to a wide range of patrons looking for more than an arson or coming-of-age story alone. 

Anemone

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Anita Farleigh Unpacks
Laurie Woodford
Boroughs Publishing Group
978-1-957295-71-8                 $3.99
Website: https://www.lauriewoodford.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DDN9T6CZ 

Anita Farleigh Unpacks is a vivid, surprising read. Both strengths are apparent from its opening lines: 

The hard rev of an engine and tires crunching on driveway gravel startle me awake. Rubbing my eyes, I lift my pounding head off the garage floor. What the—? Why am I face planted on a purple rug in Zach’s garage? I squint, and an empty bottle of Malbec comes into focus, as does the maze of furniture, boxes, end tables, bookshelves, and—holy hell—are those rhinestone-beaded lampshades? As I slowly sit up, last night’s crap fest comes flooding back into my brain. I came home from Seoul to the news that Zach, the cheating bastard, dumped me for Vivian, the greenhouse girl with enough sequined pillows and cow poke chairs to fill a craft store showroom. 

Being jilted and betrayed wouldn’t seem to lead to a new romance with a male nurse, but Anita discovers that her attraction and new opportunity in the form of one Nurse Oscar affords her a chance to revisit not just love, but the mechanics of her psyche. This offers as much attraction as the story’s romance focus—but not in ways readers will anticipate from the usual genre read. 

Laurie Woodford’s hard-hitting descriptions using novel, fun language is what makes Anita’s adventure an exceptional hit: 

Bernice is Dr. Lichtman’s mother. Someday she’ll retire, and patients will be greeted by a receptionist who doesn’t sharpen her claws on the computer keyboard. 

As complications deepen over an accidental kiss with former cheating lover Zach, Anita comes to question the nature of her impulses, relationships, and the quandaries they raise for her future and growth. 

There’s also a professional component to her issues that impacts her evolving relationship with Oscar as they contemplate the impact of long-distance love: 

“…when I travel, I’m creating pain for you. Like when I’m home between trips, I create more pain because I’ll need to go again.” I rest my head against Oscar’s. “Part of me knows we can make it work, but at what cost?” 

The dual focus on romance and self-growth is powered by Woodford’s fresh, original descriptions and candid first-person protagonist’s impressions of her changing life. This translates to an appealing story not just of love, but honing self-identity. 

Libraries seeking a romance story that is clean, crisp with unexpected atmosphere, and sultry in its exploration of two individuals who grow in different ways and come together will find Anita Farleigh Unpacks an attraction for romance collections seeking something different. 

Anita Farleigh Unpacks

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Counterculture Blues
Danielle de Valera
Old Tiger Books

978-0-6486098-0-3         $19.25 Paperback/$4.08 ebook
https://shorturl.at/EW2AQ 

Counterculture Blues: A Fable is a genre-defying novel that represents a diversion for Danielle de Valera, who is best known for her short stories and her coming-of-age novel, Those Brisbane Romantics. It's based on her prior success with Magnificat, an episodic novel that features both animal community members and underlying lessons on poverty and interconnected lives. 

The roots of the novel that’s reincarnated here require no prior familiarity from newcomers. Counterculture Blues I is every bit as whimsical and compelling as any other animal parable of life, supercharged by Danielle de Valera's evocative prose, which brings the fictional world of Tuckaburra to life: 

"In a cottage on the edge of Tuckaburra, a marmalade tomcat dressed in striped pyjamas was looking out of his bedroom window. Behind him, his lady cat rolled over on their double bed and flung out one blue paw. It wasn’t really blue, not sky blue—it was a bluish grey, for she was a half-Siamese, half-Blue Burmese. Her ears and tail and all four paws up to the elbow were this same shade of mysterious blue-grey, like the sky sometimes is before the rain." 

This enchanting milieu, tempered by Australian allusions and culture, comes to life in a manner designed to attract all ages to its evolving story of poverty and enlightenment as de Valera spins an evocative yarn. 

Claude, Mao, and other characters raise to the occasion of their life challenges amidst the backdrop of a whimsical world that is simply and unexpectedly evocative: 

"Since Shelley Shire had seceded from New South Wales to avert development, nary a car nor any other form of internal combustion engine could be seen within its borders. The small steam trains that ran all day between Murwillumbah and Casino were fuelled by coal. The citizens rode bikes, drove carriages pulled by dogs bred especially for the purpose, while crisis carriages such as ambulance and fire brigade were pulled by miniature horses." 

Social issues evolve, from drug use to rescuing individuals in need and understanding the undercurrents of those who reside on the "lunatic fringe of town." 

From banana-farming calico cats to the underlying motivation and philosophy of getting drunk, the story tackles bigger-picture social issues within a different framework of experience and perceptions, blending philosophical concerns into social inspections: 

"While you were drinking you were sure you tasted a little immortality. Next day you were even more mortal than before. What a dump, what a downer. Yet at the time you were certain you were immortal. Vistas stretched before you, full of promise. Your work didn’t seem hard any more. It was something you were grateful to have. And your friends, your friends . . . all of you caught in the whorls of time, all of you being whirled on to oblivion. Yet here, for a moment, you could touch them, feel close to them, put out your paw. You weren’t alone." 

The result may at first appear to be a children's fantasy, with its animal-dominated world; but in fact is a parable for modern times that should be embraced and celebrated by adults. 

Counterculture Blues I is a feel-good novel rich in the unexpected, revealing in its psychological and social probes, and easy on the eyes (while remaining, at times, hard on the heart, despite its happy ending). 

Counterculture Blues I deserves widespread recommendation not only for libraries seeking interest in animal-rooted fiction for all ages, but for book club discussion groups. These audiences will find its characters, evolution, and social examination lend well to debates and thought-provoking revelations as a colorful romp through villains, heroes, and high and low society receives an animal-centric makeover. 

Counterculture Blues

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Imperfect
Katy Motiey
Manuscripts Press
979-8-88926-054-7
$38.99 Hardcover/$19.99 Paperback/$8.99 eBook
https://www.amazon.com/Imperfect-Story-about-Courage-Perseverance/dp/B0D3X1BMHR 

Imperfect: A Story about Loss, Courage, and Perseverance moves from Tehran to New York to London, criss-crossing the world as the novel’s characters cope with the Iranian Revolution and its aftermath. 

An author’s note explains that although the story is fictionalized, its roots lie in her family’s heritage and experience, and is written from her mother’s perspective—thus, the vividness of its descriptions. This translates to a powerful story packed with real-world atmosphere and observations. 

The narrative is introduced by a prologue set in 1979 Tehran, in which Vida’s family experiences yet another power outage that demonstrates her daughter is adjusting to potentially dangerous situations that once would have made her little girl afraid of the dark. However, she can’t protect her daughter against other deadly events, from poisoning to revolution. 

This section concludes with an astute reflection that she “must get my daughter out of this country” before the story moves to the past of 1971 Westchester County, New York. Here, Vida leads a very different life. Her family has already visited Iran, gone to London for her husband’s cancer treatments, then back to Iran so that Vida’s baby can be born there, before finally returning to their life in the US. 

Kamran is a liberal husband, even though steeped in the traditions and religion of his Muslim homeland. Vida appreciates him even as she fears his older brother Doktor, who holds Kamran’s power of attorney, along with strong beliefs about women’s places being in the home and not as equal financial partners. 

Kamran’s family ties and their different perspectives affect her life as his brother makes decisions from afar that impact her connection to her husband’s affairs: 

Is this what it means to be married? Secrets and lies? 

Vida is honest with Kamran about her feelings: 

“I don’t want to ever live in Iran. I don’t like the culture, and I don’t want to raise my children there.” 

He is less so with her, divided by his love for her and his loyalty to his family and country. When he informs her he wants them to move back to Iran, a series of events follows which is reminiscent of a fictionalized form of the classic memoir Not Without My Daughter. Vida faces the terrible choice of moving to Iran with him or splitting up her family. 

She finds herself in a contest over who will control her and her children, landing in the middle of a festering and volatile political revolution and atmosphere. Legal struggles address Iran’s legal and personal injustices during a particularly turbulent time in Iranian history—during the Shah’s regime, the rise of Khomeini, and the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis. 

Katy Motiey’s story is vivid, pairing strong characterization and astute examinations of belief systems and social turmoil with one woman’s struggle to maintain control over her life and children. 

Driven by this powerful struggle, Vida’s shifting circumstances and life is the nexus of a thought-provoking, thoroughly engrossing experience that explores the world of Iranian women both in Iran and in the Iranian-American community. Iranian customs and culture come to life through the drama and perspective of Vida’s struggles. This gives the novel a flavor of activism and understanding that few fictionalized stories about Middle East women can match. 

Libraries and readers that choose Imperfect: A Story about Loss, Courage, and Perseverance will find it a delight, whether they pick it for its themes of women’s empowerment, disempowerment, and struggles, or for its many insights into Iranian culture and society. Libraries will find it especially easy to recommend Imperfect for a variety of book clubs and reading groups, from those considering women’s issues in general to others with a specific focus on or interest in Iranian and Iranian-American affairs. 

Imperfect

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In the Orchards of Our Mothers  
Arthur McMaster
Touchpoint Press
978-1-956851-93-9                                 $16.99
Website: arthurmcmaster.com 
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Orchards-Our-Mothers-Arthur-McMaster/dp/1956851933 

The setting is northern France in late May of 1944. An American OSS officer meets a French resistance fighter, they work together, romance forms, and, upon the war’s end, they build a family and life together. 

In the Orchards of Our Mothers doesn’t end here, however. This is just the beginning of events that spiral forward in time to embrace generations confronting the war’s lasting impact on France, as well as the subterfuge and intrigue which continue long after World War II concludes.

While Claire and Jacques’s partnership occupies much of the story, Arthur McMaster grows the plot to embrace much deeper aspects of the war’s wide-ranging continuation off-battlefield. This creates intriguing and interesting reflections for historical fiction readers as Jacques finds his life continually threatened. His younger sister Nina joins in his efforts to not only survive, but identify who wants him dead. 

Midway through the story, Jacque finds himself alone—and still fighting. This injects a powerful set of additional concerns into his life—not the least of which is the newborn he is left to raise alone. Amidst his efforts to grow his apple farm in Breton lies a broader mandate: 

“We grow, or we fade,” was the way he put it, and Jacques knew Victor was right. 

The bigger question is not only if Jacque will survive, but how. 

Arthur McMaster performs a masterful dance between personal lives and ambitions and bigger-picture thinking that take place both during and after World War II. His focus on the process of personal recovery on many levels successfully links historical events and processes to personal ambition and experience in such a way that the story proves emotionally compelling. 

Even more astute is the attention given to evolving interpersonal relationships forever changed by past events, and how Jacques grows both his business interests and his family. McMaster’s ability to bring to the forefront both the atmosphere of the world during and after a major war and the special interests and challenges of one survivor immerses readers in postwar events like few other novels. 

The scenes which contrast personal lives and their world are especially evocative: 

That Christmas morning, she gave him a first edition copy of Graham Greene’s 1940 novel The Power and the Glory, thinking he would like the exceptional priest—the whisky priest, as the author called him. Graham Greene, she knew, understood something about silent work—he, having worked for the British Secret Service in Africa during the war. The gesture, a proper salute to the good monsignor, another unheralded cleric hiding in plain sight. 

These moments of inspection and revelation are so subtly woven into the overall story that readers absorb their nuances and implications seamlessly as they pursue the dynamics of Claire and Jacques’s changing environment. 

Librarians seeking World War II novels which hold a special touch of atmospheric and psychological insight will thus welcome and relish In the Orchards of Our Mothers for its masterful entwining of families and futures. 

Book clubs seeking a different World War II read which places its battlefield in the hearts and minds of everyday people forced to respond in novel ways to changing conditions will find much to discuss and debate in this compelling saga, which leaves the door slightly ajar for future books and further developments. 

In the Orchards of Our Mothers

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Killing Gilda
Yahya Gharagozlou
‎Armin Lear Pres
978-1963271409             $22.95 Paperback/$9.99 eBook
https://www.amazon.com/Killing-Gilda-Yahya-Gharagozlou/dp/1963271408 

Killing Gilda is a love story of intrigue, Persian culture and politics, and a doomed young woman who has a ringside seat to the fall of the Persian Empire as well as her own downfall. It captures the land, culture, and peoples of Persia, yet opens in an unexpected setting—a nursing home, where Sam struggles with Alzheimers, considering the ebb and flow of his life and the amazing events he can still recall. 

Yahya Gharagozlou charts his progress with a hand steeped in metaphor, atmosphere, and unexpected descriptions: 

Pain has an upside: It comes with short-term lucidity. It works like a pencil sharpener. Whets the brain. I start the touristic hopscotch. Memory and perception intermingle. Not an older man’s failings yet, though I admit I can no longer control my recall at will. The magical butterfly that once flew from flower to flower, gathering the good things in life and reporting back its findings, now flies with clipped wings. Now, it’s more like flower to no flower. 

This poetic series of insights draws readers with a candid tone that embeds nostalgia with the “you are here” feel of a Proust production, immediate and hard-hitting in its reflections, whether they be of a non-practicing Muslim or the politics of the Shah and Iranian forces that embroil all the characters in situations Westerners may hold little prior familiarity with. The manner in which Gharagozlou crafts a foundation of knowledge for understanding these events proves surprisingly evocative, easily accessible, and educational and enlightening as the story progresses. 

A wealth of detail is embedded in the first-person narrator’s observations of the changing social and political milieu of Iran: 

The Shah appointed my uncle as court minister in the winter of 1966, a private thank you. He had saved the monarchy. My uncle laid down the law: “Never call me uncle at Court, or I’ll crack your head. Keep your eye on two groups: the Prime Minister and his friends, and the Queen and her sycophants. Don’t underestimate the last lot. Their crackpot ideas will show up later in disguise. Always remember, they watch you because you are related to me.” He and the new prime minister, Hoveyda, stayed in power for the next thirteen years, an achieved balance. Hard to believe, but before him, we burned most of the incoming mail. We didn’t have the personnel to answer the correspondence. He redesigned the Court’s communication system. 

This contributes a deeper understanding of the motivations and circumstances of love, betrayal, political intrigue and subterfuge, and shifting influences between political regimes as Iran changes and its key players struggle. 

Also at the heart of this saga is the love story between the protagonist and Gilda, which ultimately transforms the narrator, releasing him from childhood limitations while placing him in a unique position to observe, research, and comment on Gilda’s world. As a few stormy weeks in Gilda’s life prove the pivot point of her survival and death, readers absorb a love affair that blossoms and grows in unexpected directions. 

From encounters with the Shah to G.’s evolving life and the international influences which come to play key roles in Iranian affairs, Gharagozlou steeps political outcomes in personal observation and experience to create a full-bodied, compelling flavor to the unfolding encounters. 

