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Able Greenspan's Bookshelf
Predatory Data
Anita Say Chan
University of California Press
www.ucpress.edu
9780520402843, $27.95, PB, 262pp
https://www.amazon.com/Predatory-Data-Eugenics-Independent-Future/dp/0520402847
Synopsis: With the publication of "Predatory Data: Eugenics in Big Tech and Our Fight for an Independent Future",
Professor Anita Say Chan illuminates the throughline between the nineteenth century's anti-immigration and eugenics
movements and our sprawling systems of techno-surveillance and algorithmic discrimination. With this, her seminal and
groundbreaking study, Professor Chan offers a historical, globally multisited analysis of the relations of dispossession,
misrecognition, and segregation expanded by dominant knowledge institutions in the Age of Big Data.
While technological advancement has a tendency to feel inevitable, it always has a history, including efforts to chart a path
for alternative futures and the important parallel story of defiant refusal and liberatory activism. Professor Chan explores
how more than a century ago, feminist, immigrant, and other minoritized actors refused dominant institutional research
norms and worked to develop alternative data practices whose methods and traditions continue to reverberate through global
justice-based data initiatives today. Looking to the past to shape our future, "Predatory Data" effectively charts a path for an
alternative historical consciousness grounded in the pursuit of global justice.
Of special note is that there is a free ebook version of this title available through Luminos, University of California Press's
Open Access publishing program (www.luminosoa.org).
Critique: Informatively enhanced for the reader's benefit with the inclusion of a twenty-four page listing of References, ten
pages of Notes, and a four page Index, "Predatory Data: Eugenics in Big Tech and Our Fight for an Independent Future" by
Professor Anita Say Chan is an impressive and original work of exhaustive research that is thoroughly 'reader friendly' in
organization and presentation. An invaluable and especially recommended addition to personal, professional, community,
and college/university library Communication & Media Studies collections and supplemental Feminist Theory and
Computer Technology/Industry curriculum studies lists, it should be noted for students, academia, political activists, and
non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that this paperback edition of "Predatory Data: Eugenics in Big
Tech and Our Fight for an Independent Future" from the California University Press is also readily available in a digital
book format (Kindle, $8.99).
Editorial Note: Anita Say Chan is an Associate Professor in the School of Information Sciences and Department of Media
and Cinema Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where she also founded and directs the Community
Data Clinic. She received her PhD from the MIT Doctoral Program in History, Anthropology, and Science, Technology, and
Society. Her first book on the competing imaginaries of global connection and information technologies in network-age
Peru was Networking Peripheries: Technological Futures and the Myth of Digital Universalism. Predatory Data: Eugenics in
Big Tech and Our Fight for an Independent Future is her second book.
Able Greenspan
Reviewer
Diane Donovan's Bookshelf
Moonset on Desert Sands
Sherri L. Dodd
Black Rose Writing
www.blackrosewriting.com
9781685135799, $23.95 Paperback/$6.99 eBook
https://www.amazon.com/Moonset-Desert-Sands-Murder-Crystals-ebook/dp/B0DF33L1YW
Moonset on Desert Sands may sound like a romantic setting, but its focus on Arista Kelly's search for peace after escaping
the crosshairs of a serial killer is as much a tale of recovery as it is one of finding a safe haven from stalkers and
adversity.
Arista thinks she's found that haven by moving to Sedona, Arizona to live with Auntie, but trouble follows her to her new
home. Fainting spells indicate that her unresolved past is reaching out to force her back to Boulder Creek, where further
trials await.
Uncle Fergus not only pursues her, but has an unexpected ally. This portends a possible transfer of power that could prove
deadly to Arista:
He looked over at his notorious passenger, its glimmering steel edge catching hints of moonlight as it peeked out from
beneath his rumpled jacket. Mesmerized by the athame's exotic beauty, he could almost feel the awesome power that it must
have held during its most infamous moment of taking the life of his old acquaintance, Henry. Rumor had it the possessed
blade played a bigger part in ending the life of the notorious serial killer, more so than the young woman's hand that wielded
it. Even now, its presence captivated him. Why would he give it to Fergus?
Sherri L. Dodd builds an atmosphere of murder mystery, dangerous pursuers, a young woman's mandate to confront her past
in order to forge a better future for herself, and supernatural influences which prove both obstacles to her goals and new
possibilities for her survival.
Readers of Dodd's prior Murder, Tea & Crystals title Murder Under Redwood Moon will have the advantage of knowing
Arista's past and confrontations, which lends this second book in the trilogy a fine continuing stream of insights on growth
and discovery. While newcomers can easily enter into the tale, readers who have enjoyed Arista's previous challenges will
relish the manner in which her life continues to move in unexpected directions.
The tension is well-developed, characterization is solid, and the challenge of navigating not only killers, but support
systems, is especially nicely done and compellingly presented:
"Okay, just checking. I thought I heard you call me." Auntie paused. "Everything okay in there?"
This had become irksome, too. The constant checking. She forced out another huff, took a final rinse, and killed the flow of
noisy water. "Yes, I'm fine." Her words bounced off the glass enclosure and back at her. Liar.
The excellent balance of thriller, supernatural intrigue, and psychological growth gives Moonset on Desert Sands a vivid
countenance that makes it highly recommended to libraries seeing popularity with Dodd's first book as well as those seeking
engrossing juxtapositions of potential victim perceptions and pursuer objectives.
Nana's Heartwarming Tales: Tiny Whispers
Vicki Johnpeer with Cory
CP Press
www.nanastales.com
9798990062511, $13.99 Paperback/$9.99 eBook/$18.99 Hardback
https://www.amazon.com.au/Tiny-Whispers-Childrens-Contentment-Thoughtfulness-ebook/dp/B0DTSC2RRV
Adults looking for juvenile short stories that demonstrate kindness, patience, and gratitude should place Nana's
Heartwarming Tales: Tiny Whispers at the top of recommendation lists for young readers. It consists of five short
family-oriented stories that explore not just kindness, but being thoughtful, thankful, and content. Each theme is embedded
into the story title to encourage quick associations between plot and purpose.
This 41-page collection opens with "Mama Bird's Egg: Being Patient." Here, a tiny hummingbird writer/reporter opens the
dialogue with an introduction to the family she'll be observing:
Aimee has low vision and carries a white cane to guide her on walkways, around the house, and at school. She's learning
about the great outdoors and loves how her Pals and family look out for her... My stories are about how the Pals work and
play together. I love watching them patch up their day-to-day tiffs and tangles. Their character traits, which I call gifts, help
them solve every problem.
Each chapter defines a trait and then presents a story exemplifying and supporting it. These stories will prove especially
powerful when read-aloud adults become involved in discussions about the adventure and how the characters approached
problem-solving, finding solutions that work for everyone involved. Concluding thoughts also add value, summarizing
events and offering further interactive opportunities:
The next time Buddy goes on an adventure, why might he be more thoughtful of Pop's advice?
When YOU feel like telling others you know more than they do, what could you say instead?
This approach juxtaposes action and insight in a satisfying manner that adults will find easy to explore with all ages -
including the very young. Lovely drawings by the author add further interest for young listeners and readers. Bird facts
conclude the tales, adding educational value beyond emotional understanding.
Tiny Whispers is highly recommended for parents, educators, and elementary-level libraries interested in stories that
promote positivity, cooperation, and understanding. Its outstanding approach to illustrating a wide range of life approaches
will prove perfect for adults seeking to engage the very young in understanding not just the nature around them, but the
impact of their own choices, actions, and decisions.
City In My Hands
Thomas More
www.thomasmorewriter.com
Mannahatta Press
9781942947318, $17.99 paperback/$7.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/City-My-Hands-Mannahatta-Book-ebook/dp/B0BPPQHTLF
City In My Hands, Book 2 in the Mannahatta Series for teens, furthers the story of Mannahatta by presenting uncommon
hero Sakima Tamanend, who steps up into a new role as a warrior backed by Native American spirits. Its powerful
consideration of empowerment's choices and responsibilities arrives at a period in time when girls most need these examples
and insights.
Thomas More embeds these life lessons in a lively, action-packed tale that opens with teacher Sakima. She's trying to impart
her wisdom to feisty youngsters who want to emulate her, but have the wrong idea of what it means to be proactive. More
interjects past history so seamlessly into this present-day world that newcomers lacking knowledge of events in The City At
My Feet will find it easy to step into Sakima's story:
"But Miss Tamanend, that's how you did it when you saved Menatink Ohelemi - the Land Below! Rescued all the people
there. That's when you became a Lenape warrior and the true legend!"
When an interdimensional threat forces Sakima to resume her warrior status (albeit in a different manner), the action-packed
story proves hard to put down as she faces evil, monsters, and the possibility that her beloved world will be quashed despite
all her best efforts to resist.
More's reflective presentation is delivered with force and involving scenarios that shine with thought-provoking realizations
and moments:
"All I ever wanted to be was a warrior, a leader of soldiers into battle. Not a queen. Certainly not a princess. You understand
me. You know that's true."