Libraries seeking a beautifully woven blend of social and political Iranian life will find few to match the strength and evolutionary process that is Killing Gilda. At once a story of love, culture, politics, and a changing world, its rare ability to entertain and educate on a deeper level than most Persian fiction makes it highly recommendable to a wide audience, from thriller and international intrigue readers to those seeking an involving story of Iranian affairs and the real-world Gilda who inspired this story, an intersection of historical fact and reinvented lives that proves utterly compelling and hard to put down as it follows Iran’s entry into modern times. 

Killing Gilda

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Kissing Toads
Danissa Wilson
Moonshine Cove Publishing, LLC
9781952439865              $18.00 Paperback/$7.99 eBook
www.kissingtoadsnovel.com 

Kissing Toads is a novel set in the 1980s and 90s and tells of a woman’s search for love. Unfortunately, as the title portends, she must kiss a lot of ‘toads’ in order to arrive at her goal … if she ever does. 

Danissa Wilson creates a likeable, if not frustrated, character in 50-something Annie’s review of her life efforts to find a man. The story introduces family hierarchies and expectations, ideals of love and connection, and intergenerational contrasts as Annie reflects on precedents and the impetus for creating new approaches to valuing life and love: 

If there was one thing my mother instilled in me from the time I was a very young girl, it was that a woman is only as important, powerful, or significant as her husband. She often told me, "Annabelle, remember this: your husband will make the living, but you, his wife, will make his life worth living." … Now, think about this: If that were the case for me in the 1970s and 80s, I have to imagine that what my mother experienced in the 1950s and 60s was even more extreme. Though she occasionally made fleeting comments about dreams she had as a young girl to become a famous singer, I can only imagine those dreams seemed unrealistic and futile. How could she become a renowned singer and entertainer if she was far too busy finding and then tending to a man?  

As she reviews romantic gestures turn into “unbearable nuisances” and ongoing evidence that different relationship choices are not “the one” she’s looking for, Annie traverses various expectations and assumptions about men, women, and love and how they have changed over the years that mark her life and women before her.

Annie’s navigation of “regal” possibilities and routines and their juxtaposition with her quest for real love will attract readers interested in the progressive growth that comes from the modern “dating lottery” and its opportunities. 

Most of all, readers will appreciate the contrasts in men and perspective that mark Annie’s decades-long quest as she integrates her objective with other hallmarks of growth and change, all of which lead her to look in unfamiliar places and redefine her ideals of relationship values and love. 

While young adults may appreciate the nuts and bolts of Annie’s emotional journey, adult women who see parts of themselves in Annie’s revelations will find the story particularly insightful and engrossing. 

Libraries that choose Kissing Toads for its shifting perspectives on women’s lives, times, and interests will also want to recommend the novel to book club and women’s reading groups, who will find it holds plenty of discussion opportunities about women’s lives, romantic ideals, and issues of independence and growth. 

Kissing Toads

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New American Café
Richard Sanford
Odeon Press
978-0-9857445-6-4         $14.95 Paperback/$4.99 eBook
Ordering: https://new-american-cafe.com/
Website: https://www.sanford-novels.com/ 

New American Café is a novel of music and discovery. It captures the 1970s musical milieu of Mitch Lanier, who has split up with his girlfriend and is delivering pizzas in lieu of getting a good (but more demanding) job that could limit his musical efforts. 

Fellow delivery driver Corey McGowan also experiences his own artistic angst as he struggles to write a novel and make a living at the same time. 

The two decide to go for (perceived) big bucks by opening the New American Café. But in the midst of struggling to get the new business off the ground, Mitch’s dream of musical success simultaneously seems to be coming true. 

As if these elements weren’t enough angst, a romance develops with an older woman and business competition clashes with a drug lord’s mission, both of which threaten Mitch’s ambition and dreams. 

Whether he’s talking music or pizza delivery, Richard Sanford succeeds in capturing the sounds, atmosphere, and feel of the times: 

Plugged in, the Wurlitzer transformed the front of the store with a retro color infusion. Roman columns, chromatic wonders of red, yellow, and blue, framed the front. A red and yellow arch glowed above the turntable and the carousel of discs. It was delivered loaded, and I played the first test. “Honky Tonk Women” rocked the empty café like a honky tonk garage. 

Sanford is also especially adept at creating adjunct characters and weaving their special interests into the business and artistic struggles that define Mitch and Corey’s lives. These supplemental figures, rich with their own lives and objectives, create further depth and insights to draw readers into Chicago’s musical and social milieu. 

The tension that comes from gang threats and career-busting confrontations is very well developed, enhancing the novel’s ability to contrast and capture various life events and clashes. 

Libraries interested in 1970s settings, novels about artistic ambitions, and stories that chronicle different types of relationships with an astute eye to exploring their underlying motivations and influences will want to welcome New American Café into their collections. It is highly recommended for leisure readers that enjoy well-developed tension and confrontation in their fiction, as well as book clubs looking for stories suitable for group discussions about choice, artistic license, and life-changing events: 

At some inconceivable point in the future, we too will be looking back from other lives. 

New American Café

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The Nine Lives of Tito d’Amelia
Ettore Farrattini Pojani
Bayou City Press
978-1-951331-10-8         $2.99 eBook
www.bayoucitypress.com 

The Nine Lives of Tito d’Amelia may initially attract cat enthusiasts, between its title and cover picture of a cat, but it’s actually historical fiction. It follows the history and culture of a small Italian town and a family through the ages, beginning in 1134 BC. The ninth chapter starts with the birth of the baby in 2023 and ends when the main character, Luca/Tito, who was elected as “mayor” at 24, has served in that position for seven years. 

Here, a beloved cat’s involvement in human affairs and subsequent demise involves a prophecy that offers opportunity for an observer of events over the ages: 

“Tito, you were in this land before us; you welcomed us here to share the richness of your valley. Now that you have left your mortal life, your soul will remain among us forever in this valley to protect it and lead it toward a glorious future. We ask for your protection and your intercession with the gods, while awaiting your return to us. Protect our King Ameroe, your Hephaestus, and all his progeny for the centuries to come. Protect our city, Amer.” 

Employing a unique focus to survey the evolution of this town and the Farrattini family, Ettore Farrattini Pojani reviews how Italy and one family and town in particular are transformed. 

Tito’s cameo appearances lend a continuity and interest to the tale, giving it a rich blend of involvement and connection: 

As soon as he caressed the cat, Giovanni felt calmer. It did not take long before he started to talk to him. “Why do you run here so quickly when I arrive so agitated? Are you a guardian angel sent by my brother?” 

Tito answered with a soft “meow,” which, of course, meant “Maybe!” Tito would have liked to tell Giovanni it was not Bartolomeo who had sent him, but someone long before. 

This creates a dual focus on social and political as well as intergenerational evolution, crafting a series of inviting historical insights. Tito the cat is a tertiary adjunct to this focus, adding humor and a sense of creative continuity to human affairs. 

Sometimes centuries pass between Tito’s returns. This lends to particularly interesting observations about vast changes which have impacted the family over time, even as it considers Tito’s challenges for a “new mission” to help the humans each time he is reincarnated. 

Of special note are the changing lives of women as the town and its culture adjusts. Readers become absorbed in the trials of Nofria, whose husband is lost while battle rages around Ameria; and in the life of Clementina, whose search for an eligible bride for her brother-in-law takes over her life. Other women (and men) experience pivot points as moral and political legacies impact daily lives. 

Readers interested in Italian history and culture will delight in the shifting focuses on families and events which capture the politics, atmosphere, and challenges of the Italian nation through the lens of one small town’s growth. 

The novel’s special aura of discovery, combined with a “you are here” atmosphere, makes The Nine Lives of Tito d’Amelia a highly recommendable pick for anyone interested in a tale of Italian and family history and growth. 

Tito’s final change sums up many lives of experiences and the Italian town’s evolutionary process over a vast period of time, while maps and photographs, concluding author notes, a note on source references for further reading, and a list of foreign words and special terms all emphasize the novel’s historical foundations and information. The maps and photos, in particular, are fine reinforcements of the book’s roots in Italian affairs. 

Libraries that choose The Nine Lives of Tito d’Amelia will find it a multifaceted draw that will draw patrons and book clubs alike … especially anyone holding a special interest in Italian culture, politics, and affairs. 

The Nine Lives of Tito d’Amelia

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Not Angels But Angels
Nino Hoti
Meadow Brook Publishing
979-8218451615             $12.95 (Print)/$5.99 (Digital)
https://www.amazon.com/Not-Angels-But-Nino-Hoti/dp/B0D96R8L8K 

Fictional love triangles are not unusual, but the juxtaposition of three individuals—two boys and an adult—in Not Angels But Angels raises the bar with added insights and considerations of homosexual relationships, predatory adults, and the fine line between love and abuse (among other themes). 

When Sean begins to realize that he and Jeremiah are part of a Satanic plot that lies beneath the façade of the Magnolia Academy’s prestigious reputation, truths emerge to immerse readers in threatening situations and realizations. These move the plot beyond that of a love triangle and into darker territory. 

Nino Hoti crafts a slow-building first-person story of attraction and horror. Sean’s initial interest in Jeremiah changes his life, leading him to redefine not just his sexuality, but his perception of his world and its underlying influences: 

While staring at the boy, he suddenly caught my gaze and shot me a playful scowl. I quickly looked away, sickened with fear, realizing that I was not only enamored with him but also terrified of him. I don’t mean the kind of fear that one has of monsters and such; rather, it was the kind of fear that one has of the power of the universe. 

Added value lies in how the boys explore their relationship choices, and in racial influences which emerge during the course of making such disparate connections: 

“That’s the kind of relationship Mallory and I have. It sounds depressing, I know, and it is—but there was once a time when I genuinely loved her. She usually breaks up with guys after dating them for only a few weeks, she told me, but that I was ‘special.’ I think she just likes me because I’m an ‘exotic’ Brown kid and not just some white boy who plays lacrosse and drinks Mountain Dew.” 

Discussions of love, ghosts, and deceased friends power a tale in which attraction becomes dangerous and death emerges as the only option for escape. 

Nino Hoti navigates readers well beyond the homosexual realm to investigate good, evil, and the motivations behind making either choice. The slow injection of ethnic and racial insight creates more added value and thought-provoking moments. These move beyond the presence of evil, an increasing venture into horror realms, and the dilemma of a boy who founds himself captured by relationships he didn’t see coming. 

All these elements make Not Angels But Angels difficult to easily define, to be sure—but libraries will recognize that its deeper value lies in new opportunities for book club and patron discussions. These embrace perceptions of sanity and insanity, new ways of life, and the influence of a fifteen-year-old Algerian ‘prince’ whose short life changes everyone around him. 

Not Angels But Angels

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One Shining Soul
Wayne L. Wilson
Independently Published
979-8350961256             $22.99 Paperback/$7.99 eBook
Website:  https://www.wlwilson.com/one-shining-soul
Ordering: https://store.bookbaby.com/book/one-shining-soul 

One Shining Soul is a novel about miracles. Joseph Timmerman has long known that his daughter Olisa was unusually blessed with extraordinary abilities. But the world also comes to see this when a confrontation between street gangs on the 4th of July leaves a dying man cradled in her arms as people flee the violence that surrounds her. 

Olisa’s compassion pairs with her ability to spark an event that a reporter captures on film for the world to see. Nothing is the same, afterwards—for either Olisa or the rest of humanity. 

Wayne L. Wilson creates a powerful novel of hope, opportunity, and spiritual reflection that resonates with unusual power, given that the miracle deliverer is neither white nor male, but a Black woman with special abilities. 

Questions are presented about the countenance of a bringer of miracles and what the modern world would do with this knowledge. 

Specters of violence may be anticipated, but the real irony in the story lies in the equal threat of commercialization and profit which threaten to diminish and dilute Olisa’s gift’s impact and possibilities. 

Narrated in the first person by Olisa’s father, the tale assumes an immediacy and intimacy that is particularly moving and thought-provoking as various levels of society, from news media to inner city relationships, are explored. 

Wilson crafts a psychological and social inspection that is especially vivid: 

“Olisa is the balm we all need during these trying times. Narcissistic leaders have transformed lying into the new normal. Their agenda is masked as a cause in order to attain power and control. They ply folks with uplifting and regurgitated sayings that their constituents and followers want to hear to garner votes. Bottomline is, men have fucked it up for centuries with their testosterone-induced warring. Time’s up! We need female energy. Society needs to be mothered, and Olisa is the chosen one.”
“I’m all for female empowerment. But you’re going to push Olisa out there as the sacrificial lamb? Let me ask you this: will you make any money from this venture?”
 

The dovetailing of miracles with profit concerns, the background and contrasts of her brother Noel, and the family’s inclination to protect her create events replete with food for thought that will prove particularly attractive to book clubs and reading groups. 

The ability to wrap a miracle in a broader context of social, psychological, and racial inspection gives One Shining Soul an edge over any similar-sounding story of miracles and humanity’s reaction to them, making it exceptionally highly recommended for its depth and insights. 

Libraries and readers seeking a different kind of miracle story which embraces issues of Black experience, racial profiling, profit-making opportunities and visions, and the underlying definition and impact of a true miracle-giver will relish all the events and accompanying revelations that One Shining Soul delivers. 

One Shining Soul

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The Path Beneath Her Feet
Janis Robinson Daly
Black Rose Writing
978-1-68513-472-3         $24.95 Paperback/$5.99 ebook
www.blackrosewriting.com 

The Path Beneath Her Feet, a sequel to The Unlocked Path, continues to explore the history and experiences of female doctors in 1930s and 1940s America via the encounters of Dr. Eliza Edwards. Here, she is no longer a student, but is a mature mentor to other women pursuing women’s health and careers as physicians. 

Eliza’s daily life as the world ventures into World War II adds more complexity and challenge to her mandate to help and foster other women in the medical system. This gives readers insights into the atmosphere and attitudes of the times which impacted those women determined to pursue their dreams against all odds. 

Another attraction to this novel lies not just in its timeline of events, but in its geographic movements between Boston, Georgia, and rural Appalachia. The contrasts in time, place, and social and political atmosphere are nicely done, revealing the extent of early professional women’s choices and conflicts between career and family. 

Especially astute are Eliza’s savvy observations of changing politics and the rise of a war certain to transform American culture and society in unexpected ways: 

“My son serves on the USS Mississippi as a lieutenant in the United States Navy, patrolling the Atlantic Ocean. Each morning, I offer thanks he is not involved in a conflict. But every week that passes with news of another city in Europe falling and the rise of the Axis powers, not to mention the threats from Japan, I fear our ships will carry troops across those waters. And, when they do, just like in 1917, we’ll send millions. Who do you think will keep this country going on the home front when those troops vacate countless jobs in all forms of professions?” 

Eliza’s story personalize the daily experiences and coping methods of women charged with forging new territory and developing new responses and habits to survive: 

I’m sorry. That short phrase had become a constant refrain as it reverberated around the country and in her ears over the past six months. I’m sorry, said every administrator she spoke with about a position. I’m sorry, said the landlord as he reminded Eliza that she and Olga Povitsky owed rent on their office space. I’m sorry, replied the druggist when Eliza asked him to reduce his prices on prescriptions that she wrote for her patients who struggled to buy groceries, let alone a month’s supply of pills to ease menopausal symptoms. 

The result is an absorbing, revealing account about a female physician’s changing life as she navigates maturity and participates in the development of the American Women’s Hospitals in rural America. 

Libraries seeking novels of women’s achievements, professional growth, and early struggles for change and authority will appreciate the alluring focus of The Path Beneath Her Feet, which stands as nicely alone as it serves as a fitting adjunct to The Unlocked Path. 

It can be pursued for its entertainment value or assigned as lively reading for discussion groups interested in women’s history, pre-World-War-II issues, the rise of women’s physicians and programs promoting women’s health, or any combination of these subjects. 

The Path Beneath Her Feet

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Poetic Justice
Kathleen McFall and Clark Hays
Pumpjack Press
979-8-9882974-1-3         $16.95 Paperback/$6.00 eBook
https://www.amazon.com/Poetic-Justice-Restaurantland-Kathleen-McFall-ebook/dp/B0DDDQ5JW2 

Poetic Justice: A Restaurantland Romance is reminiscent of the hit TV show Friends, with its constantly evolving romances and relationships, but takes place in a restaurant filled with quirky staff harboring affection for food and one another. 

The opening scene is indicative of the surprises which permeate this romance story because handcuffs, not kissing, have just bound together two struggling individuals whose hot romance has turned cold. 

Chef Hudson has just made a move that threatens Roz’s determination to have him remain her ex-boyfriend. Hudson, however, believes he’s made the only move that can keep them together, forcing her to listen instead of fleeing. 

What does this choice have to do with Roz’s determination to be an eco-warrior despite Hudson’s injecting his personal life into her mandate to honor her sister via a political protest statement? Plenty. 

The timeline shifts to the past and the Rose and Thorn Restaurant as explanations and relationships build background and insights into these events. 

Kathleen McFall and Clark Hays employ these shifts throughout the story to craft a compelling plot that juxtaposes love, adversity, and history. Surprising developments introduced to readers thus become logical and understandable in a way that embraces and fills out the characters of Roz, Hudson, and those who surround them, both within and outside of the restaurant milieu. 

Like Friends, characters swirl in and out of their lives with personal discovery and reflection proving the building blocks of a relationship that once blossomed: 

Whenever they were together, she felt safe and confident, sure nothing would ever go wrong for her again. At first, she didn’t trust this feeling and was even a little scared of it, but being around him continued to erode the negativity in her life, mostly due to his almost bedrock certainty about them. The always-widening joy between them was now slowly erasing all traces of the emotional scars of her past. 

The political protest which permeates their lives and choices also receives good coverage, adding an extra dimension of discovery to the novel’s character-building focus. 

Tension is well developed, the evolving and changing romance is logical and appealing, and Poetic Justice’s embrace of major events that affect the couple makes the tale more than one of interpersonal relationship evolution alone. 

This is why libraries that choose Poetic Justice for its romance will find it much more than the usual falling-in-love story. It embraces the process of growth, falling out of love, and finding new and healthier connections. Poetic Justice is very highly recommended for its full-bodied review of life within and outside of the restaurant world, depicting the changing hearts and minds of characters that make the most of their relationships … and occasionally stumble in the effort to reach their goals. 

Poetic Justice

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Reunion by the Lake
James Gilbert
Atmosphere Press
‎979-8891324114             $15.95 Paperback/$7.99 eBook
www.atmospherepress.com 

Reunion by the Lake is the novel of a family patriarch’s impending death and his desire to affect and direct his family posthumously, through a special will. His role while alive is to be sure his loved ones understand the nature of this direction. His personal mandate forms the crux of a story as gripping in its personalities as it is in father Richard’s drive to foster a legacy that will live long after he’s gone. 

The trouble with trying to control people is that they don’t react in anticipated or even desirable manners. Thus, Richard’s gathering of the clan at a lakeside retreat to outline his choices results in turmoil and angst among three sons who hold different ideas about the impact of Richard’s legacy. 

These ideas are explored in passages that delve into much more than heritage, exploring the changed connections and perceptions that illness and end-of-life brings: 

She sighed, folded her hands in her lap, and made a vague sound as if she were agreeing with herself—the way she always did when she was exasperated or troubled by the severity of her husband—by his inflexibility and evasions. She was surprised that she had spoken so abruptly to him: was it his weakness, she wondered? Did that demand some sudden shift in the balance between them?  

Readers seeking to understand these shifting nuances in response to impending death will find plenty of food for thought in Reunion by the Lake. 

James Gilbert goes beyond addressing Richard and Grace’s concerns. He spends time exploring the perspectives of all involved: 

Recently, he had been trying to understand the reasons for his reluctance to face his parents alone. If he was honest with himself, it had always made him uneasy to visit them. But more so lately, and he had now taken to bringing along a companion to the house on the lake—at least since his father had retired. He was certain that his parents’ constant intimacy, and living mostly by themselves, had changed them and made them strangers to him. He wondered what it would be like to be isolated and aging: how it might trap them in an envelope of unthinking rituals and words and ideas expressed in a language of their own loneliness.

Such passages reinforce the separate lives that come together during this time, giving readers insights and contrasts that will prove especially intriguing for book club and reader discussion groups. 

Libraries that choose and recommend this novel to patrons will find Reunion by the Lake attractive to a wide audience, from leisure readers seeking family sagas to psychology groups interested in family dynamics, end-of-life challenges, and the types of patriarchal distance typical of too many male heads of household: 

…if it came down to it, what he really felt about them. Had fatherhood always been an obligation without much passion? And she had to ask herself if he had ever experienced the almost painful swell of pride in his sons that she always felt when she looked at them. 

Evocative, thought-provoking, and emotionally turbulent and revealing, Reunion by the Lake juxtaposes lives and the impact of death in such a manner that readers will leave this story thinking heavily about family connections, disconnections, and how impending death changes everything. 

Reunion by the Lake

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Ring of Lapis
M.D. Hall
‎Independent Publishing Networ
‎
978-1836541561       
$12.50 Paperback/$2.99 eBook/20.95 Audiobook

https://www.amazon.com/Ring-Lapis-M-D-Hall/dp/1836541562 

Ring of Lapis takes place between AD197 and AD211. It covers the invasion by Septimius Severus of what is now Scotland, with events presented from both perspectives through the eyes of a Britannia-born Roman tribune. At this point, it should be mentioned that readers needn't have any prior familiarity with this history in order to appreciate the story and characters that unfold in this vibrant story. 

M.D. Hall takes the time to capture the sights, smells, and atmosphere of Scotland, creating vivid descriptions that give readers a 'you are here' feel: "The smell of fresh bread drifted out of the kitchen and mingled with rank sweat and acrid smoke from the hearth. Three ancients huddled around the feeble fire, and a dozen retired legionaries sat at rough-hewn tables in a room illuminated by flickering candles." 

Robertus Tullius Aetius, first spear of the first cohort of the Sixth Victrix Legion, has been betrayed by two of his closest friends. He expected victory from the slaughter and battles he participated in, but the long-term result seems to be failure on many levels. 

As Tullius traverses the dangerous countryside, journeying to Coria and beyond and making his mark on a land fallen into chaos, a host of characters both support and defy him in different and sometimes unexpected ways. 

Hall presents events from the viewpoints of many of these different characters, who are constantly called upon to make choices in their reactions, alliances, and lives: "Girom opened his mouth, but Lutrin shook his head before placing a finger against his lips. He again felt the ground. ‘They are moving away; there are no stragglers.’ ‘They were our people. Why did you stop me hailing them?’ asked Girom. ‘What could they have done? They are fleeing; if you join them, you will fare no better. Why give up the safety of this place to run with a band too afraid to fight? Whoever chases them is dangerous.’" 

Tullius navigates both familiar and unfamiliar territory in a dangerous dance with death. Charged with being Severus’s eyes and ears, he faces quandaries over his role in events that threaten to bring relentless destruction to his land and people. 

A ring gifted to him by the emperor and another from the son of the Caledonian chieftain bring danger and promise. 

The dilemma of a warrior caught at cross-purposes is nicely portrayed, while the era's history comes to life in a satisfying, impressive discussion of social and political confrontations. 

Readers of historical fiction who look for dramatic drama and action against a backdrop of real events will applaud Ring of Lapis for its ability to capture the changing lives of ordinary people fielding extraordinary revolutionary times. 

Ring of Lapis

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Rooted in Sunrise
Beth Dotson Brown
Köehlerbooks

979-8-88824-448-7
$24.95 Hardcover/$18.95 Paperback/$7.99 eBook

www.bethdotsonbrown.com 

In Rooted in Sunrise, middle-aged Ava Winston enjoys a routine life in Kentucky until a tornado blows everything away. One would think that grief would follow the loss of a home; but curiously, Ava feels like an underlying current of burden and trouble has blown away with it, freeing her to embark on a very different journey. 

The tornado has changed not just her life, but her entire community. Offers of help and fellow sufferers’ dilemmas engage her with encouragements to rebuild and requests for help. 

What should have been a normal evening changes in an instant to something extraordinary … primarily because Ava sets aside prior traditional choices in favor of different pursuits that don’t always resonate with those around her, who expect the old Ava to emerge from the ashes like a phoenix. 

Beth Dotson Brown follows the process of Ava’s reconstruction with an avid attention to detail and discovery. Readers will find particularly engrossing the focus on a number of characters who face similar challenges and choices in rebuilding—including Ava’s friend Bernadette, who has become a hoarder. In stark contrast is Ava’s unwillingness to accumulate replacement goods: 

Ava stared at the clothes before settling on the dressing room chair. She was already accumulating things again. Maybe she didn’t want to. The new Ava wanted to feel unencumbered. 

Also especially notable is the contrast between different reactions to the tornado and how rebuilding takes place within disparate levels of recovery: 

“All I ever wanted was to raise a family and care for them, make a comfortable home and a beautiful life for the people I love. I knew Joe and I would grow old in that house with all of our memories of where the kids took their first steps. And now . . .”

Bernadette let the tears flow, and Ava gave her the time. Ava had never pictured that for herself—living in her house as an old woman with memories. She hadn’t truly visualized her life beyond Juniper graduating from college. Maybe that was why she’d been frustrated at work. She didn’t know if she was where she should be. 

Brown’s focus on the ‘why’ psychology of the recovery process is just as important (perhaps more so) than her depictions of the actual process of recovering from losing nearly everything. Her story illustrates that change brings with it different layers of choice and revitalization that can be interpreted and enacted in new ways. 

Ava’s process of gaining fresh perspectives on her past, present, and future immerses readers in the manifestations of regrowth that change not just Ava, but an entire community. 

Libraries and readers seeking novels replete with themes of discovery, recovery, and transformation will find Rooted in Sunrise a powerful story of all kinds of relationships transformed by the process of destruction and rebirth. 

Book clubs, too, will enjoy much fodder for discussion in the disparate ways Ava adapts and grows, along with those in her circle of community, family, and friends as she forays far from home—and, ultimately, far from her comfortable, once-predictable life. 

Rooted in Sunrise

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Seven
M. MacKinnon
DartFrog Plus
978-1-965253-16-8         $16.99
www.DartFrogBooks.com 

Seven is the third volume in the Echoes in Time series which takes place in Scotland. It moves back and forth between 1600s Scotland, Canada, and present-day events surrounding the action and struggle of a Scottish clan under siege. 

A prologue documents one such battle, which then segues neatly into a story of warfare, fighting, and survival tactics which have long been a part of the Scottish experience in general and fifteen-year-old Kenna’s life in particular. 

Romance blooms as thick and attractive as Kenna’s impulse to join in battle despite her gender, creating interesting interplays of emotion and purpose between characters whose lives are steeped in all kinds of struggles. 

M. MacKinnon’s ability to wield history, Scottish culture, psychology, romance, and battle lends to a strong story that, like its character’s perspective, proves “…glorious, exhilarating, and frightening at the same time.” 

Readers seeking novels that simmer with questions about exploring unfamiliar worlds, introduce odd time-traveling experiences and historical revelations that challenge a cast of characters from different times to step out of their preconceived notions, and arrive steeped in the psychology of connection will find Seven a fine, supportive addition to the Echoes in Time series. 

As high school math teacher Brian McLean steps back into these early Scottish experiences to consider his impact on both past and present, readers receive a fine interplay of eras and objectives that ultimately joins seemingly disparate histories and psyches in a thoroughly compelling manner. 

The result may prove difficult for libraries to easily define. Part time-travel journey and tempered by history, love, and struggle, Seven represents both a satisfying expansion of the Scottish milieu from previous stories and another step to linking past and present worlds. 

Readers seeking time travel stories with an edgy attention to marrying history with interpersonal developments and perspectives won’t be disappointed. 

Seven

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Surviving Southwood Avenue
Melissa Simonye
Snowy Mountain Press LLC
979-8-9905341-0-0         $17.99 Paperback/$6.99 ebook
Author Website: www.melissasimonye.com
Ordering: www.amazon.com 

Surviving Southwood Avenue: A Story of Family Secrets and Resilience is a historical coming-of-age novel set during the Depression years. It opens with Stella Irene’s birth in 1916, following the family’s experiences and contrasting Stella’s life with that of her mother Clara. This helps readers better understand the influences and times which shape mother and daughter in different ways. 

From its opening chapters, Surviving Southwood Avenue documents evolving sibling relationships that are influenced by exploration, discovery, and family dynamics. From family rules about privacy and secrets to a mother unafraid of using a pistol to get what she wants, Stella’s observations of her world are influenced and impacted by messages both overt and subtle which seem to conflict with what her parents are trying to teach her about the world and her place in it: 

I thought about my father and wondered what he would say if he knew. It felt like we stole from the druggist. My father disapproved of stealing. He often reminded us, “It’s not worth having if it needs to be stolen.” 

Stella’s survival process embraces much bigger-picture thinking as her life is contrasted her mother Clara’s evolutionary process. 

Chapter headings could have clarified the shifting viewpoints but as events move from Stella’s observations to third-person descriptions of Clara’s world, it’s impossible to get lost and easy to absorb the different contrasts of these personalities and the values that influence each of their lives. 

Life in the boarding house on Southwood Avenue turns into an influential test of survival skills for siblings buffeted by Mrs. Spangler’s cruelty toward the children: 

She was determined to break us. And sadly, she was succeeding. We all lost a little piece of ourselves every day. Little by little, she was whittling away at our spirit like a carpenter with a piece of wood. We were all slowly changing into different children on Southwood Avenue. I most certainly changed the most. 

Stella’s mother’s mistakes, her father’s distance, and the trials of two separate childhoods that lead a mother to want to escape her family while a daughter becomes even more invested in holding it together creates a fine set of thought-provoking contrasts about influences and impacts. 