"Yeah, I know. I've always known. But, hell, you're queen now. Queen Sakima. Deal with it."
"I can't. I mean, I don't want to."
Many young readers will relate to the unfolding of events that dictate they make uncomfortable choices they not only are
unused to, but actively avoid.
From battles and broken spaceships to increasing realizations that life as she has known it will never be the same, Sakima
faces new challenges and new objectives. These shake her worldview and the potential she sees for the future:
It continued its line of destruction all the way across the foot ball and lacrosse fields. Slowing at last, it cut through the
practice archery fields where Sakima used to teach young girls the art and science of the bow and arrow. An activity that
seemed to have taken place in another lifetime now, and not just a few days ago. Back when friends and family were alive.
When her father ruled Mannahatta, before her temporary rule. Before the sickness was brought in to kill off the remaining
warriors and the rest of the civilian population. When skies shone bright blue, and the clouds floated by in white wisps and
puffs, and the air so fresh and full of promise. Back when life was still good. And not this horrible night mare that seemed
never to end.
The result is a fast-paced read highly recommended for its special focus on a young woman forced to assume command and
control of not just her life, but others. Libraries that choose City In My Hands will find its value as a stand-alone story as
highly recommendable as its position as Book 2 in a series which expands the Mannahatta world in unexpectedly delightful
ways.
How to Make a Perfect S'More
Imagined by Michael Cooper
Independently Published
www.howtomakeaperfectsmore.com
9798990451223, $11.99
https://www.amazon.com/make-Perfect-Smore-Michael-Cooper/dp/B0DRZCJPNH
How to Make a Perfect S'More will attract picture book readers interested in stories about camp. It opens with young Miles'
reluctance to attend Camp Cascade for the summer.
Once there, he finds his days packed with outdoor adventures, learning, and the camp tradition of making s'mores around a
campfire. Apparently, every child knows about (and has had prior experience) making s'mores. Not Miles. His
marshmallows are too cold because he's afraid of the fire.
He tries to overcome fear by closing his eyes when confronting it... but disaster happens instead, prompting laughter and
teasing from his fellow campers. How can Miles overcome his fear to produce something tasty and perfect?
Michael Cooper's thought-provoking exploration of a simple act of courage is accompanied by lovely illustrations by Penny
Weber. Her realistic, large-sized imagery adds to the story of a boy who confronts a small fear, only to realize that bigger
(and more magical) obstacles lie ahead.
Miles ultimately makes a new friend and learns valuable lessons about friendship and empowerment. These features will
translate to a good time when How to Make a Perfect S'More is chosen by adults for read-aloud.
Libraries seeking an alluring story delivered with more than a dose of magic and many fine insights about handling life
challenges and growth opportunities will find How to Make a Perfect S'More a delightful, original story worthy of high
praise and top recommendation.
Into the Mist
Sharon Mikeworth
https://www.sharonmikeworth.com
River Nation Publishing
9781734936551, $15.99 Paperback/$5.99 eBook/$25.99 Hardcover
https://www.amazon.com/Into-Mist-Sharon-Mikeworth-ebook/dp/B0DN27KR4N
Into the Mist is a timeslip novel revolving around Cheyenne Tanner, who enters a strange old abandoned house, only to find
it carries her back in time to 1895 and house owner Augustus, who is struggling to adapt to life challenges and changes.
This mirrors her confusion and experiences on many levels, so it seems unlikely that she could help him. However, in
helping him, Cheyenne also helps herself to grow in a way that neatly translates to confronting her own dilemmas in modern
times.
Sharon Mikeworth opens the novel with a rich circumstance that changes Cheyenne's life and draws in readers from its
opening punch:
Barely pausing, Cheyenne grabbed her phone off the kitchen counter where she'd left it, marched back through the house,
and walked out the door. It would seem amazing to her later how quickly it happened. No more than three seconds of frozen
silence at the sight that greeted her as, like Eve, her eyes were opened and she was given the knowledge, followed by maybe
seven more before she was leaving again. Ten seconds, and her life was over.
Her primary challenge is to stop thinking about Brent and his infidelity - but secondary concerns involve redefining love's
attributes and separating reality from fantasy:
What would it be like to be loved by someone like that? To have someone she could love like that?
Romance readers will find the unfolding events stay true to ideals of love, yet offer twists that foray into mystery and
supernatural arenas. Those who enjoy timeslip stories will appreciate the special value in Sharon Mikeworth's descriptions
of connections between past and present, and how events change all characters involved in both timelines.
Suspense and tension are superbly developed on the shoulders of psychological revelations. These push the characters to
step beyond their beliefs and ideals to enter unfamiliar territory in matters of the heart and mind.
Even more provocative is the manner in which Mikeworth juxtaposes these personalities and their individual dilemmas,
drawing important connections between disparate times while occasionally injecting wry humor into Cheyenne's clash with
the morals and habits of bygone years:
Stepping over, he clamped his hand around her upper arm, yanked her over, and began forcing her down the hall with
him.
"Hey, let go of me!" she exclaimed. Planting her feet, she wrenched her arm back, and jerked free. "I can walk of my own
violation!" You damn manhandling brute, she thought, glaring at him.
His glowered back at her for a second, then turned and resumed making his way down the hall without her.
She hurried after him, trying to keep up, but she wasn't going to run.
With his longer legs and the fact that he was making no effort to walk with her, he had soon left her behind.
Gentleman, my ass, she thought, trailing in his wake past the startled receptionist. So much for Victorian manners.
Into the Mist is a welcoming novel that embraces bigger-picture thinking more than most in the timeslip genre. Libraries
will find it will attract readers of clean romance, mystery enthusiasts, time-travel readers, and those who enjoy a plain good
read powered by strong characters, unexpected realizations, and growth.
Songs of My Father and Other Essays
Gardner Landry
Atmosphere Press
www.atmospherepress.com
9798891325074, $13.99 pb/$7.99 ebook/$ 22.99 hc
https://www.amazon.com/Songs-My-Father-Other-Essays/dp/B0DM6SG155
Readers interested in the experience of being raised by narcissists will find Songs of My Father and Other Essays hits the
nail on the head when it comes to examples of childhood trauma and survival tactics that emerge from such an
environment.
What readers won't expect is the wry sense of humor that permeates these scenarios, representing a style of comic relief that
makes them digestible even for those struggling with their own narcissists or its impact. Literary students might question
how this wit translates effectively to personal expression, since comedic writing typically distances audiences from the
psychological and personal perspectives of the narrator. However, in this case, the chosen format excels in confronting the
unwritten family rule experienced by children raised by narcissists:
...the children of malignant narcissists are not allowed to have feelings. The only feelings that count in the house of a family
of a narcissist are those of the narcissist. And everyone is walking on eggshells trying not to upset the narcissist's fragile
ego.
Gardner Landry approaches the subject with essays that represent "snapshots" of experiences over a period of time in the
past. This allows readers to absorb and contrast incarnations and expressions of narcissism in a manner designed to educate
and enlighten, rather than trigger.
Another note to these essays is their verbosity. Landry employs vibrant language and description that could be identified as
"run-on sentences" in other circumstances, but will especially appeal to literary audiences interested in vivid scenarios:
My father seemed to be as impressed with his ability to break wind as he was with his oratory and singing skills - the nether
end of his alimentary canal providing him with as much pleasure as that which he took in the mayonnaise-slathered morsels
that, doubtless, lent such an inimitable Freddish timbre and vibrato to all its impromptu emanations.
The linguistic and comedic value of these stories thus will especially engage audiences interested in not just essay or
memoir formats, but in the wielding of comedic expression to lend astute, thought-provoking, colorful insights to the very
serious subject of encounters with narcissism.
Libraries seeking an essay collection that operates as a memoir, a comedic presentation, a literary pinnacle of expression,
and a read attractive to audiences who seek psychological and linguistic depth in their reading will find Songs of My Father
and Other Essays a standout. It's especially recommended for creative writing classes as an example of how traditional
literary molds can be transformed in the most effective, creative way.
DevilsGame
Michael Wolk
Independently Published
www.devilsgame.com
ISBN: None, $9.99
https://www.devilsgame.com
DevilsGame is an interactive blend of book and game that represents the merging of cyberspace with a novel. As such,
readers need to have some familiarity with basic computer functions (who doesn't, these days?) and an affinity for online
reading in order to appreciate the interactive prowess to a story embedded with intrigue and contemporary sketches from
varied 'sources'.
The story opens with a Blackberry device conversation about murder, suicide, and the basic tenets of DevilsGame, promoted
as "The most virulent, violent and invidious videogame ever created!"
Is the game to blame for a suicide-nee-murder, or is a greater evil involved? It's up to readers to absorb not just the
conversations, but the premise and influencers of a dangerous game, indeed.
As Michael Wolk evolves DevilsGame, its value as a bridge between written word and online drama becomes evident. From
the initial scenario of world-wide digital disruption and cover-ups to social engineers who manipulate digital data for
nefarious purposes and transformations, Wolk creates a completely immersive experience. Blackberry screenshots capture
the action and high drama of the video gaming world, demonstrating prowess in capturing the suspense and tension typical
of a superior thriller novel.
This intersection of interests is presented not just via Blackberry communiques, but press conference proceedings, BBC
digital recordings, radio broadcasts, the Parrot app, and other methods of social commentary and reflection. These create
realistic observations that outline security concerns and special interests with the deft feel of a play featuring a wide cast of
characters. Indeed, the events emerge in 'Episodes' rather than chapters, further reinforcing the rich content of this
action-packed drama.
From worldwide coordinated brutal bombings that draw fire and attention to DevilsGame Servants and the emergence of the
Apostles of APpOCALYPSE, dialogues are fresh and absorbing, sporting nuances and cat-and-mouse games readers will
find thoroughly engrossing.
The format lends to easy digestion, as events that unfold like conversations hold the realistic feel of a cell phone
conversation, and can be set down and picked up in quick succession for busy readers.
Not that audiences will want to set this story down. Its satisfying twists and turns, unpredictable characters and groups, and
realistic influences on social and political affairs gives DevilsGame a unique countenance of intrigue, suspense, and
modern-day digital attraction that makes for a powerful cyber novel.
Readers seeking a story that invites with contemporary digital atmosphere, realistic characters and special interests, and
scenarios that test the purposes and nature of media and social influencers will find DevilsGame of high interest. It's the
perfect attraction for those looking not just for out-of-the-box thinking, but extraordinary digital presentations that bring the
written word to life.
Catawampus: The Story of a Crooked Cat
Lori Hoffman Penna
https://www.lorihoffmanpenna.com
Winterspring Books
B0DSJW1373, $2.99, Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Catawampus-Crooked-Lori-Hoffman-Penna-ebook/dp/B0DSJW1373
Catawampus: The Story of a Crooked Cat follows a disabled stray cat who dreams of having a real home someday, but is
aware that his crooked front legs don't make him a prime candidate for adoption.
Caught by animal control and imprisoned at the pound, Catawampus is bullied for his differences, and an idea is reinforced
that he will never fit in. A rollicking rhyme describes it all:
Then everyone laughed, howls and meows all around. Catawampus's tail fell right to the ground.
It was then that he knew, without any doubt,
that he was a misfit, and better left out.
How he overcomes his self-doubt and the teasing of others to find a true home where he is accepted and loved makes for a
moving picture book story that will appeal to any young cat lover. Its deliverance of important underlying messages about
courage, self-esteem, bullying, and home also gives read-aloud adults many opportunities for enlightening young
listeners.
Lori Hoffman Penna's equally engaging, colorful cat illustrations present fine visuals that also impart underlying messages
about diversity and acceptance.
Libraries that choose Catawampus for elementary-level collections and parental read-aloud opportunities will want to point
out that this is more than an exceptional story about cats. It's ultimately about life and love.
SMASHED: Tennis Prodigies, Parents and Parasites
Todd Ley
https://toddley.com.au
Unsportsmanlike Publishing
9780645899764, $19.99 Paperback/$9.99 eBook
https://www.amazon.com/SMASHED-Tennis-prodigies-parents-parasites/dp/0645899763
SMASHED: Tennis Prodigies, Parents and Parasites is highly recommended for all levels of tennis player and observers
with more than a passing interest in the sport. It takes a deep dive into the hidden world of tennis politics, rules, and actions.
This comes from the authoritative experience of author Todd Ley - once the world's top junior player and the youngest
athlete ever signed by IMG; now a top tennis coach.
This lends authority and insight from both player and coach perspectives as Ley admits, from the beginning, that:
...expectations are silly things, and I really don't like giving people advice, despite making a living from telling people what
to do as a tennis coach. So, instead of starting by slanging out empty hope and promises, let me state a few things and tell
you who I'm absolutely not interested in being. That ought to build some trust.
This candid self-assessment sets the tone for the rest of Ley's memoir/sports inquiry, delivered with heavy emotional ties
which are also very astutely admitted:
Vengeance, dissatisfaction and a lingering sense of injustice have compelled me to write a highly self-referential version of
the gentleman's game.
And so it begins... a survey of the tennis industry, rackets, and processes that give readers an insider's viewpoint of the
game's greatest pros and cons. This offers more than a casual review of the sport's more familiar countenance, delving into
the psyches of players, rule-makers, and leaders and considering the many elements which influence a game and its players.
By diversifying his sports coverage to consider gender and typical personality make-ups, Ley explains much of the headline
news about tennis connections and events:
A lot of female players tend to turn to emotional support from the coach if their primary support system (family) is in
disorder. Because the lives of some female athletes have been such weird experiences from the get-go, sleeping with their
coach doesn't seem to be such a crazy idea. And then there is the never-ending debate: who is suffering from Stockholm
syndrome - the player or the coach?
No punches are pulled in the delivery of these experiences and analysis of their underlying milieu. SMASHED is
eye-opening, nearly offensively candid (offensive only to those players who might hold different ideals of and approaches to
the sport), and always enthralling. Many readers won't see these insights coming. Thus, "smashed" operates as both a tennis
term and an emotional response to the book's many eye-opening conclusions:
...the shit talking increased, and I realised certain players wouldn't practise with certain other players. The team started to
operate like an artificial stepfamily who'd inherited relatives they didn't like yet had to find a way to get along with come
Christmas time.
(Additionally "smashed" refers to being very, very drunk. So, the title is quite apropos in multiple ways.)
The "you are there" atmosphere Ley creates in the course of exploring tennis's hidden influences and reactions is essential
for a complete understanding of not just the game (many other tennis books already provide this), but the psyches and
motivations of all involved.
Humor, reality, and insights impart information parents of young players REALLY need to know. All these elements
entwine in an unforgettable read that's hard to put down.
Libraries seeking an uncommon, inviting, eye-popping memoir about tennis and how it really operates will find SMASHED
a powerful analysis and memoir. It draws readers with personal experience, and then smashes them with the refreshing
shock and awe of a candidness not usually seen in either the sport or books about it.
Pathway to Freedom: Applying the Teachings of the Buddha
Lucinda T. Green, PhD
Atmosphere Press
www.atmospherepress.com
9798891324985, $15.99 pb/$7.99 ebook/$24.99 hc
https://www.amazon.com/Pathway-Freedom-Applying-Teachings-Buddha/dp/B0DQ29WJLW
How do we live in the face of pain and suffering? Perhaps there's no better time to consider this question than now.
Pathway to Freedom: Applying the Teachings of the Buddha is applied Buddhism at its best. Though Lucinda T. Green
discusses the foundation tenets of Buddhism, the meat of her book lies in how it actually presents in everyday life. In this
pursuit, Pathway to Freedom shines.
Though other books also make this claim, Dr. Green's title differs in that she tackles modern psychological insights and
challenges, from attachment and mindfulness to how to actively pursue and develop loving-kindness routines that serve as
the foundation for a Buddhist-based life.
In a world increasingly lacking in compassion, Dr. Green returns the fundamentals of compassionate perspectives and
behavior into the mix of leading a better life. She reviews not just principles, but actions that support Buddhism. Of
necessity, this process involves self-examination - one of the prerequisites to successfully absorbing the insights and
wisdom in Pathway to Freedom:
...consider making your living in ways that participate in alleviating suffering. Short of being in a job with that as an
intention, explore all the ways you can be an agent for diminishing dukkha at work. How can your presence participate in
decreasing suffering? For yourself and others? What kinds of attitudes can you adopt or experiment with on the job, which
reduce greed, hatred, and delusion? What kinds of actions can you take based on loving-kindness, compassion, equanimity,
and empathetic joy?
Dr. Green does more than contrast theory and ideals with everyday life. She encourages a special form of critical thinking
that may stymie those unused to closely considering the psychology and social impact of their choices, but which ultimate
shines a spotlight on common fallacies, actions, and perceptions:
Empathy, the ability to be one with or feel for another, is born of heartfelt understanding, not pity, which is the near enemy
of compassion. Pity disguises itself as compassion. When you say, "Oh, I feel sorry for that person who has to suffer such
unfortunate circumstances," you think you are connecting with that person. However, the source of pity is separation, not
connection.
Pathway to Freedom is infused with "aha!" moments which make for thought-provoking reading that ideally will be done
slowly, allowing time for supportive meditation practices as well as group discussion.
This is why libraries looking at books about Buddhism and its principles will find Pathway to Freedom far more
wide-ranging than similar-sounding titles. It's perfect for spiritual, psychological, and book club circles where
thought-provoking discussions revolve on how Buddhism works in everyday life and modern times.