As Stella moves into the 1920s, readers will especially appreciate how the novel, steeped in a sense of the times and place, follows her actions and reactions to explore how disparate family ties and outsiders influences individuals in different ways. 

Surviving Southwood Avenue is, in a nutshell, a powerful story of adaptation and change that allows readers to better understand the decision-making process and perceptions of a mother and daughter whose disparate backgrounds change their views of life and their place in it. 

It provides much food for thought in considering how the forces that shape these lives are absorbed by and reflected in future generations: 

My life was a nightmare you can’t wake from. I was too skinny, and my body felt weak and tired all the time. Every day, I felt a sense of loss, like a part of my soul was being chipped away. I continued to mourn for my old self. I missed my father but was also angry with him. I was angry that he moved us to Southwood Avenue. But I was angrier at my mother since she was the reason we moved. Her rebellion changed our family. Her mutiny from my father changed my life. 

Libraries seeking discussion points about family secrets, survival, and how these decisions ripple across generations of values and ideals will find much to recommend and appreciate in how Melissa Simonye spins Surviving Southwood Avenue, which explores losing trust and gaining wisdom with equally strong acuity. 

Surviving Southwood Avenue

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Uninvited Valor
John C. Kiyonaga
Dartfrog Blue
978-1-965253-20-5        
www.DartFrogBooks.com 

Uninvited Valor—The Forsaken Soldiers of WWII: Based on the Epic True Story of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team fictionalizes a true story. It adds dramatic attractions to expand this story’s audience from nonfiction students of World War II history to general-interest leisure readers interested in combat and intrigue. 

A dedication and black and white photo of 442nd Regiment First Lieutenant Joseph Yoshio Kiyonaga acknowledges the backdrop for this story, but the captivating dramatization of events that stem from Pearl Harbor’s bombing offer unparalleled ‘you are here’ experiences that is one of the hallmarks of the plot: 

“Why are they here?” Harry Masayoshi asked. “Their bombing range is off on the other side of the North Shore.”
“Why are they so low?” asked Franny Fukuhara.
The four of them stopped walking. The planes appeared to be flying directly at them, their buzz becoming a drone, becoming a roar. Suddenly, they were there—a thousand yards out and impossibly low—streaking over the adjacent sugarcane fields and closing the distance to the boys in an instant. No one said a word as the planes flashed overhead at fifty feet, but the red circles under the wings were unmistakable. The pilot of the last leaned out over his fuselage and looked directly down at them. He was Japanese. No one spoke for a moment. Joe considered the imminent demise of his lunch plans and immediately felt ashamed.  
 

As the prologue explains, the characters may be fictitious, but the unit and campaigns of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team are not. The juxtaposition of fiction and nonfiction cements a delightful atmosphere of understanding and action in the story as readers absorb events that place them directly in combat situations: 

The LT and the RTO had each taken a knee when they suddenly disappeared in a tight eruption of black smoke. Joe heard the muffled report of the explosion an instant later and recognized it as the same made by his own mortar. Everyone dove for the dirt. Joe opened his chin on the grit but kept his eyes on the spot where his lieutenant had been, staring dully at the dissipating smoke and the corona of body parts across the blackened ground. The next blast jarred him back to awareness. 

This is a good place to point out that such vivid depictions may well prove triggering to veterans and those who arrive  steeped in their own combat history. However, the events and interactions of the unit and the politics and influences of these times will prove captivating to a wide audience of readers who may know little about combat, war, or the events that required sacrifice and courage in the forty months after Pearl Harbor. 

John C. Kiyonaga acknowledges many facets of the times, from prejudice against Japanese-Americans to combat challenges, as Joe races through Europe with his unit and experiences both camaraderie, special challenges, and even an unexpected romance which is also impacted by the war.

Kiyonaga is especially adept at capturing the nuances of fighting and interludes of peace and discovery, juxtaposing them in ways that illustrate the pulse and people of the 1940s. 

Libraries and readers seeking Word War II fiction that sizzles with action, strong characters, and the perspectives of combatants will find Joe’s story and journey compelling.  Uninvited Valor holds the rare ability to reach beyond military history readers into general-interest audiences seeking personal connections to history, outcomes, and acts of valor. 

Uninvited Valor

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When Bone Melts
Elise Keitz Harlow
Independently Published
979-8326828170
$7.99 Kindle / $14.99 Paperback / $24.99 Hardcover
https://www.amazon.com/When-Melts-Elise-Keitz-Harlow/dp/B0D5CY1HBS 

When Bone Melts is a novel set during World War II. It follows the revelations that buffet nineteen-year-old sculptor Pasquale Marinova when he discovers that his seemingly familiar, simple family actually harbors connections and secrets that change his impression not only of his origins, but himself. 

As he begins to uncover new truths about his background and meets his half-sister Anastasia, who represents a challenge to his shaken family’s structure, points of view shift to consider events and impacts from six different character vantage points. 

This creates an interesting juxtaposition of impressions, expectations, and impacts in the story, which takes a family saga and expands its connection to the lives of all who come into its fold—either legitimately or illegitimately. 

Changing viewpoints are clarified in each chapter heading. This helps solidify these different perspectives and prevents confusion as readers absorb the nuances and concerns of a wide cast of characters. 

As for the inspections themselves, the dialogue-driven psychological interactions between major players makes for thought-provoking reading no matter whose perspective they come from. 

Franca Rossi, for example, contemplates her wedding choices and not only their impact, but her mandate to please and fit into the family: 

“Luca’s checked with his mother, and the Marinova Gardens can host three hundred guests!”
I stood over the table, staring down at their notes.
“I don’t want to get married in front of three hundred people.”
“You’ll be thankful on the day to have everyone there. There will be a parade. You are becoming a princess.”
“You’re not listening to me!” I yelled at her. I started crying, and Luca held his hands up in alarm. “You only care about impressing our family and neighbors!”
“You are ungrateful. You are rejecting the gifts life has given you. Why do you bury yourself in a hospital when you could have the finest life of anyone on the lake? What about Luca and what the Marinovas want? Will you deny your new parents their say?”

Pasquale’s seeming impropriety with his half-sister Stasi prompts questions and anguish in a family trying to both create new connections and absorb uncomfortable truths about these associations: 

“I’m sorry.” Quick to apologize. “We arrived home very late. I was tired and had had too much to drink. I just fell asleep.”
“It is extremely…” Mother swallows, “Immoral, Pasquale. I am… disgusted.”
“It was an accident, Mar–Mother. It was inappropriate but not… sinister! I just fell asleep! She is my sister. It couldn’t have been even four hours.”
“Four hours too many. You need to reign yourself in. You are forgetting yourself.”
 

The different perspectives personalize not only the family’s situation, but their evolving reactions to Nazis, births and deaths, and migrations to new lives in America. All these events sweep the story into the 1960s as it covers decades of social, political, and psychological transformation. 

When Bone Melts is a heady but attractive historical novel that shines with Italian culture, contrasts between characters forced to assume new roles within their families, and insights into the rise of Italian fascism which leads the Marinova children to grow both within and far from their roots. 

Libraries seeking a novel steeped in Italian experience as seen through the eyes of different generations that moves from 1893 Italian culture to modern times will find When Bone Melts realistic, compelling, and astute in its psychological and social inspections. It’s perfect fodder for book club discussion groups, and a fine recommendation for any patron with roots and special interest in Italian culture. 

When Bone Melts

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A Wolff in the Family
Francine Falk-Allen
She Writes Press
978-1-64742-802-0         $18.99
www.shewritespress.com 

Fans of historical fiction set in early 20th century America who are interested in following a family’s evolution from generation to generation will find A Wolff in the Family a powerful exploration. It deserves not just leisure reading pursuit, but book club discussion. 

A Wolff in the Family follows the impact of a family secret on generations of individuals who face hardship and questions as a result. Readers should anticipate many underlying subplots in the story, from issues of gender inequality and evolving women’s empowerment (or, at times, disempowerment) to the Wolff family’s journey to a new life and world in the West. 

Francine Falk-Allen explores these events through the eyes and experiences of a wide cast of characters. These different viewpoints dovetail in a story replete with satisfying social, political, and psychological insights. It’s narrated in a compelling manner designed to attract, educate, and entertain, all in one: 

Another baby. Frances wondered how long her mother could keep this up. What could women do if they didn’t want so many children but still wanted to get married and have a family? Anita looked tired. She’s getting to see what it was like to be me in this house, thought Frances. I’m never going to have this many children. I don’t know how you keep from it, but I’m not going to do it. Not like this. 

From affairs and custody battles to families divided and conflicted, and the love and connections that bind them, Falk-Allen presents a multifaceted arena of encounters firmly cemented in the vernacular, politics, and social values of the times. 

This will prove especially alluring to historical fiction readers who seek works immersed in a ‘you are here’ atmosphere that brings not just experiences, but their underlying motivations and impact to life. 

A Wolff in the Family presents a heady mix of history, social inspection, women’s issues, and family interactions. It covers vivid, absorbing situations and psychological insights that blend nicely into a deepening sense of discovery and growth. 

Libraries that choose A Wolff in the Family for its historical allure will find it easy to highly recommend to book clubs seeking evocative historical material perfect for group discussion and debate. 

A Wolff in the Family

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Reviewer's Choice

Against All Odds
Tristian Smith
‎TWS Publishin

979-8990888906
$27.99 Hardcover/$18.99 Paperback/$9.99 eBook

https://www.amazon.com/Against-All-Odds-Tristian-Smith/dp/B0D8K36XWG 

Against All Odds is a memoir, but to confine its recommendation to fans of autobiography alone would be to do it a disservice. Unlike most memoirs, the story rises from personal experience to political activism in a manner designed to illustrate not just trauma and recovery, but how one individual evolved beyond what life handed him at an early age to cultivate a drive to give back to society in novel ways. 

Readers already versed in the foster care system may be well steeped in the social and political struggles buffeting good intentions to provide kids with support and foster homes. But Tristian Smith’s experiences personalize his life and those of fellow foster children, following his journey from poverty to entering the system and building hope from opportunities for a better life. 

The story doesn’t end there, however … if it did, Against All Odds would indeed be just another memoir of achievement. It’s Smith’s focus on giving back by improving not just his circumstances, but those of others, which gives his story an extra dimension of meaning and insights as he assesses his abilities and the influences, both good and bad, on his upward momentum: 

The constant moves and transitions inherent in the foster care system created a sense of instability and dependency. Each new home and school brought with it the need to adapt and adjust to new relationships and unfamiliar surroundings. This constant upheaval made it difficult to establish a sense of belonging and continuity in my life. 

Also notable is advice to would-be foster parents on how to provide the special services and support that youngsters in the foster care system so desperately need: 

If you are a foster parent or you want to become a foster parent, I want you to know that you have an enormous impact on the children who are living with you. And too, a responsibility to provide them with stable, compassionate care. 

Concurrent with these admonitions to case workers and foster care parents is a call to action to revitalize and revamp the system as a whole. With the focus on how to better support foster youth, Smith provides not just support, but invaluable insights based on his experience and those of his fellow foster community. 

While Against All Odds will be valued for its personal memoir facets, even more important are Smith’s analysis of social and psychological systems and how they function, fail, or hold opportunities for new growth and change. 

This is why libraries and book club reading groups will find Against All Odds so wide-ranging and important. Within its veneer of personal experience lies a mandate for understanding and transformation that is so important, libraries should consider it a ‘must’ for collection enhancement and recommendation to all kinds of patrons. These range from would-be foster parents to readers tackling social issues and considering opportunities for enacting meaningful, lasting change. 

Against All Odds

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Chained Birds: A True Crime Memoir
Carla Conti
Wild Blue Press
978-1-964730-07-3
Audiobook: $21.83/eBook: $7.49/Hardcover: $25.99/Paperback: $16.99
Website: www.carlajeanconti.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Chained-Birds-True-Crime-Memoir/dp/B0DJC4JFM9/ 

Chained Birds: A True Crime Memoir is a true crime memoir that follows journalist Carla Conti into a legal effort to advocate for federal prison inmate Kevin Sanders, the client of her lawyer friend Scott. Conti never anticipated that helping her friend would land her in a deadly mix of prison politics, abuse, and justice system failures. 

The fact that Conti has a researcher’s eye for detail but operates (at least, initially) from outside the prison system lends discovery and surprise to the story, which emerges from Conti’s opening lines that consider the source of all these events: 

This book exists because a convict once threw a snowball at a prison guard and hit him in the face. 

The resulting fallout from this seemingly innocuous move rippled and expanded like an exploding supernova to embrace inmates, guards, administrators, and prison outsiders such as Conti and Scott. The violent chain reaction which emerged eventually led to the closure of an experimental prison program that pinpointed and reflected a broken prison system’s terrible practices. 

From the start, Chained Birds : A True Crime Memoir presents scenarios of dovetailing adversity and struggle that challenged Conti’s new role as part of a legal defense team. As she navigated the impact of political, social, and justice system processes, she embarked on a personal journey into an investigation that revealed more and more underlying influences and dangerous prison trends. These proved dangerous to her and Scott as they became involved with other prison inmates over promises of retribution and violence. 

These revelations emerge within the context of daily trial proceedings, family relationships challenged by Conti and Scott’s involvements, and the influences of Mafia-like hit men, FBI agents, and prison and justice system precedents. 

Abuse, cover-ups, revenge, paranoia … all these factors and many more result in a portrait that will prove eye-opening not only to those outside the prison/justice system, but to many professionals operating within these systems. 

This is why Chained Birds: A True Crime Memoir deserves a prominent place in any library strong in criminal and justice system probes. However, its recommended audience shouldn’t stop here. Ideally, Chained Birds will be used as a foundation text in college-level classroom for students of social issues, criminology, and justice system management; as well as profiled in book club and reader groups. 

It holds invaluable debate material, couched in a riveting series of events that reads with the drama of fiction, delivered with the one-two punch of reality. 

Chained Birds: A True Crime Memoir

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Checkpoints and Autosaves
Dr. Anthony M. Bean, PhD
Leyline Publishers
978-1955406130             $19.99 Paperback/$16.99 eBook
https://shop.geektherapeutics.com/ 

Checkpoints and Autosaves: Parenting Geeks to Thrive in the Age of Geekdom intersects themes of popular culture, parenting, and gaming into a unified theory for better understanding how young ‘geeks’ can benefit from geek entertainment and child development insights. 

What is ‘geek therapy’? Dr. Bean answers this and other questions about identifying geek culture and attractions, placing his psychological insights in line with social and community inspections that move from family to broader arenas of interaction and reaction. 

As he probes cosplay, video gaming, Dungeons and Dragons, animae and comic books, and other examples of geek entertainment, Dr. Bean considers how and why these influencers help craft a young person’s psyche and social understanding. 

Adults who work with kids, whether they be parents or counselors, in turn receive specific insights based on real-world modern attractions to young people. 