The Call
Cathy Schieffelin
Atmosphere Press
www.atmospherepress.com
9798891324121, $15.99 pb/$7.99 ebook/$24.99 hardcover
https://www.amazon.com/Call-Cathy-Schieffelin/dp/B0DNGRCPX9
The Call opens with a Muslim call to prayer which awakens first-person narrator Nate. His locale is identified as Anjouan -
a tropical isle floating in the Indian Ocean, part of the Comoro Archipelago - and the reason for his presence there (for
work).
And then there's Juliette, who also struggles with her past and looks forward to new beginnings. Their stories are set against
the backdrop of an unknown virus that each are charged with addressing in different ways, setting the stage for a sweeping,
epic account which unfolds over shifting times and places. The result is a multifaceted tale of adventure, family connections,
and even mystery.
Cathy Schieffelin's powerful novel is a challenge to neatly peg. The intrigue, suspense, emotional overlays, and history are
wound so deeply into events that readers receive a rollicking ride through birth, death, and challenges that drive the two
characters into dilemmas they never saw coming. To call it a mystery alone would be to do it as much of a disservice as to
identify the novel as a love story.
Interpersonal relationships weave through social and political conflicts in such a manner that readers will delight in their
intricacy and psychological depth, major draws to the story's plot.
Readers may not expect a medical mystery and romance to present on a level embedded with political and social context,
but Schieffelin shifts perspectives between Juliette and Nate so deftly that their disparate backgrounds and connections
receive equal billing and insights:
Despite knowing better, I want him. We've got chemistry. He's one of the good guys. I'm usually attracted to the bad ones -
lured in by their mystery and sexy scowl. That's never a good combination. And if things don't pan out, he lives halfway
around the world from me. Maybe that's for the best.
The Call's special combination of international intrigue, romance, and revelation makes it a top recommendation for
libraries seeking fiction that tests the boundaries of the usual genre assignment as it forges new pathways of discovery.
Book club reading groups seeking novels that are compelling and thought-provoking will especially appreciate the many
discussion opportunities that emerge as Nate and Juliette slide deeply into the duality of unfolding horror and
opportunity.
I Will Be the Woman He Loved
Tania Romanov with Matthew Felix
https://taniaromanov.com
Solificatio
9798985878158, $16.99 Paperback/$9.99 eBook
https://a.co/d/fzUEQiE
I Will Be the Woman He Loved: Learning to Live Again on the Thames Path is both a memoir steeped in grief and loss and
a travelogue charting Tania Romanov's transition from a notable career to navigating uncharted waters.
Throughout this memoir, the spirit of a woman in a powerful partnership who made a mark on the tech world, proving to be
a strong force in a male-dominated industry, then honing a relationship with a life partner who was her soulmate, shines as a
force of inspiration for all who choose this book.
More so than most memoirs about loss and growth, I Will Be the Woman He Loved delivers an important message not just
about grief, but about stepping into renewed opportunities for growth and change.
Her partner's untimely death promoted Tania Romanov to undertake a physical and mental journey of transformation. Her
experiences emerge as insights for others newly on this path, providing signposts to recovery, healing, discovery, and,
ultimately, new directions:
I wasn't dwelling on the injustice of it all, looking for reasons, asking why me. I was simply feeling the hollow ache of an
absence, the loss of something very deep and important that, from one moment to the next, was no longer there. I felt a
relentless disquiet throughout my body, an agonizing yearning in my heart, a hole ripped open inside me. Until it was filled,
I wouldn't be myself.
What differentiates Romanov's story from others in the grief and loss genre is a powerful countenance which emerges from
the start. She embraces the women she meets with thought-provoking contrasts between how they act in her presence when
traveling the trail and how they present in group situations. One example is Linda, whose personality changes in the
presence of others, moving from possibly boring to exuberant.
From potential physical and mental dangers faced along the way to insights about the special form of growth that evolves
from journey into cultures that operate far from one's familiar norm, readers step onto the Thames Path and walk alongside
the author. I Will Be the Woman He Loved is a very highly recommended read that will prove especially enlightening for
already-powerful women facing the rest of their lives after a major change.
Libraries seeking memoirs that function both as descriptions of recovery and movements through grief and loss, and as a
travelogue of emotional and physical revelations, will find I Will Be the Woman He Loved the perfect collection addition. It
delves deeper than most books about loss, covers more ground than travelogues by connecting disparate personalities and
perspectives, and delivers an emotional one-two punch of discovery that should ideally be read slowly for high-impact
results.
Book clubs and women's memoir reading groups will find plenty of food for thought and discussion in Romanov's
hard-hitting journey.
Little Ruth: Backpack Mishap
Dee Write
Little Ruth LLC
www.LittleRuth.com
9798990332621, $19.99 Hardcover/$12.99 Paperback/$7.99 eBook
https://www.amazon.com/Little-Ruth-Backpack-Dee-Write/dp/B0D2J14SHV
Picture book readers who enjoy tales of realistic chaos will find Little Ruth: Backpack Mishap an appealing study in
problem-solving and sibling relationships that offers lessons, along with fun descriptions.
Ruth and her siblings return home from school enlivened by the day's adventures. Ruth gets ready for piano school, but her
younger stay-at-home sisters want more adventure, too. What better choice is there than to satisfy their curiosity by delving
into forbidden territory?
The entire Campbell family becomes involved in a mishap that gives lessons to all about peer pressure, responsibility,
kindness, and forgiving loved ones.
Dee Write's escapade is illustrated by Andrea McAllister and Valerie Bouthyette, who add engrossing charm and personal
touches to bring the tale and siblings to life. Close-knit family members all becomes involved, with the realistic scenario
embellished by dialogue that kids can readily relate to:
Seeing Ruth sad made Abby and Annie feel sad. "Sorry, Ruth," they said quietly.
Mom could see her daughters' disappointment about this backpack mishap. "Everyone take a deep breath, and let's talk
about this in the den," said Mom.
Grandma joined in to help Mom, "I'll start dinner for you while you talk with the girls."
Conflict resolution arrives in the form of the Campbell Family Discussion Ball, which is employed to give a voice to all
involved in the mishap, building a sense of family support and greater understanding via listening.
Elementary-level libraries and read-aloud parents will find it packed with many discussion points that will enlighten and
educate the very young, while Black families seeking role models for conflict resolution opportunities within adversity will
relish the positivity and practicality of Little Ruth: Backpack Mishap.
Little Ruth: Halloween Drama Queen
Dee Write
Little Ruth LLC
www.LittleRuth.com
9798990332676, $19.99 Hardcover/$12.99 Paperback/$7.99 eBook
https://www.amazon.com/Little-Ruth-Halloween-Drama-Queen/dp/B0DGHBRK8P
Adding to the Little Ruth picture book series is Little Ruth: Halloween Drama Queen, exploring a Black family's celebration
of the fall season and Halloween.
All the trapping of holiday tradition are explored, from pumpkin carving to pie-making and costumes:
"Yum. Pumpkin pie is my favorite," said Mom. "Ruth, please help your sisters and brother get ready to go to the costume
store. I'd like to hurry back so we can have some pie when it's fresh out of the oven."
As the family interacts in a conjoined effort to create and enjoy Halloween, young readers will appreciate Dee Write's
emphasis on family dialogue and connections as well as the vivid drawings of Andrea McAllister and Valerie Bouthyette,
who bring her story to visual life.
Especially educational are references to family budgeting which emerge unexpectedly to offer important talking points to
families:
"Remember to stick to your costume allowance everyone!" Mom called after the group. "And don't forget, if you want to go
over your allowance, you have to use your chore money to pay the difference."
How can the perfect Halloween costume create a dilemma? Dee Write presents a particularly realistic problem that many
families will relate to, as well as a creative solution that involves the meeting of several minds.
From sticking to budgets to saving money, understanding financial limits, and employing family support to make hard
decisions that turn out to be great ones, Write provides an attractive lesson the entire family can enjoy.
Elementary-level libraries that choose Little Ruth: Halloween Drama Queen either as a stand-alone seasonal story or an
addition to other Little Ruth picture books will find it an exceptional, appealing story.
Love and Conductivity
Erin Nieto
Koehler Books
www.koehlerbooks.com
9798888246023, $27.95 Hardcover/$19.95 Paperback
https://www.amazon.com/Love-Conductivity-Erin-Nieto/dp/B0DMHHWPRR
From its opening lines, Love and Conductivity reveals that, while the historical setting of 1917 may be familiar, the
language used to describe the war's events sparks unexpectedly thought-provoking considerations from its vivid opening
lines:
In 1917, the men went away and were replaced with photographs. At the Brandenburg Boarding House, which
rented rooms to women of the Oklahoma University faculty, they all had someone swept away by the draft: brothers,
husbands, sons, lovers, all now smiling back from their framed perches, where they both existed, and didn't.
This reference, with its intriguing capture of a home front which harbors a countenance of uncertainty similar to
Schr”dinger's cat, promises a story that eschews the traditionally staid approaches to World War I history, creating a more
vivid perspective than readers might anticipate.
This, in turn, strengthens a powerful saga of separation, friendship, and love which is cemented by Erin Nieto's attention to
different devices to capture the shifting tides of these times. This includes letters such as the ones written in 1921 between
Thomas Erwin Phipps (a student of chemistry in Berkeley) and poetry teacher Eleanor Morgan. Eleanor longs for adventure
in her staid life, finding it in an unexpected meeting of minds with a lieutenant on his way home after the Armistice.
Their brief encounter grows love slowly, over time and the miles, but Eleanor must first overcome her innate tendency to
reject the adventure she so desires before she can take the kinds of risks that lead to more intimate connections.
Nieto creates a forceful story of self-discovery and coupling against the backdrop of changing times. Her ability to inject
history with a gripping "you are here" feel of immediacy through psychological and social depth lends the story a revealing
tone that is at once poetic and intimate:
She'd always thought herself prepared to meet unexpected turns in her life calmly and assuredly, but her emotions that night
had been so unexpected and so strong that they'd quite frightened her, making her feel almost a stranger to herself. And the
union with Erwin was so fleeting that she'd since convinced herself she'd at least partly imagined it. Yet here she sat, the
embers still aglow in her heart; the wonderful harmony of those moments reflected back to her through the arrival of this
poetic New Year wish. And it had found its way to her on Valentine's, of all days, fanning the embers once more into a low,
bright flame. He did care. And it all seemed so comical and gay that she felt as if a fire fairy had touched her with her
wand.
Readers seeking a vivid, slowly-evolving romance in which life events buffet Eleanor and her beau, yet create serendipitous
moments of growth and discovery, will find Love and Conductivity exceptionally vivid and thought-provoking.
Libraries will want to highly recommend Love and Conductivity to book clubs seeking blends of romance and history that
point to many possible discussion topics about social mores, love, and the kinds of risk-taking that result in truly effective
changes, whether they take place on a personal or a social level.
Down and Out in the River City
Wm. Stage
www.wmstage.com
Floppinfish Publishing Company Ltd.
9798218532598, $15.95
https://www.amazon.com/Down-Out-River-City-Stage/dp/B0DKG761FB
Down and Out in the River City is a crime fiction story that returns Wm. Stage's prior protagonist Francis X. Lenihan to a
new adventure. Readers who enjoyed this character St. Francis in Dogtown will recall that this beer-guzzling investigator
exhibited a surprisingly savvy problem-solving ability that drew him away from the bar and into brawls outside his familiar
watering hole.
Here, Francis tackles new dilemmas which involve him with the homeless as well as vigilante efforts and racial issues in
modern-day St. Louis, Missouri. The story opens with the controversial aftermath of a court case that has fired up St. Louis
residents:
What was happening now, this throng, mostly black with a scattering of young white faces, could have been a scene in one
of Elmore's crime novels. The natives were restless all right, whipped up in righteous indignation, eager to raise hell with
white society, ready for battle with command authority. The courtroom itself had been standing room only and the
much-anticipated verdict, announced by the Honorable Timothy Wilson, first fell on the spectators' ears and quickly passed
on to the waiting crowd outside the courtroom, which included news teams from Channels 4, 5, and 2 as well as CNN and
NBC BLK. Before you could say Come on down and join the protest, TVs in homes and bars across the city were spreading
the news: White cop acquitted in the death of Anthony Lamar Smith, age twenty-four, a black man.
Even though the incident took place six years prior, the city is still embroiled in issues of racism and justice which draw
Francis into a new series of crime-busting efforts despite his best efforts to stay secluded in the local tavern.
It's not unusual to find him "in the midst of a powder keg about the ignite." What is atypical is the circumstances of a
miscarriage of justice that draws him into a milieu that's impossible to ignore, where the fine line between bullying and
successful control of mass demonstrations is crossed again and again.
Wm. Stage takes the time to capture the social and political atmosphere of Francis's environment and times as the story
unfolds. From Francis and Martha's Catholic faith and their interactions in the Irish Catholic community to the wry sense of
humor Stage injects at unexpected moments of personal and social revelation, the story excels at a building an immersive
atmosphere that is as fun as it is revealing:
"Do you actually feel different after communion?" Martha asked him over coffee and pastries at Coffee Cartel, the place on
Tamm where they had first spoke after mass twenty-six years ago. Only then it was called The Urban Oasis.
Francis pondered this. "Yeah, I've never told anyone this, but I get a warm runny feeling down around my solar plexus and it
slowly spreads throughout my body until it seems I'm glowing. All my senses seem heightened too. Acute power of smell
like a hound dog on the trail of a convict. Hearing, I can hear a mouse fart from a block away."
Laughter permeates the story, adding to its backdrop and offering comic relief to the investigative probe into crime,
resolution, and redemption. This gives the character of Francis a full-bodied feel that will thoroughly engross readers in his
life and choices, which in turns make the crime concerns that unfold of realistic strength and psychologically alluring.
The fact that Francis is edgy in his decision-making also gives his character an original, appealing draw:
He lay there in the pitch dark of their room, listening to Martha lightly snoring, thinking how rich life is and how he'll really
miss it once he's dead. The next thing that popped up: Wouldn't it be fun to bring a gang of homeless out to see Jacob, kind
of like a reunion, they can party and catch up. It was a great idea because it would piss off Jacob to no end. He would get it
going this morning.
Stage ties together these seemingly disparate threads of personality, colorful choices, unexpected consequences, and crime
so seamlessly that readers will find themselves completely immersed in a plot that simmers with tension, action, and
excellent, quirky characterization.
Social issues that range from opioids infiltrating and infecting the community to the ways in which Francis's involvements
and choices impact his favorite places, Stage's story is steeped in a sense of place and personality that places it head and
shoulders above other crime stories:
In twenty-three years of coming to this bar he had never been the target of abuse, had never been seriously confronted or
made to feel small. It was really bothering him. He felt cornered. What did he have to say for himself?
Down and Out in the River City will delight readers interested in the cultures and norms of St. Louis. Libraries that choose
the story for its connections to other Francis Lenihan stories or for its stand-alone value as a top-notch, wide-ranging crime
story will find its ability to attract a wide audience makes for a 'must have' acquisition that stands out from the genre
crowd.
Immortal Gifts
Katherine Villyard
https://www.katherinevillyard.com
Flower Feather Press
B0DM9YKV2F, $4.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Immortal-Gifts-Katherine-Villyard-ebook/dp/B0DM9YKV2F
Book One of the Immortal Vampires series, Immortal Gifts, introduces a milieu in which Prussian music student Abraham
has forged a path of deception that allows him to study at the Berlin Academy of Music while hiding his Jewish identity. It's
just too bad that his new friend turns out to be a vampire who turns him into one, too.
It's also a dubious gift when he attracts the attention of a vampire anti-Semite who vows to transform Abraham's undeath
condition into the real thing, pursuing him across the ages in a dangerous cat-and-mouse (or, is it vampire-and-prey)
game.
Katherine Villyard traces the determination, survival tactics, and hopes of a violinist who seems to have found true love
(with a mortal, nonetheless) at last, only to confront the timelessness of his enemy's pursuit just when he stands at the
threshold of happiness.
Many unexpected circumstances and scenes evolve, as when Abraham turns his wife Destiny's beloved cat into a vampire to
save Inanna's life. The impact of his impetuous decision is not lost on Destiny, as she reminds him that he's just made a
dangerous decision by making the sick cat immortal:
"I love Inanna, but this is a mistake. She's a bitch, Abraham. The sweetest cat in the world, but she won't do what she's told
and attacks landlords and delivery people, and you gave her super strength and a taste for blood."
The flow of the dialogue and shifting relationships and interactions lends Immortal Gifts an exceptional diversity that makes
it stand out and above most modern vampire novels. Villyard attends to developing psyches, adding wry touches of humor
to shifting events that keep readers on their toes and thinking.
Another big plus to Immortal Gifts lies in its intriguing focus on changing times, from movements through Ellis Island and
Hitler's influence in the world to the idea of a vampire building a family life against all odds.
The interpersonal connections between vampire and mortal world and concerns are well done, adding suspense, intrigue,
and insight into a multifaceted story that is far more than a tale of blood-drinkers and conflict alone. From bigotry to
betrayal and love, the tale simmers with insights and revelations that will involve and resonate with readers.
Libraries that choose Immortal Gifts for their collections will find it fast-paced, driven not only by likeable and memorable
personalities, but disparate reactions to world events and changes that test the mettle and survivability of a wide cast of
characters and creatures.
In effect, Immortal Gifts defies the usual formulaic writing of the genre to return to the meat of a superior vampire novel:
good tension, wry humor, psychologically deep characters, and the allure, promises, and pitfalls of immortality.