Case histories from his work with young people permeate these analyses with specific ‘you are here’ moments that marry psychological understanding and techniques with guidance strategies: 

The purpose was not to teach Jake he could win every time with three cards, it was to teach him he could win. And statistically, three random cards beat a high card most of the time. After he felt more empowered, we discussed how the card game relates to his life. Each card represents a person Jake can turn to for help. They are people he can trust to build his strength and overcome stronger obstacles he cannot defeat on his own. Jake listed possible party members from his own life: family, friends, teachers, and me. The card game helped Jake visualize who he can rely on and utilize when he feels overwhelmed. 

Moments of clarity are sometimes presented with wry humor that blends observation with thought-provoking fun: 

As parents, we secretly hope our children see us as their own personal heroes. We sacrifice our time, money, and sanity for our kids, and we do our best to protect them from evil. Parenting is heroic, even though the job does not come with its own set of superpowers. We only hope our children look past our normal strength and non-laser-eyes to see SuperMom and DynoDad anyways. Unfortunately, few of us are privy to that special recognition. When I asked a client, Andy, to build his own superhero comic book, he did not base his hero on his mom or dad. He built a superhero named Chicken Nugget Man. 

The result is a parenting guide that stands apart from most others; both for its foundations in psychology and analysis and for its ability to connect the dots between pop culture, child-rearing, and approaches that represent not only better understanding, but better parenting choices. 

This is why Checkpoints and Autosaves should be a mainstay not just in psychology libraries, but in collections catering to parents seeking new insights about and methods of reaching their children. 

Checkpoints and Autosaves

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The Dog Who Came for Christmas
Jody Sharpe
Independently Published
978-0988562059             $8.99
https://www.amazon.com/Dog-Who-Came-Christmas/dp/0988562057 

Bill The Dog Who Came for Christmas as a fantasy, a novel of magical realism, or a warm holiday story with dogs and paranormal themes as you will, but the definition of this story definitely embraces the term ‘cozy.’ Audiences attracted to canines and Christmas will find the opportunity to enjoy both under one cover in a thoroughly engrossing read. 

Begin with a first-person prologue which introduces not just the small California town of Mystic Bay, but the narrator, Earth-living Angel Ken, who keeps on eye on human and animal lives under his wings and reviews the special holiday circumstances where “…intuition and love’s triumphs changed lives, but furry and human.” 

Christmas is traditionally a time of miracles. This is only one of the focuses in The Dog Who Came for Christmas, where angels co-exist alongside other gifts to make the town an exceptional locale of warmth, tradition, and new opportunities. 

Gayle Force Knight’s psychic intuition leads her to rescue a dog. What it doesn’t portend is whether this effort will be first and last, or if it will open the door to more animal rescues and a revised lifestyle. 

This sixth book in the Mystic Bay series stands nicely alone, yet neatly dovetails with the prior stories to invite newcomers and old fans with a special flavors of community dilemmas, individual choices, and holiday spirit. 

Jody Sharpe’s employment of the first person lends strength and immediacy to her story, which unfolds with many delightful touches, from a store called Heaven Can’t Wait to something only Gayle can see: “…little floating angel dusty light that he seems to send to those in need of comfort.” 

Light-hearted yet thought-provoking and engrossing, Sharpe’s story represents yet another holiday saga that reveals additional nuances of this special town’s psyche, psychics, and perspectives. 

Libraries seeking unusual and exceptional Christmas stories steeped in the warmth of giving and the holiday season will welcome the opportunity to include The Dog Who Came for Christmas in their collections. Its ability to attract on both spiritual and storytelling levels will make it attractive to a wide audience of holiday celebrants. 

The Dog Who Came for Christmas

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The Faraway Mountains
Radu Guiașu
Histria Books/Addison & Highsmith Publishers
978-1-59211-317-0         $19.00 Hardcover/$6.99 eBook
Website: www.raduguiasu.com 
Publisher: www.HistriaBooks.com 

The Faraway Mountains is a novel about friendships, survival, and life under the thrall of a ruthless dictator. While readers may anticipate darkness in such a scenario, one of the surprises of this story lies in how light emerges even from political repression. One illustration involves three young friends who embark on a mountain-climbing expedition. 

The narrative strength of this story lies in the fact that it is based on many of the author’s experiences. With its roots in youthful experiences of 1980s Romania, the atmosphere and history of the nation are portrayed in descriptions that resonate and draw: 

All those energetic speeches, all the futile worries and meaningless arguments, and all that youthful anger and harmless sarcasm wouldn’t likely change anything anyway, except, perhaps, for contributing to future ulcers (Dan was already experiencing some symptoms) and premature gray hairs (Alex already had a few). It was like throwing pebbles against the fortified wall of a seemingly impenetrable bunker. There was nothing they could do to change anything. The future of the country, just like the weather or the prices of blue jeans on the black market, was entirely out of their control. They were just three young men far from home, in the middle of nowhere, always in constant danger of getting more or less lost. Or worse. 

What began as a single story of youthful experience evolved into a series of interlocked experiences. These form the crux of this blended coming-of-age saga, social and political examination, and account of growing into adulthood under a political tyrant. 

Romania’s shifting atmosphere is embedded in not just the experiences, but the choices of this youthful group: 

Alex, Victor, and Dan grew up in the same neighborhood in the west end of the capital, and attended the same prestigious high school — possibly the country’s best — in the city center. As a consequence of yet another round of reforms to the education system, most high schools became so-called “industrial” ones, presumably getting students ready for factory work. 

Readers will not only be drawn into the ups and downs of daily lives, but will absorb both their individual growth and the impact of social and political changes. Marrying the personal with the political creates an emotional tie to events that will prove thoroughly absorbing even for those with little knowledge of Romanian history or culture. 

Libraries interested in fictionalized autobiographies that present well-ordered modern history with equally well-thought-out presentations of life under dictatorship, as well as those interested in life in Romania, will find The Faraway Mountains a compelling story of hope, survival, and even growth and happiness. 

The Faraway Mountains is also highly recommendable to book clubs seeking attractive memoirs that raise all kinds of questions about the connections between political and personal choice, and transformation. 

The Faraway Mountains

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The Gamer’s Journey
Daniel Kaufman, PhD
Leyline Publishing
‎978-1955406239             $19.99 Paperback and eBook
https://shop.geektherapeutics.com/ 

The Gamer’s Journey belongs in any library strong in adolescent psychology and computer game analysis. It probes the underlying influences and atmosphere of a video game that holds both widespread attraction and the promise of better understanding when reaching adolescent clients. 

Dr. Daniel Kaufman explores not only the structure, intentions, and experiences of this game, considering the attraction and healing possibilities of video games in general. 

He applies basic psychological analysis and thought to such wide-ranging subjects as spirituality and transcendence, growth opportunities, and lessons in attraction and reaction. His considerations juxtapose this specific game with broader topics that will especially intrigue adults working with a teen clients: 

The lessons from any range of games, from Spiritfarer to roleplaying games and beyond, can be deeply personal in their abilities to influence meaning. While we may not notice the wonder in each nascent moment early in life, our ability to experience them is limited. The games we play represent our interests as we push through each new phase in our lifespan. We alternate between many different directives in our lives as much as we will in the metaphor of our in-game protagonists and their quest log. 

These insights, in turn, encourage a different form of psychological analysis and inspection that places more tools in the toolbox of counselors working with teens. The approach injects contemporary and meaningful insights into the gaming culture, its possibilities for growth and learning, and its specific applications to adolescent audiences (although adult video game participants may also be reached via a revised understanding of gaming culture and its opportunities for healing). 

The Gamer’s Journey will appeal across the board to psychology, adolescent medicine, and media studies libraries. It represents a fairly unique opportunity to not only better understand video game participants and their culture, but apply the basic techniques of deeper psychological understanding to psychologist consultations. 

The Gamer’s Journey

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The Hidden Power of Rising Dividends
Greg Donaldson

Wyndhill Publishing LLC
979-8990567504            
$29.90 Hardcover/$15.99 Paperback/$9.99 eBook

https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Power-Rising-Dividends-Security/dp/B0D722DHC8 

The Hidden Power of Rising Dividends: How to Produce Security, Income, and Growth opens with a disaster (the 1987 meltdown of worldwide stock exchanges). This led investment manager Greg Donaldson to question his entire money-management strategy. He moved into alternate ways of investment goals and financial planning which gave him a much better foundation for valuing and managing stocks. 

How does one move from Black Monday to success? The steps of this process involve self-analysis, revised financial insights, and the willingness to consider and adopt new strategies for the future based on revised insights. Surprisingly, the journey begun on Black Monday led to even greater success than Donaldson had enjoyed before: 

The devastation of Black Monday snuffed out most of my illusions about investing. Yet, in the blackness of the day and its assault on my state of mind and financial well-being, a flickering light appeared, offering a way out of the darkness. 

Readers familiar with business books about finances and money management will find Donaldson’s tone and personalization of the growth process to be more compelling than most … so much so that The Hidden Power of Rising Dividends will attract audiences beyond its intended group of financial managers and investors. 

Yes, there are many step-by-step depictions of investment logic and science that will attract those already financially savvy. But Donaldson’s attention to explanation and accessibility translates these steps and jargon for everyday readers who may not be as well versed in the mechanics of investing, from dividends and scatterplots to charting novel courses of financial growth. 

His work with clients also personalizes this process, covering not just the whys and hows of making investment decisions, but the psychology of investors. This reveals their motivations, degree of financial investment comfort, and their perceptions of how they can reach their goals. Donaldson is also just as candid about his snafus in handling clients: 

When the small talk quieted down, I dove in and said, “Doc, long-term interest rates are going to rise over the next two to five years. Tech mania is in full force, the economy is beginning to grow rapidly, unemployment is falling, and inflation is trending higher for the first time in many years.”
I had spoken too fast, too loud, and too abruptly. To make matters worse, I had introduced all these ideas while looking at the notes I had scribbled on a piece of paper in front of me.
 

Whether he discusses changing trends in asset management or the logic of making new choices in a shifting investment environment, Donaldson presents just the right blend of financial and psychological insight that will attract all kinds of readers to a story that is well beyond the typical investment approach. 

Libraries interested in acquiring investment books that hold more than a singular strategy promotion will find The Hidden Power of Rising Dividends enlightening and highly recommendable to a wider audience than most. 

Its tone, explanations, and interesting psychological and financial profiles make The Hidden Power of Rising Dividends a standout and a winner. 

The Hidden Power of Rising Dividends

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An International Circus Affair
Jeff Raz with Stephanie Greenspan, Ori Quesada, and Devin Holt
Modern Vaudeville Press
9781958604243              $25.00 Paperback/$9.99 ebook
www.modernvaudevillepress.com/nanjing 

An International Circus Affair: How a Nanjing Acrobat in San Francisco Changed American Circus Forever captures circus history at its best, using a single acrobat’s life and achievements to explore the circus atmosphere and its features and major participants. The story details how an international meeting of East and West played out in the big top arena, changing the circus world forever. This encounter allowed circuses to develop new opportunities and attractions, leading to its survival of hard, changing times. 

As a participant in this process rather than an observer or reporter, author Jeff Raz holds his own claim to circus fame. His mentor, Master Trainer Lu Yi from Nanjing, China, is the main subject of the book. Lu Yi took Chinese circus techniques to Australia and America, and then worked with Raz to bring the American circus techniques back to China.

All this was accomplished in eras where East/West relationships were not always smooth. The cultural relationship between Nanjing and San Francisco that is the focus of Raz’s history evolves over a 20-year period, a time of many changes both between and within America and China. 

Readers might expect the lively descriptions of acrobatic prowess and circus action—but, in fact, there is as much discussion of business models, show development, and the psychology of two cultures meeting minds over the circus world. 

Heavily footnoted references allow researchers to access source materials, but don’t detract from the pleasure factor of delving into this world for readers who may hold less prior circus familiarity. 

The insights on working with students in the Youth Circus and developing new generations of entertainers and audiences alike are particularly vivid. These hold the ability to attract not just circus professionals and participants, but viewers from outside performance circles. 

Interviews with students and major participants also enhance the coverage by providing diverse insights into circus dreams, operations, changes, and challenges. 

Libraries that choose An International Circus Affair will find that the book expands its audience to include business readers, cross-cultural analysts, and historians as well as general-interest readers. This gives it a strength and appeal that makes it a top choice. Performing arts libraries as well as general-interest audiences will find An International Circus Affair exceptional. 

An International Circus Affair

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Love Heals All Wounds
Linda F Kent
Clearly Rising LLC
979-8-218-33701-8                 $14.95 Paperback/$6.99 eBook
Website: https://www.lindafkent.com
Ordering: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CT26J8YJ 

Why turn to Love Heals All Wounds as a solution to modern life challenges? Because, as Alan Cohen stated in his Foreword: 

We live in a world where fear is rampant. Daily, the news and other media reinforce the belief that we are victims of outside forces beyond our control. In deep self-protection, many people isolate themselves from life or escape into distractions and addictions. Humanity is issuing a massive call for help. 

Love Heals All Wounds: A Roadmap from Fear to Unlimited Possibilities is especially recommended for those seeking renewed purpose in their lives, whether it be in the aftermath of a pandemic, during the aging process, or due to loss, grief, or healing.  

Kent offers a way out of feeling stuck or ineffectual that embraces bigger-picture thinking and applications of love. In modern times of siege and where disruption occurs on so many levels, her approach is even more important to consider. 

Spiritual guides that reference angels and self-help techniques under the same cover are few and far between. Typically, the spiritual emphasis overtakes the day-by-day healing routines that self-help guides usually promote, presenting ethereal thinking over practical applications and approaches to life. 

Kent offers a powerful juxtaposition of psychological, self-help, and spiritual recovery and healing through chapters that are based not just on ideals, but the authors’ own experiences and practices, which are held up for illustration and reader consideration: 

One of the experiences we had, that was a first for me, was an all-night prayer vigil … My partner Sharon and I gave alternating prayers aloud. As we continued during the hour, our prayers flowed harmoniously together, and we felt an upliftment of spirit within us … By dawn, the energy in the room was buzzing—filled with the power of Spirit embodied by each one of us. We all circled together in the room and offered one more prayer as a group. I will never forget the energy that was present—the dance of love, enlightenment, and grace that I believe each of us could feel. We knew we had co-created the sacred ground we were now standing on. I think that’s the kind of realization that changes a person. 

More so than most spiritual and self-help guides, this grounding of practice in examples of its actual incarnation and how it works both individually and in group efforts creates a powerful set of insights that will especially invite book clubs and self-help groups to consider both pathways to success and barriers to growth that too often lie in perception and choice: 

Even though I was aware of the fear conditioning of her life, I understood I had no control over her decisions. Fear had set in its structure so deep that I realized the only thing I could do was love her, hold the vision of her true spirit in my heart, and forgive the ignorance of her actions. Sometimes, we would love to save people from their self-destructive patterns, but then I remembered the only thing I can control and save is myself. 