Muddy the Water
Matt Barrows and Jessica Barrows Beebe
www.BarrowsBeebeBooks.org
Koehler Books
www.koehlerbooks.com
9798888245606, $27.95 Hardcover/$19.95 Paperback/$7.00 eBook
https://www.amazon.com/Muddy-Water-Matt-Barrows/dp/B0DLLHQXWX
Muddy the Water is a thriller packed with suspense, intrigue, and the unexpected. These elements will delight genre readers
looking for a blend of fast-paced action and delightful murder mystery.
Usually a suspect is innocent until proven guilty. However, in this case, the residents of the small town of Haversport,
Massachusetts know the culprit is young deckhand Ben Broome. This widespread community accusation forces Ben to go
on the lam to hide out in South Carolina, where his false charm and reporter's skills earn him a job and admiration.
Detective Lillian Grimes just knows he's the perp. But, in order to prove her beliefs, she first needs to hunt him down, and
then overcome his charismatic countenance to amass evidence supporting her beliefs.
The proof of an exceptional story lies not so much in its plot, but in its delivery. In this case, three points of view provide
the cement linking characters, circumstances, and social and cultural backgrounds in a satisfyingly complex, appealing way.
This approach embraces the disparate perspectives of killer, detective, and reporter.
Chapter headings in bold, big lettering assure that readers don't become lost as each character steps up with personality and
professional insights. The action begins with Detective Grimes, a top detective paired with rookie Marty Mulligan, whose
intelligence makes him a winning, desirable partner for tracking down perps.
Reporter Ben (alias Charlie Fisher)'s newfound career serves as a safe haven for tackling the bigger problems invading his
life, from accusations to honing a profession that proves to be an attractive match to his personality. After all, he's learned
from the best:
In his head, he repeated the dead man's advice: All he had to do was write everything he'd seen and heard. He could do that.
In fact, it might be the easiest job he'd ever had.
Turns out it's not so easy, as his editor points out with his initial effort:
"Your lede is nice and descriptive: 'Abraham Mink stepped into his bateau a little past noon and slowly poled it north along
the calm waters of Gum Tree Creek.' That's beautiful prose . . . if you're Ernest fucking Hemingway. But you don't get to
your nut graph until much, much farther down: 'Something is killing the oysters in the creek.' That's what this story is about,
right? That ought to be your lede, don't ya think?"
As additional victims raise the hackles of Detective Grimes and further implicate Ben, Matt Barrows and Jessica Barrows
Beebe build a thoroughly involving story based on astute juxtapositions of characters. Each holds a stake in the unfolding
events and their outcomes.
Students of media studies and newspaper reporting will relish the realistic scenes which follow Ben's evolutionary process,
while those who turn to Muddy the Water for its murder mystery scenario will be satisfied by and attracted to the myriad of
possibilities that emerge from what initially seems like a singular case of not whodunit, but 'will they get away with it?' At
the heart of matters is a struggling small newspaper that may find its readership and support as transformed by the murder as
the victims and participants.
Tension is as nicely developed as each of the characters, giving Muddy the Water added value in immersing readers in
questions about intention, action, and ultimate impact.
The authors are both journalists well steeped in the politics and processes of newsroom life. Additional familiarity with sea
island lifestyle and atmosphere help these sibling authors create an extraordinarily realistic backdrop for events and
characters.
Libraries seeking murder mystery thrillers that operate on many levels of discovery and intrigue will welcome Muddy the
Water for its ability to capture diverse characters, present unpredictable outcomes, and develop a real mystery that raises
questions about journalism, identity, and the powers of posers and imposters.
Your Body: A Course in Healing
Christopher McKeon
Toteppit Press
https://toteppitpress.com
9798986470795, $15.97 Paperback/$23.97 Hardcover/$7.97 eBook
https://toteppitpress.com/your-body
Your Body: A Course in Healing is the third book in Christopher McKeon's Healing Through Awareness series, tackling
many questions about mind/body connections and their influence on health and illness. While other books cover this topic
from different angles, McKeon's differs in that it identifies bodily malfunctions within the bigger picture of all existence and
the emergent birth of physical, mental, and spiritual strengths.
This redefinition of health and disease allows readers a deeper glimpse and redefinition of mind/body processes that, in turn,
imparts a greater understanding of the evolutionary growth of both.
Take the section on 'Omniscience, Omnipresence, and Omnipotence of Psyche,' for one example. This philosophical and
spiritual discourse might at first seem contrary in a book about healing and wellness - but given the introductory discussions
of mind and spirit, it fits right in, allowing for associations many readers won't expect from the typical mind/body
discussion:
...it's not possible for emergent ife to be confined to exist in only one single place anywhere as a reality - say, in one's
body. The reason is that a person, as mind, literally exists in all places everywhere as existentiality via awareness. This is the
case even though, strange as it seems, one exists nowhere as nondimensional - without time and space - existentiality at the
same time. Sure, we don't feel very omnipresent all shoeboxed into our physical body. But that's only because our physical
embodiment, lacking the balance of being well versed in our spirit embodiment and unembodied fundamentality, has inured
our minds to this and only this limited reality. We'll say it again: you are not your body, physical or spiritual. You are
mind.
Although the implication of this notion appears to be that one exists and doesn't exist at the same time like Schr”dinger's
infamous cat, it's not a contradiction because the combination of existence as existentiality and reality necessarily means that
one exists regardless reality and one has reality regardless existence.
By now, it should be clear that readers attracted to the healing promise of the book's title should also have an equal interest
in philosophical and spiritual mindsets and books that explore all of these connections; not just the few obvious ones
between mind and body.
From correlations between growing older and experiencing the "energy of the universe" (including problematic ones which
are a "natural part of life") to not just identifying but managing that energy and these influences, McKeon uses his own life
path as an example to support his research and ethereal considerations of the universe.
Your Body: A Course in Healing is hard to easily peg. Call it a book of healing, and those seeking exercises for simple
recovery may find a learning curve involved as they pursue the later chapters covering Intentionality. Call it a book of
philosophy, and its deep spiritual connections may stymie. The best definition is one which embraces all of these elements,
as does the book. It's best to just identify Your Body: A Course in Healing as a 'book supporting life'. It's highly
recommended for students of health and wellness, physical and mental healing, philosophy, and spirituality.
Libraries pointing patrons to this book for all these strengths (as well as directing book clubs to it for its many opportunities
for pointed discussions about life and wellness) will find Your Body: A Course in Healing's broad audience a major
attraction.
Shadows of Sobriety
Keith Burton
Grayson Emmett Press
www.shadowsofsobriety.com
9798991850209, $17.95 Print/$7.99 eBook
https://www.amazon.com/Shadows-Sobriety-Journey-Self-Discovery-Healing/dp/B0DQJ62HDG
Shadows of Sobriety: A Journey of Self-Discovery and Healing a Family Legacy is a deeply moving memoir about Keith
Burton's journey of recovery from family trauma.
Burton's childhood haunted him until he found the courage and faith to confront his family's attitudes, legacies, and secrets.
All these elements coalesced to lead him into uncharted waters of self-discovery.
Readers who have grown up in dysfunctional families will find much to learn from Burton's journey. The therapist who
helped Burton navigate these uncertain grounds introduces his client's story with a candid review of the "emotional surgery"
involved in facing the truth about his family driven by his desire for growth and change.
While many of the details which Burton examines are common to other memoirs about sobriety and healing, what sets
Shadows of Sobriety apart is its attention to helping others better understand the roots of addiction and generational trauma
that keep many families trapped in destructive behaviors and relationships.
Especially poignant and thought-provoking are passages that get at the heart of how this dysfunction began and grew to
impact both child and adult:
...she made sure I was always sent off to baseball, basketball, track, and football practices, yet she and Dad never attended
any of my games or meets. It was more than disheartening; it felt as if they were merely ticking off boxes, fulfilling
obligations without genuine involvement. I was present, doing as expected and desired on my part, but the absence of those
who should have been my biggest supporters left a more profound imprint than any religious sermon or athletic triumph
ever could. Their neglect marked me deeper than the cheers of any crowd, echoing the silence of empty bleachers at every
game. Her need to control infiltrated every aspect of my life, from my friendships to my academic endeavors.
Also of notable interest is Burton's observation of siblings who grew up under the same cloak of family dysfunction, and the
different impact it had on them, too:
Her journey was perhaps the most complex for me to understand. As her older brother, I saw her through the eyes of a
protector, yet I often felt helpless in shielding her from the pain that shaped her life. My reflections on her life are deeply
personal, rooted in the love and frustration I felt as I watched her navigate her own path. Despite the traumatic experiences
and the co-dependency that ensnared her, Charlotte managed to find a sense of independence later in life. Her journey
reflects the resilience and determination to overcome her past, often seen in children of alcoholics who excel in their
professional lives but struggle privately.
This candid memoir encourages readers to examine their lives and family influences so they can chart a new course for
themselves.
Libraries that choose Shadows of Sobriety for the memoir's promise of deeply analyzing the roots of dysfunction, addition,
and psychological struggle will find it easy to recommend to patrons seeking hard-hitting stories. It offers a wide range of
topics for book clubs to discuss, from surviving childhood trauma to strategies for healing emotional wounds.
Bergthora's Saga
Reiner Prochaska
Europe Books, London
9791220153713, $22.99, PB, 346pp
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DH6LW8X4
Bergthora's Saga: A Heathen Revenge in a Christian Iceland is a powerful work of Icelandic fiction that traverses the history
and culture of 1019. It presents a fiery, memorable protagonist in Bergthora Bjornsdottir, who returns to her Iceland home to
exact revenge for a childhood trauma.
Her passion and purpose hold unexpected results as she unintentionally drives a young wife away from her marriage. The
move holds community-shattering social and political implications.
As the community and her family reels from her anger's onslaught, Bergthora discovers that vengeance is not all that sweet,
but comes with a heavy price. It expands from her singular experience and intention to form a dangerous ripple of adversity
in the lives around her.
This is not a novel for light reading. It spans some four centuries of Icelandic personalities and history, introduces a broad
cast of other characters whose lives are affected by Bergthora's choices, and encourages readers to think deeply about a wide
range of topics, from Iceland's link to other countries to how heathens become Christians.
Perspectives shift between characters, introducing a host of cultural and social observations to bring readers directly into the
shifting worlds of Iceland, Greenland, and the rest of Europe as the decades unfold.
The seasons' passage is marked by individuals and events which bring these milieus to life. One example is the observation
from Leif, brother of Kjartan, Bergthora's childhood friend:
Kjartan and I are riding home from Egillshof. It is dark, but I pray that the bright beams of the full moon will not betray the
torment burning across my face. Tonight, Egill, our go i, gave a feast to celebrate the stepping across the threshold between
summer and winter. I left the warmth and happiness of summer for the bleak darkness of winter the day Engilborg was
married.
In shifting these perspectives regularly and over time, Reiner Prochaska creates a sweeping epic story that shines with not
just one woman's journey, but the concurrent experiences of characters both related and unrelated to her life.
The complexity of these experiences and changing times makes Bergthora's Saga of special interest to readers of historical
fiction in general and those attracted to Icelandic experience in particular - a subject that rarely receives the attention it
deserves or the variety it should experience, save for a relative handful of Icelandic authors.
Vivid passages depicting social, political, and religious change are especially well done, promising to attract readers who
may have little prior Icelandic history knowledge, but who enjoy epic sagas filled with memorable characters and
understandable, hard-hitting passages of insight:
...throughout the night, several chieftains entered through the back entrance and discussed options for a solution with
Thorgeir to ensure Iceland would prosper instead of tearing itself apart. King Olaf had given Hjalti and Gizur enough silver
to pave a path to the influential heathens. In the end, neither the Christians nor the heathens were truly satisfied with
Thorgeir's judgment, but it didn't matter because both parties accepted it. Pragmatic leaders preserved the unity of our island
without shedding a drop of blood.
The novel has its roots in a 2018 visit to Iceland, where author Reiner Prochaska fell in love with the nation's people and
culture. Museum director Ms. Guttormsdottir ormar's passion for explaining the life and literature of Snorri Sturlusson led
Prochaska on a literary journey that not only culminated in producing this novel, but fill many gaps in Icelandic history and
culture for readers who might be only casually familiar with the country and its epic writers.
Libraries should consider Bergthora's Saga: A Heathen Revenge in a Christian Iceland a top literary work packed with
thoroughly absorbing passages documenting how the characters in particular and Iceland as a whole evolved.
Book clubs seeking weighty, serious fictional stories about Iceland will find Bergthora's Saga: A Heathen Revenge in a
Christian Iceland raises many discussion points, making it an exceptional acquisition holding universe-building
prowess.
Bloody Mary, Bloody Murder
Tanya Westlake
Impractical Press
https://www.impracticalpress.com
9798985642544, $12.99 Paperback/$0.99 eBook
https://www.amazon.com/Bloody-Murder-Kalliope-Brooks-Mysteries/dp/B0BP43GPZJ
Bloody Mary, Bloody Murder follows Florida bartender Kalliope Brooks into a situation where she is forced to confront not
just murder, but her own obsession with the victim and a pursuit of justice which threatens to endanger her own life.
Spring Break isn't just about teens celebrating. It also can be about introducing forces into the small town of Owhiro which
will change its makeup forever.
When Kallie finds a body in her car, a personal drive for solving the case immediately emerges.
One strength to Tanya Westlake's story-telling prowess lies in the details. Kallie's discovery is imparted via a "you are here"
feel that anyone who has felt nervous about their parked car's back seat in a dark parking lot will readily relate to:
There it was. Something on the back seat, on the passenger side. Had she left a water bottle or something back there? It was
too dark to see. Anyway, she could check when she got home. She started to pull out of the parking space again, but
something stopped her. Feeling foolish, and yet trusting both her well-engrained instincts and the chill running up her back,
she turned off the car and got out.
Moment-by-moment descriptors lend to a thoroughly absorbing atmosphere from the start as Kallie moves from the shock
of finding a dead woman in her car to exploring the possibilities surrounding this woman's demise.
Westlake excels in juxtaposing cozy small-town atmosphere with a murder that threatens its closeness and residents as
Kallie approaches the investigation with the determination of a pit bull.
Joined by her best friend Tess Russo and her father (both of whom wish she would step aside and let authorities do their
job), Kallie draws closer to a dangerous truth that will change them all.
Westlake also injects a dash of wry humor into her descriptions of townspeople and their interactions. This enhances the
cozy feel of the story as Kallie investigates:
She was walking back to the house when a small, round woman with coke-bottle glasses and electric salmon-orange hair
accosted her.
"Kalliope dear!" she shrieked, as Kallie backpedaled away from her.
"Mrs. Jones! Where did you come from?!"
"I was hiding in - I mean, I was just walking past the hedges. I'm very petite, you know. You must've missed me."
Mrs. Jones might have been short, but she wasn't petite. Kallie somehow resisted the urge to tell her that.
"I brought a lemon meringue pie for your father, dear. I'll just take it inside to him. It needs to pop back in the fridge, you
know." The little fireplug tried to elbow her way past Kallie, but she didn't make it to the stairs.
These elements of strong characters and light moments between them both enhance the underlying tension and reveal more
small-town connections as Kallie pursues answers, maintains her bartender job, and interacts with newcomers to town with
a trademark humor exhibited earlier in the story:
"We have four seasons here too," Kallie replied with a smile, setting down a plate of veggie nachos for them. "Pollen, heat
wave, hurricane, and alligator."
Readers looking for more than a light dose of humor in their cozy mysteries will find Kallie's discoveries and connections
the perfect choice for a fireside read (or, in summer, a beach read).
Exquisite, likeable characters, realistic dilemmas, nicely done simmering tension, and new discoveries mark this amateur
sleuth's foray into a puzzle that defines the attraction and very nature of a cozy mystery.
Libraries seeking to enhance their collections with superior genre reads that rest firmly on a sense of place (small-town
Florida, in this case) will find Bloody Mary, Bloody Murder a compelling winner and a standout in the cozy mystery
field.
Tiger D. Cat
Darlis Hooks
Xlibris
www.Xlibris.com
9788369417126, $12.99 Paperback/$3.99 eBook
https://www.amazon.com/Tiger-D-Cat-Darlis-Hooks/dp/B0CWLR3RBQ
Tiger D. Cat's story is told by his ten-year-old owner, who narrates how Tiger came to her when she was seven, skinny and
alone and being bullied by boys.
Tiger is a timid stray hungry enough to accept her food offerings, but scared to accept more. As she tells of Tiger's taming,
how he became her cat over the course of a summer, and how he "ate every meal like he was starving to death," readers
learn of a cat's attraction, habits, and the process of his domestication, which teaches responsibility to his young
overseer.
As he becomes a part of the family, she plays dress-up with him, he plays with his new toys, and the birds teach him a
lesson about birdnapping.
The cat fits right in to their family life, as loyal and dedicated as a dog - until, one day, everything changes.
Darlis Hooks does an exceptional job of detailing the habits of cats and how humans interact with them. Cat natural history
facts unfold during the course of the story, giving it an educational component important for any family considering adding
a cat to the household.
A twist to the tale adds insights on caring for a cat in sickness and in health, further expanding the insights on what it means
to adopt a kitty.
All these elements make Tiger D. Cat much more than a typical story of animal adoption, giving it the attraction and depth
needed to elevate its message to picture book readers and families.
Libraries that pick Tiger D. Cat for acquisition and profile will find that Tiger's story holds many opportunities for
discussions on all kinds of themes, from cat adoption and stray cat requirements to cat care and personality.