From the concept of and learning how to access Divine Love to considering wellsprings of empowerment, Kent’s focus on her personal life shifts and evolutionary process translates to key methods, information, and considerations that can be employed by any reader open to self-transformation: 

I realized that we can attempt to oppose what we are facing in any experience that we encounter, but in the letting go of the material possessions or expectations that we have assigned excessive value to is a lesson of surrendering to a higher power that lives within; your spirit and Love. 

In effect, libraries should consider Love Heals All Wounds a toolkit of possibilities that goes beyond metaphysical or psychological boundaries, but will engage individuals and groups in applied revisionist thinking that fosters new concepts of control, achievement, healing, peacefulness and love. 

Self-help, new age, spirituality, and psychology collections will find Kent’s approach revealing, encouraging, and inspirational. 

Love Heals All Wounds

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The Mongol Ascension
Andrew Varga
‎Imbrifex Book

978-1955307079             $20.99 Hardcover/$16.99 Paperback/$9.99 eBook
www.Imbrifex.com
 

The Mongol Ascension may be directed to young adult readers of time travel adventures and fairy tales, but that doesn’t mean it should be limited to this audience. Many an adult reader with an affinity for both will relish this story’s ability to reach from teen interests into adult themes and growth experiences, even though protagonist Dan Renfrew is seventeen. 

Dan is a time jumper. He’s honed this ability all his life, but he doesn’t operate alone—and neither does this story, the third book in the A Jump in Time saga. Dan has joined a secret group of jumpers tasked with fixing historical glitches and preserving humanity’s timeline. 

This latest adventure is a doozy. He and his companion Sam journey to Mongolia in the year 1179, becoming involved in a teen boy’s efforts to save his family. What does this boy have to do with timeline preservation? Apparently, a lot. At stake is the preservation and power of the Mongol Empire … and, ultimately, Dan and Sam’s future. 

Andrew Varga embeds the time-travel journey with elements of intrigue, history, and psychological inspection. Attention is given to dovetailing riveting action with equally engrossing revelations. These elements work nicely together, powering a story replete with not just unpredictable outcomes, but novel historical problem-solving approaches: 

I thought back to when I had learned this command—right after my Celtic adventure, when Cenacus the druid had pushed a piece of paper toward Sam and me as we sat together in a coffee shop. The symbols on the page had been written clearly, but the words had been a bit messy—especially the second word. I had always assumed that he had scribbled down a’s. What if they were o’s? 

Another element to The Mongol Ascension that makes it a crossover from young adult to adult interests lies in its considerations of choice, impact, and ultimate outcomes. These link history in a manner that makes its events lively and attractive rather than dry or dull, resting on action-packed conundrums that keep readers guessing: 

A lump formed in my throat as I thought of Sam being held captive—trapped in this time period. I could almost see the horror on her face. I had to find her. But what would I even do? She’d be surrounded by forty thousand of the most feared horsemen in history. Getting her out of their clutches would take cunning and good planning—too bad I was short on both. An even bigger gap in any rescue plans was my lack of a horse. How could one guy with a bum leg catch up to an army moving on horseback? 

These features elevate the story beyond the problem-solving “how to return home” scenario typical of time-travel scenarios. It introduces moral, ethical, and historical dilemmas that challenge characters and readers to understand the nature of paradoxes, conflicts of interest, and personal impact on outcomes. 

All these facets make The Mongol Ascension not just thoroughly engrossing, but highly recommended for library acquisition and book club reading groups attracted to time travel stories that hold more meat, value, and insights than an adventure-driven story alone. 

The Mongol Ascension

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Not If I Can Help It
Meg Groff
Rivertowns Books
978-1-953943-47-7         $22.95
www.rivertownsbooks.com 

Not If I Can Help It: A Family Lawyer’s Battles for Justice for Victims of Domestic Violence and the Poor belongs in any library collection strong in legal and justice issues. While it is a memoir, it’s also a survey of the family lawyer’s typical cases, dilemmas, and wider-ranging battles that will inform and educate students of criminal justice and family law. 

Meg Groff’s passionate voice is a commanding feature in an account that juxtaposes case histories with moral and ethical insights. Groff reveals the challenges of being an advocate for justice within a bigger system of social issues and criminal definitions of behavior. 

Within this framework lie numerous opportunities for social reflection. This also elevates Not If I Can Help It from a memoir to a more important consideration suitable for group or classroom discussion: 

It is common for poor people to believe that their poverty makes them undeserving. This is understandable, because so many people who aren’t poor keep imposing that belief upon them. It is a belief shared by many of our judges and prosecutors—an insidious, intrinsic bias, conscious and unconscious, that devalues the lives of the poor and corrupts our legal system. It is a bias those of us who advocate for the indigent must constantly confront and overcome as we battle for the rights of our clients. Sadly, our clients are often the first people who need to be convinced of the simple truth that they are as deserving as anyone else. 

Groff’s ability to take the extra step to assure that these topics and controversies receive the in-depth attention they deserve makes Not If I Can Help It a standout. It provokes its readers to dig deeper into family law processes to uncover the nuggets of justice, injustice, and proceedings which either address or fail to address bigger-picture issues. 

Insights on dilemmas facing a lawyer over choices and case management are based on real events. These lend further authenticity to the reader’s reflections on family law, whether they arrive with no prior familiarity with its processes or already have some basic grounding in its nature and special challenges: 

I was on my own. I needed to shed my self-doubts and gather my strengths, because I was about to do battle with an Evil Empire. And really, I was ready. I knew every provision of the Juvenile Act, which outlined ten separate circumstances (or “grounds”) under which a child can be deemed “dependent” and therefore transferrable to the custody of CYS or to some other entity. Nine of those grounds had no conceivable applicability to this case. That left only one—the first one listed—which states, in a nutshell, that a child is dependent if she is without the proper parental or custodial care necessary for her physical, mental, or emotional health. 

This is why Not If I Can Help It deserves a prominent place not just in libraries strong in justice system portraits, but in collections building accessible, revealing, compelling stories of individual struggles within and outside the justice system. It offers a host of illustrative stories, as well as insights into social issues that create food for thought for individual readers and classroom and reading group discussion alike. 

Not If I Can Help It

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Productivity is Power
Hillary Rettig
Infinite Art Press
979-8-9896387-1-0         $24.95
https://www.amazon.com/Productivity-Power-Liberating-Practices-Students/dp/0989944050 

Productivity is Power: 5 Liberating Practices for College Students offers college students a synthesis of time management and study skills and insights on test-taking and personal growth. The surprising broader assessments indicate that this book is actually about much more than a program for better studying. 

Among the topics Hillary Rettig addresses are disempowerment processes, understanding procrastination’s roots, the detriments of perfectionist thinking and actions, and how to set high standards without falling into the perfectionist trap that too often leads to ennui and feeling stuck. 

As chapters review underlying assumptions about work and productivity that are embedded in cultural and social lessons, they offer students deeper-level thinking about study and achievement. This approach expands the topic beyond better study habits and into realms of social, psychological, and philosophical thought. 

This, in turn, creates an uplifting atmosphere that promotes different mindsets, linking them to solid achievement processes. Take joy, for example. Readers won’t expect this subject to appear in a study analysis, but its discussion both enlightens and promises an attractive alternative approach to achievement: 

…the Joyful Dance will maximize your odds of not just an easy and effective work process, but a good outcome. When you work nonlinearly, you’re like a surfer on a beach with some great waves, each wave being a bit of inspiration comin’ atcha. You see one, rush over to it, grab it, and ride it. Then, when it peters out, you look around and see another great wave, rush over, grab and ride it. Then another and another. You keep doing that throughout your whole work session. What fun! And look how much you’re getting done!
Meanwhile, your poor Slogger friend is standing forlornly with their surfboard on the section of the beach where they think the next great wave is supposed to hit, just waiting, and waiting, and waiting, and…
 

As Rettig moves beyond successful study habits, students will follow her into perhaps-uncharted waters that link bigger views of life, achievement, and success with activities that support kindness. Readers will be prompted to reconsider their impact on the world, taking into account psychological forces that can affect not just study habits, but productivity definitions and life objectives. 

All these facets are why, ideally, Productivity is Power’s audience will expand beyond college students and into arenas of business and psychology readers. 

Libraries that choose Productivity is Power for all these audiences will find its uplifting analysis also lends to book club and reader group discussions, whether among college students seeking keys to success or individuals looking for growth opportunities that revise traditional lines of thought and limiting, disempowering assumptions. 

Productivity is Power

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The Psychology of The Last of Us
Dr. Anthony Bean
Leyline Publishing

978-1955406291             $19.99 Paperback and eBook
https://shop.geektherapeutics.com/ 

The Psychology of The Last of Us: Endure and Survive tackles not just the popular video game about post-apocalyptic survival, but processes of recovery and adaptation which form intrinsic parts of the endurance process. 

The only prerequisite to a thorough appreciation of what Dr. Anthony Bean is achieving in his book is a reader’s prior knowledge of either this video game (The Last of Us) or the spin-off TV series that evolved from it. Those with such a background will especially appreciate Dr. Bean’s in-depth analysis of events, choices, and outcomes, which contributes discovery and evolutionary growth considerations to the survival process. 

Dr. Bean’s delves into the unique characters in the story, drawing important connections between their culture, lives, and perspectives and modern-day attitudes and experiences. This creates exceptionally insightful reading that takes a fictional environment and overlays dilemmas of modern times with new revelations: 

Communities that prioritize nuclear family dynamics are likely to cause cognitive dissonance, inner conflict, and isolation in queer youth — and Lev’s friction with his own identity and his community is analogous to that of real-world queer youth. If you have ever felt the expectations of a parent’s worldview was at odds with what you want, or put you into a box, Lev’s story likely rings true to your own lived experience. 

Dr. Bean’s approach allows readers to more thoroughly understand not only the characters and premise of The Last of Us, but why they may resonate so deeply, given current events. 

Another vivid draw of this book lies in its ability to dissect not just characters and politics, but the culture of response and discussion. This adds additional attraction to the story’s plot and underlying themes: 

Being a fan creates identity within a group and allows for an individual to feel supported, which can reduce feelings of loneliness and other negative traits. For fans of The Last of Us, a connection to both the characters and the community took root after episode three of the series aired. This episode depicts a romantic story between characters Bill and Frank. Bill and Frank represented something not often depicted in mainstream media — a healthy, loving same-sex relationship. This representation was not lost to fans and sparked much discussion online. 

The approach, in turn, translates to a much deeper inspection of not just the plot and characters, but their intrinsic attraction and connections to modern readers and their communities, lives, and choices. 

All these features are why The Psychology of The Last of Us: Endure and Survive is highly recommended both as a library collection addition and, in particular, for psychology, social issues, media studies, and debate classrooms. The opportunities for contrast and consideration of the many themes of The Last of Us are endless. 

The Psychology of The Last of Us

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The Psychology of The Witcher
Dr. Anthony Bean
Leyline Publishing

‎978-1955406260             $19.99 Paperback and eBook
www.leylinepublishing.com 

Akin to Carus Publishers’ series titles connecting philosophical approaches to daily life, psychology and popular culture enthusiasts will appreciate Dr. Anthony Bean’s similar approach to making psychology more relevant and palatable to modern audiences, starting with The Psychology of The Witcher. 

The first prerequisite for a complete appreciation of Dr. Bean’s approach is familiarity with the TV drama The Witcher, a very popular Polish franchise that reaches around the world with its alluring fantasy story. Child-stealing monsters, curses, and a host of villains (both human and inhuman) abound, challenging readers to absorb underlying lessons about good, evil, and the hearts of men and monsters alike. 

These themes and many more are explored in The Psychology of The Witcher in a manner which invites both individual contemplation and group discussion, whether it be in a psychology, social issues, or media studies classroom or reading circles. 

A review of the series setting and premise is provided that covers the foundations of this world, from its magic to its monarchs … but the meat of the analysis lies in the accompanying in-depth psychological analysis which considers why The Witcher has earned such a wide audience of dedicated fans. 

Readers receive more than a psychological probe, here. Embedded into these thematic discussions are social issues and political insights that deserve slow, careful reading, contemplation, and discussion for their powerfully hard-hitting insights: 

The world of The Witcher shows a frightening parallel to many unthinkable behaviors in human history, set in a more digestible fantasy context. Looking for anchoring points in a chaotic environment, we may naturally want to be told who is good and who is bad. However, just like reality, The Witcher does not afford us this luxury of being able to categorize creatures so easily. Each of us is susceptible to influences around us and capable of both helping as well as hurting. The charismatic leader may sin far more than the grotesque monster. To better understand how people make decisions that end up brutalizing one another, it helps to first understand why we allow ourselves to do this. 

Readers who have become immersed in The Witcher may not have previously considered the impact and approaches of its characters, clashes, and choices. Dr. Bean’s book explores and helps clarify the series’ draw as a whole, as well as its ability to expand the psychological and social milieu of its setting, characters, and conundrums. 

An episode-by-episode analyses leads readers to return to The Witcher from a different vantage point: 

Yennefer has chosen to stay with Ciri and Geralt because she wants to, so her autonomy is intact. She has discovered that her competence isn’t a reflection of her magical abilities. All of her skills and abilities can demonstrate her competence as a whole person. Finally, her sense of connection is fulfilled with her role as Ciri’s teacher and Geralt’s friend. She isn’t using either of them to accomplish some hidden agenda, and neither of them is manipulating her. Her motivation to stay with them is intrinsic and comes from Yennefer’s desire to do good for her friends and herself. 

All these features contribute to a discussion that should be a mainstay in any media studies, sci-fi or fantasy, psychology, or social issues library’s collection. Librarians will want to very highly recommend The Psychology of The Witcher to TV show enthusiasts interested in understanding exactly why and how the series relates to and expands upon human concerns and magical connections in life.

The Psychology of The Witcher

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A Safe Place
Becky Flade
Tirgearr Publishing
ASIN: ‎B0DCWMZX2F             $1.49 eBook

https://www.amazon.com/Safe-Place-Philly-Heat-ebook/dp/B0DCWMZX2F 

A Safe Place is the sixth addition to the Philly Heat series, combining a mystery with a thriller centered on teen runaway Kat, who inadvertently witnesses a terrible murder. 

Social worker Madison O’Hara is called in to help and protect Kat. Her attempt to reunite the family only leads to more intrigue and danger as Kat becomes the killer’s target and her brother Nate falls in love with Maddi. 

The search for a safe haven feels impossible as events draw Maddie, Nate, and Kat into increasing danger that stems not just from a murderer’s interest in them, but from love. 

Becky Flade crafts a plot that embraces the perceptions and psyches of three main characters whose lives dovetail in completely unexpected ways. The romance that arises to further complicate matters plays out from these different perspectives, in interactions, dialogue, and reflections that add depth and interest to the story’s mystery and thriller components: 

He advanced. She retreated. “You were Kat’s social worker, her foster parent. You let me and my dog stay with you. Allowed us to invade your life. You didn’t have to do it, but you did. I didn’t want to take advantage of your kindness. Plus, getting custody of Kat was my top priority. Had to be. It was complicated and improper for me to feel what I was feeling. And I certainly couldn’t act on it. A point you yourself made.” 

As Nate’s mandate to take charge (of many things) collides with Maddi’s attempts to keep them all safe, interesting developments keep readers on their toes, attracted by a heady blend of romance and survival efforts. 

Libraries seeking stories that walk a thin line between mystery, thriller, and romance story will find A Safe Place easy to recommend to leisure readers who enjoy one or more of these genres. Its powerful, appealing characters and the changing situations that bind them together are thoroughly engrossing—and often unexpected. 

A Safe Place

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The Smile of Medusa: And Other Tales
Vardges Davtyan 

Precocity Press
979-8990946002            
$27.95 Hardcover/$17.95 Paperback/$6.99 eBook

https://www.amzn.com/dp/B0D9B1DK1H/  

It’s rare that biography, humor, fiction, and cultural reflection blend so seamlessly as to attract a wide audience initially interested in only one of these facets—but such is The Smile of Medusa: And Other Tales. 

The incorporation of flash fiction into autobiographical reflection and semi-serious inspection creates a strange attraction that proves both hard to define and ultimately compelling. 

Take the opening piece, ‘Overcoming Grief, the American Way’. Its first-person inspection of the power and meaning of a beard covers a move from Armenia to America and the psychiatrist narrator’s struggle to come to terms with his father’s accidental, sudden death: 

There was a conviction among us psychiatrists that when a man begins to grow a beard, the first fit of schizophrenia has started in him. But if he shaves it a while later, the second fit has started. This way, so I wouldn’t seem too weird, I quietly came to terms with my beard, and so much the better, because it didn’t even cross my mind then that it would become the only inheritance from my father when I moved to America from Armenia. 

When the narrator finally shaves, he lets in a new world of appreciation, revised purposes in his new country, and observations that celebrate the day. 

Contrast this introduction with ‘Five Minutes to Twelve: How I Learned to Write a Short Story in America.’ Here, a crowd of down-and-out attendees at a lecture about creative writing receive an ironic illustration of the power of description that creatively reflects the audience’s underlying interests: 

Watching the audience in the lecture hall, my first thought, rather my first hesitation, made me wonder why this homeless crowd had paid $35 and come here. You could, after all, buy ten hamburgers with that much money. My English wasn’t good enough to understand all the words the professor said, but when he began to unveil the “graphic method” to explain the structure of the short story, the growling sound of empty stomachs filled the room. It would end in one stomach and begin in another one. 

Equally hilarious black and white drawings peppered throughout illustrate the irony and atmosphere of these vignettes, which weave their way through an immigrant’s life, varied jobs in Los Angeles, and the impact of encounters that sometimes thwart his efforts to assimilate and forge a new life. 

Deem the result what you will—flash fiction, memoir, immigrant experience, humor—but one thing is certain. The Smile of Medusa: And Other Tales’s ability to attract with succinct, hard-hitting description makes it highly recommended for libraries seeking novel works that capture the Hollywood milieu and the experiences of an Armenian immigrant navigating its mean streets with humor, appreciation, and ironic conclusions about life. 

The Smile of Medusa: And Other Tales

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Something More: Living Well in a Broken World
Daryl Potter

Paper Stone Press
978‑1‑990388‑13‑2        
$4.99 eBook; $14.49 Paperback; $39.99 Hardcover; $16.95 Audiobook
Website: www.darylpotter.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DHC6J1YR 

Something More: Living Well in a Broken World combines a memoir with a specific religious inspection of the Biblical Book of Ecclesiastes. It employs a special form of examination that pairs modern-day personal experience with the foundations of Christian belief. 

Daryl Potter’s approach lends a far more compelling countenance to his book than either memoir or spiritual consideration alone, linking God’s word to modern living in a manner that’s essential for Christians to understand. 

The journey opens with a very basic question a son asks of his father: 

“Dad, why am I here?” 

Potter’s consideration of not only his son’s intention in asking the question, but the family’s circumstances of having a non-verbal disabled child that grows up alongside his son, immediately links autobiography to parenting reflections in a way parents will appreciate: 

“Why are you at this store?” I asked. He knew why we were in the store. His tone carried a searching quality. “Or why are you here on this earth, in this life?”
“Yeah, what am I alive for?” he responded. “What’s the purpose of me being born?”
If you’re thinking, No, that is not a conversation a nine‑year‑old boy starts with his dad, well, you’ll have to take my word for it. It was not unusual for Jackson to ask me a philosophical question, and learning how to answer him has been a joy to practice over the years.
 

However, Something More is neither a parenting guide nor a survey of how to answer difficult questions. It’s a journey through life that probes answers and encourages bigger-picture thinking. For added value, there’s something more in this account, which evolves in chapters that blend life experience into the messages delivered in Ecclesiastes. 

More so than most spiritual reflections, Potter offers many personal insights, from the psychology of grief and better understanding communication snafus within and outside of marriage to contrasts in Biblical presentations which directly relate to issues of money and wealth, choice, coping, and making the most of life. 

Passages include Scripture references throughout so that Christian readers can consult their Bibles for source material references. They also translate these sometimes-difficult Biblical insights into modern language that readers can readily understand. This provides additional value, linking Biblical intention to everyday life in a way that readers will find thought-provoking and accessible: 

This isn’t exactly the mai‑tais‑on‑a‑beach or black‑tie‑soiree image we usually associate with the super wealthy. Solomon instead gives us a scatter‑ shot collage of unexpectedly negative outcomes. A bad business deal erases wealth (5:14). Then, even if the wealth is kept or lost, the wealthy still depart life as naked and penniless as they entered it (5:15). Even if they hold on to their wealth in life, they don’t gain any lasting benefit from it (5:15–16). A life of striving just leads to a life of darkness and aggravation. Solomon emphasizes his point by calling it a life of “much aggravation, grief, and anger” (5:17). Notice here that these wealthy people don’t just experience “darkness, with much aggravation, grief, and anger” once or twice, but they eat in this state. 

Potter’s ability to create special associations between Scripture and modern living makes the Bible and its foundations accessible to a much wider audience. This is why Christian libraries seeking out-of-the-box explorations that hold the ability to make the Bible relevant to modern readers will want to include Something More: Living Well in a Broken World in their collections. 

Recommending Something More: Living Well in a Broken World to book clubs and reading groups, especially in Christian circles, will further its message and its ability to spark dialogue and discussion among all kinds of readers. 

Something More: Living Well in a Broken World

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Young Adult/Childrens

Adventures at Lake Omigosh
Scott Sollers
Mascot Kids
979-8891381742             $19.95
https://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Lake-Omigosh-Scott-Sollers/dp/B0D98MSMV1 

Adventures at Lake Omigosh follows best friends Felix and Henry to New Hampshire’s Camp Horizon, where they enjoy outdoor activities. Less enjoyable, however, is the specter of a monster in the lake which introduces myths, fantasy, and quandaries when the boys need rescuing. 

Legend blends with adventure and discovery as Lake Omigosh reveals its secrets at last. Events embroil the boys in a life-threatening experience, but their rescue raises more questions about reality and truth to delight young readers ages 4-8 who look for picture book stories immersed in ‘you are here’ encounters. 

Libraries and read-aloud parents will find Adventures at Lake Omigosh’s succinct story of a camp encounter to be whimsical, action-packed, and fun. Leisure readers ages 4-8 years will appreciate the entwining of imaginative encounter and adventure. It’s the perfect ticket for an engrossing read; especially since Scott Sollers’s adventure is enhanced with colorful illustrations by Bryan Janky, adding eye-catching drama to the plot. 

Adventures at Lake Omigosh

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The Aviation Girls
Tom Durwood
Empire Studies Press
978-1-952520-32-7         $2.99
Website: www.theaviationgirls.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Rubi-Pi-Aviation-Girls/dp/195252041X 

Young adult readers of women’s biographies and history might already know of teacher/author Tom Durwood’s excellent coverages of female achievers. The Aviation Girls adds different perspectives about women’s connections to not just aviation (as many histories cover), but all kinds of flight. These range from kites and considerations of how birds fly to a young woman’s development of a risk assessment process for zeppelins. 

The adventure opens with a brief history of flight, followed by high drama. While nonfictional bars of facts are included, dramatic, unexpected developments add attraction and human interest to the history and science embedded in these fictional tales, making The Aviation Girls highly recommended for STEM learners. 

What do facts about the Arctic, Moon Colony detective work, and murder and luck have to do with aviation history? The marriage between fiction and nonfiction works nicely in these nine YA stories, profiling disparate situations and contrasting insights that are tied together with colorful art by Tasneem Amiruddin (especially commissioned for this collection). 

From the mining camps of the Yukon to Moon Colony intrigue, the intersection of science, history, and disparate settings and stories creates a series of powerful, eccentric fables that employ a historical base to build adventures that girls will relish. 

Unexpected characters emerge, from an autistic hero to women who prove powerful pivot points in aviation developments. Tom Durwood adjusts timelines to create more tension and logical associations in his stories, but this in no way detracts from its historical and scientific foundations. 

Surprising developments, narrated with high drama, contribute much excitement to the narrative. STEM learners will find equally unexpected the inclusion of such subjects as astrobiology, geology, ancient history, and strong female influencers on rocketry developments. 

All these elements make for an outstanding series of stories that will draw YA readers with action, adventure, and insights they won’t see coming. This is why The Aviation Girls is highly recommended for elementary-level libraries strong in STEM productions that stand out from the crowd, presenting attractive plots even reluctant readers will find compelling. 

The Aviation Girls

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Benny the Brave Bunny
Hong Z. McCormick
Teaching Press
9798334818293              $7.25
https://www.amazon.com/Benny-Brave-Bunny-Journey-Sparkling/dp/B0DC51FMMP 

Benny the Brave Bunny’s winning picture book illustrations illustrate the compelling nature of this story about courage, the first in a projected series of picture book tales about Benny and his world. 

Read-aloud adults and young readers will find this tale of a “little bunny with a big heart” to be gorgeous, both in its depiction of adventure and giving and in its magical messages of transformation and facing life obstacles with courage. 

Plenty of illustrative moments are embedded in the story. which can be used to foster discussion with young people on all kinds of subjects as Benny Bunny learns new lessons about effort, achievement, and encouraging and supporting others. Further lessons on cooperative problem-solving and acknowledging the beauty of the world offer supportive, uplifting moments of discovery and imaginative encounters that all ages will find compelling. 

Libraries that add Benny the Brave Bunny to their elementary-level picture book collections will find it easy to recommend to those seeking a picture book that marries large-size, exceptionally colorful illustration with messages to enrich a young person’s worldview. 

Benny the Brave Bunny

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The Crimes of Rooker Flynn
A.R. Witham
Nepenthe House
979-8-9874072-3-3         $16.99
Website: www.arwitham.com
Ordering:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D88KFTT4 

The Crimes of Rooker Flynn is the first book in the Locke Institute Trilogy. It provides young adult thriller and pirate readers with the riveting story of a rebellious pirate consigned to the Locke Institute. He defies its rules, only to find himself in strange, threatening situations. 

Pirate Rooker Flynn and his sidekick Jack Swift share adventures, but hold back secrets that impact their relationship in unexpected ways. Rooker’s lies lead Swift to reveal his true origins as a being from another world, while Rooker’s hidden criminal past emerges with a vengeance to redirect their lives. 

A.R. Witham’s saga opens not with Jack and Rooker, but brothers Jasper and Pip, who scramble for food until Jasper finds a solution that divides them. Pip’s response leads to further division before the story enters its first chapter, in which mermaid Cora sparks intriguing reflections about love’s impact and incarnation: 

We claim to choose love, but we lie. Love comes and takes us. It does not wait for us to weigh the consequences, consider our options, or make up our minds. You may love a woman for the way she adjusts her glasses, or a man because he gave you a kind word at the perfect moment. You may love a chair for the shape of its back, a ribbon for its color, a cat for the way it curls against your leg. When love calls, we obey. It does not ask our consent.  

Rooker’s pirating ways are cut short by his imprisonment. Now he faces a different struggle as he confronts monsters both psychological and rooted in unexpected fantasy foundations. 

A.R. Witham’s opens the story with the lure of pirates, then transforms the characters as they move from a freestyling milieu of looting and sailing into a world vastly unfamiliar in too many ways. His approach lends The Crimes of Rooker Flynn a foundation of action paired with intriguing food for thought. 

The marriage between shifting environments, growing young psyches, and fantasy creates a tale packed with intrigue and suspense, making it hard to predict or put down. 

Libraries seeking stories charged with adventure and the unexpected will find the lively tone, challenging and changing situations and scenarios, and shifting perspectives of Rooker, Jack, and those around them provide teen leisure readers with a plot that is novel and rich in description and exploits. 

These features make The Crimes of Rooker Flynn highly recommendable for young people seeking a fast-moving story that grabs attention and doesn’t let go. Young adults will be drawn into an imaginative tale that concludes with many unexpected revelations while leaving the door wide open for the next book. 

The Crimes of Rooker Flynn

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Falmora & Six Stories
Debra Litton
Mystique Press (an imprint of Crossroad Press)
9781637891695          $9.99 Paperback/$3.99 eBook
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DJKCPM6V 

Falmora & Six Stories gives young adult short story readers an interconnected series of tales. It revolves around an ancient race that lives deep in the glade of the Falmora Forest. 

Like leprechauns, these diminutive creatures avoid humans. Adventures that swirl around them introduce young adults to a world peppered with fantasy, insights, and adventure. 

Debra Litton attends to creating dialogues that bring these characters to life, but this also injects a degree of difficulty for those unused to dialect: 

“Arrl!” exclaimed Neenah. “An’ look at th’ size o’ ‘em! Thé be half as big as thá. An’ thá brung ‘em both in alone?”
“Ha Hah! Thé be’d not much for th’ strongest Irelman alive!”
 

The initial effort spent to absorb these interactions will smooth out for most as the stories evolve to embrace births, deaths, and quandaries revolving around exile and acceptance. 

Litton crafts her tales with a fine edge of literary and cross-cultural reflection as the characters grow and change, with legends and legacies swirling around the actions and choices of disparate peoples whose homes, lives, and special interests unexpectedly coalesce. 

As hidden stories (such as those of hunter Havar) come to light, Litton’s evocative, atmospheric descriptions add value to the lives and realities of her characters: 

Through the sad grip of winter and soft hope of spring, the people waited in quiet despair. 

Whether Litton is describing sexual encounters or friendship, her attention to crafting tasteful, evocative descriptions of events keeps the relationships believable, the action gently forward-thinking, and the stories replete with secrets and quests that prompt the characters to grow and move forward in disparate ways. 

Each tale offers an opportunity to further review life through the eyes of different characters whose worlds intersect. Each introduces a new flavor of opportunity and discovery. 

Libraries seeking fantasy collections that are atmospheric and metaphorical in their descriptions, filled with depth in their psychological inspections, and introduce thought-provoking moments where revenge, innocence, and understanding vie for top billing will find Falmora & Six Stories not only perfect for leisure readers, but replete with plenty of fodder for young adult book club discussion. 

Falmora & Six Stories

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Forever Boy
Michael J. Bowler
Independently Published
979-8-9886110-3-5                
$4.99 eBook/$12.99 paperback/$18.99 hardcover
Website: https://michaeljbowler.com
Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Forever-Boy-Michael-J-Bowler-ebook/dp/B0DC8HRDPC 

The first book in the Forever Saga, Forever Boy, presents young adults who confront a problem when a new boy in school challenges their roles as outcasts, as well as their perceptions of life. 

Drágan Albescu is mysterious. Not only does he look and sound very different, thanks to his Eastern European heritage, but he presents an intriguing countenance. He claims to be a fashion model, and Stephanie finds modeling photos from the present day all the way back to the 1920s. 

Impossible! Or, is it? 

Even Drágan’s speech is odd: stilted, adult-sounding, and tackling life experiences in a way kids usually don’t consider: 

“That was most inconsiderate of those youngsters,” said the strange boy as he approached, “to not express gratitude for your assistance, especially after you volunteered to retrieve their disc.” 

As Isaac and Stephanie (who are peers, but strangers to one another) probe the mystery surrounding their new classmate, they discover more layers to Drágan’s personality and background than they ever could have imagined. 

It’s too late to distance themselves … he’s already worked his magic on them. What is left is an attempt to understand his impact on their lives. This effort evolves from a tale replete with emotional encounters, aggressive indicators of a possible threat, and a five-hundred-year-old problem that nobody seems able to solve. 

Drágan’s move into Isaac’s life, family, and world offers many thought-provoking moments for teens that choose to pursue his story. The question of whether Drágan is a monster or merely misunderstood keeps re-emerging, based on his emotional reactions, encounters with Jourdain Aubrey (who appears uncommonly rich in comparison to the poor village, but also harbors secrets), and others. 

The magnetism exhibited by Jourdain and Drágan creates interesting juxtapositions of special interests, mystery, and confrontations that lead the young adults into very adult conundrums. 

Michael J. Bowler centers his characters in a milieu of emotional growth, exploration, and adult decision-making quandaries. This results in a story that may seem predictable, at first, but takes a number of unexpected turns to keep readers on their toes. 

When murder and police investigations circle the picture with more adult concerns, teens will find the intensity of the mystery and suspense just as appealing as the story’s original emotional overlays. 

Forever Boy is a fine choice for libraries seeking young adult fiction that moves neatly into uncommon issues that prompt adult responses from teen characters who find that their association with Drágan introduces them to strange new worlds and dangerous possibilities. 

Forever Boy

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Hattie and Dirk’s Great Garden Surprise
Claudine C. Wargel
Brush Creek Publishing
‎979-8351798035             $9.99 Paperback/$2.99 eBook

Website: www.claudinecwargel.com 

Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Hattie-Garden-Surprise-Adventures-Bramble/dp/B0CHL7X184 

 Hattie and Dirk’s Great Garden Surprise is the second book in the chapter series ‘The Adventures of Hattie Bramble.’ It profiles Heartland farm siblings who help in the family garden while confronting challenges to not only their farming efforts, but their ideal of growing low-cost pumpkins for local children. 

A series of adventures unfolds involving pigs, those who doubt and question Hattie and Dirk’s efforts, and competition in the form of Mr. Pinchley, who also sells pumpkins (albeit for less altruistic purposes). 

Claudine C. Wargel builds a story steeped in family and community relationships. This gives chapter book readers fine perspectives on individual and shared goals that will prompt discussion and food for thought. Business and gardening efforts, as well as insights into poverty and wealth, receive attention and reflection as Hattie and Dirk grow from their experiences. A dash of intrigue and interpersonal conflict enhances the gardening theme. 

The result is a warm chapter book story of sibling relationships, seasonal delights, family interactions, and community bonding which is highly recommended for classrooms and young reader discussion groups. 

Adults and libraries will appreciate the underlying themes of Hattie and Dirk’s Great Garden Surprise that immerse young readers in a Midwestern town’s atmosphere and illustrate that even children can foster care and generosity in their community. The result is thought-provoking, entertaining, and attractive on many levels. 

Hattie and Dirk’s Great Garden Surprise

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Kloe’s New Start
K.M. Selvidge
Independently Published
‎979-8218320713             $9.99 Paperback/$4.99 eBook
https://www.amazon.com/Kloes-New-Start-K-M-Selvidge/dp/B0D8C18W4N 

Kloe’s New Start gives picture book readers a fine story of cats, new beginnings, and siblings who often set the stage for reactions to one another by acting out or being difficult. 

Kateryna Meleshchuk’s exceptionally engaging, colorful cat illustrations throughout capture Kloe, her brother, and their community. These illustrative embellishments power a story of self-discovery and independence as Kloe interacts with her brother, who has to repeat a grade, and the world around her. 

Kloe’s inherent positivity doesn’t solve all problems—particularly those as complex as her brother poses: 

As they finally arrived at the gate, Kloe turned to her brother. “I hope this year goes well for you, Wreny. I’m sure you’re going to do great.” He looked at her in disbelief. “Easy for you to say,” he snapped. “You don’t have to repeat a grade.” “Still,” she said. “You can still have a good year if you want to.” 

K.M. Selvidge relies on no single theme in her story, but introduces a host of concerns. These keep Kloe on her toes and challenged to formulate her own identity independent of her brother’s influence and history. 

As notes about positive attitudes, exploring one’s talents, interacting with others in an effective manner, and adjusting sibling relationships evolve, Selvidge creates plenty of opportunities for dialogues over such revelations as this: 

“You know what, Kloe? A lot of people understand that you are not the same as your brother. Don’t give up on your dreams just because he is acting up.” 

The result is not the usual story of either sibling relationships or friendships and identity, but a satisfying meld of these concerns and more which explores, in greater depth, the methods Kloe employs to develop an identity apart from her family ties. 

Libraries and read-aloud adults seeking attractive stories that reinforce this process will welcome the detailed, lively encounters in Kloe’s New Start. 

Kloe’s New Start

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The Last Tale of Norah Bow
J.P. White

Regal House Publishing
978-1646034604             $19.95 Paperback/$1.99 eBook

https://regalhousepublishing.com 

The Last Tale of Norah Bow provides a historical coming-of-age saga told by an elder Norah, who shifts the tone between action and reflection of a critical chapter in her long life. Fourteen-year-old Norah is charged with rescuing her father, who is abducted from their family home during Prohibition times. She discovers that his involvement with a rum-running gang has led to this situation, but sets out determined to rescue him. But he’s not the only one she’ll rescue during her pursuit. 

Ruby is also saved by Norah and becomes her crewmember and companion as feisty Norah hones her sailing ability and courage to enter worlds she’d never envisioned. 

J.P. White chooses the first person to involve readers in Norah’s perceptions and dilemmas. This adds to the emotional draw of a story as well as an atmosphere that stems from young Norah’s life, background, and observations: 

You can reach only so far into the cloud that anyone is and then that cloud travels on without you. Sometimes when I close my eyes, I can still feel the sway of the porch swing in that leeway between dusk and dark when the failing light is reluctant to lay down its truss. 

These opening lines are but one example of the evocative approach Norah takes to examining her life and those around her.  This carries readers directly into a story whose heartbeat rests not just on family ties and Prohibition era history, but on Norah’s already-impressive abilities as a female sailor and astute analyst of life: 

“Hey, Ruby, what is it with men and whiskey?”
She was ten steps ahead of me in a full food-driven stride. She turned sideways, cocked her head, smiled like I had thrown her a funny bone.
“A thousand reasons for a man to drink,” she said.
“Give me two.”
“With a full bottle in hand, you can twist the truth and make it your servant. With an empty, you can rule the fallen world from the floor and damn near forget anything.”
“Daddy’s view of things is almost as dim as yours. You two might get along.”
 

These insights at times appear far above and beyond the maturity of the usual teenager, but serve to illustrate Norah’s blossoming and savvy attitude towards uncovering facets of her world that lie beyond her upbringing and initial experience. 

White’s attention to such details builds the tension, drama, and psychology of a saga replete with many thought-provoking moments of discovery. 

All these elements contribute to a zealous journey that carries Norah and her audience far from home and into a world that buffets her with opportunities for change. 

Libraries seeking teen fiction packed with adventure, displaying a young woman’s gritty determination to not just survive, but learn and grow from her experiences, will find 

The Last Tale of Norah Bow the perfect choice to recommend to readers seeking a blend of “you are here” history and a powerful female protagonist who carries on against all odds. 

The Last Tale of Norah Bow

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Predestined
Rachel Byrne
Humboldt Press
979-8-218-36948-4                 $13.95
Website: www.rachelbyrneauthor.com 
Ordering: www.amazon.com 

Predestined is a young adult novel that incorporates many different characters and themes in its story of high school freshman Lina, whose goal is to remain calm and stay out of trouble. 

Unfortunately, neither proves to be the case when she stumbles into a situation that puts even her ‘sneakiness’ to the test. Her parents want to send her away to the Haverford Pines Academy in Colorado, one of the most prestigious programs in the country, for the summer. The invitation to attend has popped up out of nowhere. To her parents, this represents unparalleled opportunity. To Lina, it feels like trouble, and a trap. 

Her parents only want to give her direction, but Lina finds the directions taking place at the academy are anything but supportive either to her or her parents’ interest in maintaining their elite status position. 

The first note about Predestined is that it includes a healthy degree of psychological explanation and self-inspection: 

I felt a mixture of shame and relief. Shame that I had again overreacted and let my anger flash, after promising myself I would get it under control. Relief that at least anger was intense and energizing. It banished the crushing feelings of guilt and shame for not being what my parents wanted, and the fear that I would never become anyone important. 

This focus not only builds Lina’s flawed but likeable character, but keeps teens immersed in her story and growth process. From relaxed relationship rules at the academy that lead to perhaps-predictable attractions to the acknowledgement that “Actions defines identity,” Lina’s story evolves in directions many readers won’t see coming. 

As Lina uncovers some strange truths about the family legacy she’s always taken for granted, she’s faced with new quandaries about heritage and her future. These test her ability to respond appropriately to not just her family, but the world around her. 

Intrigue and revelations build satisfying tension into the plot that move beyond Lina’s strengths and weakness to delve into friendship dilemmas and new relationships, top secret buildings, and experiments that create a bond between seemingly disparate teens. 

Rachel Byrne is particularly skilled at depicting how Lina’s feisty and often troublesome nature proves to be the perfect answer to questions steeped in Academy subterfuge and hidden secrets. This will attract teens who are interested in stories that marry mystery and self-development with equal attention to compelling detail. 

All these factors coalesce in rich characterization and unpredictable events that bring together a group of determined teens to problem-solve on many different levels in Predestined. 

Libraries seeking teen leisure reads that don’t neatly fit into a given category but walk a fine line between mystery, coming-of-age saga, psychological connections and developments, and shifting family legacy will find Predestined an attraction that’s easy to recommend. 

Predestined

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A Song in the Dark
C. Graves
Lore Studio
978-1645680024            
$7.99 eBook/16.99 Paperback/$24.99 Hardcover
https://www.amazon.com/Song-Darkness-Fantasy-Novel-Songweavers/dp/1645680029 

A Song in the Dark will appeal to young adult fantasy readers with its blend of adventure, magic, and characters who confront abduction through proactive behavior and determination. 

Aileen is captured and transported to the Dark Below. This saga doesn’t begin with her capture or the rescue attempt by her brother and her friend. Nor does the story conclude with her rescue. 

The tale opens with Aileen and Baldwin’s observation of the destruction of the village Stormwatch by the infamous Gregorious Vile. How can they prevent this tragedy from ever happening again? Maybe they can’t—especially when the quest to rescue Aileen supersedes world-saving efforts. 

C. Graves does an exceptional job of embedding fast-paced action into the story without neglecting the psychological ramifications of altercation and change. Whether tackling monsters, mishaps, mayhem, or magic, each character is charged with confronting situations that test their mettle, abilities, and ultimate goals. 

This is the time to advise that A Song in the Dark is no light story, but an epic world-builder on par with George R.R. Martin’s ‘Thrones’ series—but with a younger audience in mind. Some 100 chapters in over 400 pages may prove daunting to some young readers, but will captivate those who enjoy complex, thought-provoking fantasies. 

The psychological connections and insights that evolve as the characters test not just their courage, but their close connections with one another, injects an extra dimension of understanding and allure to a fantasy which takes the time to immerse readers in the sights, sounds, and clashing characters of this world. 

Libraries interested in a fantasy for readers from middle school to high school which operates on a far more detailed platform than the typical fantasy genre read for youth will welcome the opportunity to recommend A Song in the Dark to a wide audience of fantasy enthusiasts. 

Not only is it attractive on many levels, whether one is seeking action-packed magical clashes or psychology depth; but it will encourage discussion among young readers and in book clubs about the nature and evolution of family and friendships. 

A Song in the Dark

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What Bear Said
Jack Wiens
Torchflame Book/Top Reads
978-1-61153-038-4      $22.99 Hardcover/$14.99 Paperback
www.torchflamebooks.com 

What Bear Said: About Life, Love and Other Stuff reflects Jack Wiens’s intention to impart wisdom to the very young. Unlike A.A. Milne’s classic Winnie-the-Pooh, What Bear Said takes the form of a dialogue between Boy and Bear that reflects Boy’s hard questions about loss, grief, prejudice, and other adult issues that buffet his young life. These are couched in a special form of thinking that encourages readers to adopt basic tenets of mindful practices, from being present in the moment to making amends and dealing with parental inconsistencies or failings: 

Just because someone IS a parent doesn’t mean they know HOW to parent. Maybe your dad wasn’t shown how to love when he was growing up. Maybe the hurts inside cause him to act angry. He might be afraid to say what’s in his heart. Your dad loves you, but doesn’t know how to show or tell you. You are young, but you can decide that who you are is okay. You can’t be somebody else … and neither can your dad.  

Fine color drawings of Bear and Boy depict a closeness between the two that emphasizes the caring understanding they share together as questions and answers about life emerge. The book can be read either in a linear manner or in short segments, lending to easy in-depth discussions. 

While What Bear Said will be useful for young reader pursuit, ideally it will also be used as a read-aloud for parents or in family settings so that Bear’s messages can be discussed and fully appreciated by all ages. 

Libraries that recommend this book for it’s similarity to the classic Winnie will find its modern take on mindful thinking, understanding others, and coping with many of life’s more puzzling dilemmas to be perfect for book clubs as well as group and parental pursuit.

What Bear Said

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