The Bayrose Files
Diane Wald
Regal House Publishing, LIC
https://regal-house-publishing.mybigcommerce.com
9781646035953, $18.95 paperback/ $9.99 e-book
https://regal-house-publishing.mybigcommerce.com/the-bayrose-files
https://www.amazon.com/Bayrose-Files-Diane-Wald/dp/164603595X
The Bayrose Files is an alluring novel about creativity, lies, loss, and authenticity. The plot revolves around young journalist
Violet's deception, created so that she can join a coveted writer's colony in Provincetown.
Narrated in the first person, the logic, uncertainty, and determination of a woman unwavering in her decision to participate
in the art colony against all odds creates a warm, memorable story of the ultimate impact of her ruse on everyone around
her.
Diane Wald's ability to build a plot based on achievement and deceit, juxtaposing the two in a manner that will especially
lend to vivid book club discussions, enlivens a story unexpectedly rich in its psychological interactions and Violet's
justifications for her choices. Wald crafts a fine mix of good intentions gone awry, unexpected impacts and results, and
ultimate regrets that change Violet's trajectory both personally and professionally.
Readers that join this inquiry into lies and their costs will especially relish the realistic atmosphere that makes Violet a
flawed, but likeable, character:
"Violet," he said, "why don't you just apply there yourself?"
I stared at him. He stared back. His eyes said, "Why didn't you think of this?" I remembered a phrase from Richard Wilbur:
"mad-eyed from stating the obvious." I took the tiny pink umbrella from my drink, stuck it in my hair, and leaned back in
my chair.
"No," I said. "Really? But I have no talent. I mean, maybe I'm getting to be a decent journalist, but I'm not a painter or poet
or fiction writer. It's a brilliant idea, Spencer, but I'd never get in. That place has high standards."
Another big plus is the changing nature of Violet's friendship with Spencer, which comes not just from a too-helpful
suggestion on his part, but the ultimate impact of AIDS in the 1980s. This comes home to influence Violet in unexpected
ways that capture the milieu of the 1980s in general and the artist colony in particular.
Forced to interact with Spence's sister Barbara while fielding a new romantic possibility and the increasing health issues of
her friend and partner in crime, Violet is pushed to come to terms with many interconnected issues about life purposes and
change. These underlie a situation where she can't simply write herself a new, promising outcome from her ruse.
Libraries and readers that choose The Bayrose Files receive delightful forays into not just friendship and support systems,
but what it means to evolve a lie, field its consequences, and consider the ultimate results of truths and lies. The candid
self-assessment Violet employs will simply delight readers seeking realistic over predictably happy endings:
"Betraying his trust in me was even worse in a way than lying to get accepted to The Home. He was a decent, kind,
affectionate person and I had come to love him. I was a lying, selfish bitch. That was all there was to it."
Lucked Out
Pat Moffett
Garrison-Savanna Publishing LLC
https://bookscouter.com/publisher/garrison-savanna-publishing-llc
9780974227832, $15.95 Paperback/$9.95 eBook
Lucked Out is a memoir about Vietnam service, but comes with a twist that sets it apart from most accounts of this tour of
duty. Pat Moffett preserved his sense of humor and his ability to capture ironic situations in what constitutes a romp through
foreign territory and American special interests in Vietnam. As such, readers who anticipate the usual account of trauma and
culture shock should add 'wartime capers' into the mix as Moffett becomes involved in black market currency schemes, goes
above and beyond the demands of duty and obeying a superior by becoming embroiled in secret personal missions, hijacks a
helicopter on a pizza run, and more.
This isn't to say that Lucked Out is just a laugh a minute (though it does impart that flavor at many points of comic relief).
It's also a serious story of survival that takes place on moral and ethical levels as unfolding circumstances test Moffett's
mettle and convictions.
All this is narrated in a tone devoted to bringing a "you are here" feel to readers that embraces some of the multifaceted
requirements of serving in Vietnam (if you're Moffett, that is).
His proclivity for unusual situations and circumstances shines through descriptions that are thoroughly involving. Even
chapter headings prove unexpected, as in 'Saigon Pizza to Go,' which explains:
"I've heard that there's this little pizzeria just outside Tan Son Nhut Air Base in Saigon. It's supposed to have the best pizzas
in the Orient, almost as good as the ones Stateside."
"It seems that the Air Force wants to keep it all to themselves." Herb's face changed; one would believe it was the most
tragic event that had ever happened. "They've restricted the base from Army personnel. We're not allowed to travel there by
truck."
Then he smiled wickedly. "They wouldn't say no to a fellow pilot, though. Maybe you could just hop down there with a
Huey and pick up five pizzas for all of us?"
It's a pizza run attached to a pilot's prank, as Moffett discovers on the ride of his life.
The narrative also drives home the point that all soldier desires and experiences in Vietnam were not the same:
Some of the guys who were sent to the war in Vietnam wanted to be on the front, where the action was. I was perfectly
happy where I was; despite the regular salvos aimed vaguely in our direction by the VC, it was relatively safe - certainly far
safer than trudging through the virtually impenetrable jungle just waiting to trip a booby trap or for Charlie to take a potshot
at you. Many of us administrative grunts and other personnel were just as happy to fulfill our duties well back from the
actual fighting. However, the Viet Cong didn't fight on straight battle lines; there really was no front. Vietnam is a small
country. It was impossible to be there and be totally risk-free.
The theme of lucky escapes, encounters, or even love runs through Moffett's story with a stream of positivity and
encouragement.
Moffett's tour of duty embraces all kinds of encounters and experiences that move beyond the battlefield and into the
psyches, survival tactics, and camaraderie of the American soldier. This gives his memoir more depth and attraction than
many more singular accounts of Vietnam, making it a highly recommended pick even for libraries that already sport a
healthy collection of Vietnam memoirs.
Book clubs interested in exploring the diversity of the Vietnam soldier's experiences will want to place Lucked Out at the
top of their reading lists. Its ability to bring to life the daily experiences of soldiers on their leisure time as well as in battle
gives a different view of the war than most battle-oriented memoirs achieve:
Gripping the arms of my seat, I looked down through my window and caught a glimpse of the hooch where I had once lived;
it filled me with a peculiar sense of nostalgia and - dare I say it? - homesickness. That feeling soon passed, though,
overshadowed by my silent hope that Charlie wouldn't launch a rocket at us as we vacated the country. Maybe that fear was
irrational, but the feeling of imminent enemy fire isn't one that simply disappears the moment you're airborne and going
home.
The Greatest Band That Never Was
Jeff Meshel
Atmosphere Press
www.atmospherepress.com
9798891324992, $25.99pb, $34.99 hc, $8.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Greatest-Band-That-Never-Was/dp/B0DP3HFYQF
The Greatest Band That Never Was tells of middle-aged Ohio paralegal Shelly Griffin's foray into the past when she
inadvertently shares a video clip of the long-gone band Decapede.
When her post unexpectedly goes viral, she embarks on a mission resurrect the band. This involves locating its members
and discovering the truth about the dying rock 'n roll years and those who achieved fame in rock music circles.
That's the basic plot. But Jeff Meshel pushes the themes of middle-age discovery, rock music revelations, and personal
involvements, bringing the past alive as Shelly plots the band's reunion and imagines the novel discoveries that will come
from such a venture. What she can't imagine is how this effort will impact not just her fascination, but the modern world
around her.
Meshel pairs Shelly with a host of other characters. Each hold special interests and objectives that both dovetail with and
clash with her pursuit. There's bandleader Aaron Woodright; Allie, the owner of Bauer's Brewery (an institution that also
has a lot to do with past and present outcomes); band coordinator Bev Hunt and her son Robbie; and radio and show
personalities that rub shoulders with handymen and billionaires alike.
Humor, irony, and self-inspection drive this story with an energy that will especially appeal to readers harboring their own
attraction to bygone times, imagining what these dreams would look like when translated to present-day experience.
Emotional and musical ties entwine, creating a truly compelling saga of discovery and recovery.
Is Shelly's effort to turn the clock back a misguided vision? Meshel poses interesting questions through dialogues and
encounters that will lead readers to question ideals of the past and their reincarnation in the present:
"Don't you understand anything? In real life, humans interact. They meet, and they talk to each other, and if they're really
lucky, they get involved and fall in love, and sometimes they have their hearts broken. And then they pick themselves up
and pull themselves together and start all over again. That's how life works."
Libraries that choose The Greatest Band That Never Was will especially appreciate how the story bows to past events and
memories while capturing the lively energy of the passage of time as Shelly and others navigate newfound stardom and
grapple with its implications. Its flavor of action, discovery, and revised notions of past and present is particularly
engrossing.
Book clubs will find many topics worthy of avid discussion and debate, from the impact a sojourn into the past brings to
disparate lives in the present to considerations of growth and discovery that rest upon the foundations of music's ability to
draw together communities and individuals an a unique manner.
Facing Inward, A Memoir of Celebrity, Sexuality and Chronic Disease
Melissa Carter
Whanging Dude Publishing
www.whangingdude.com
9798989407804, $19.95 Paperback
Facing Inward, A Memoir of Celebrity, Sexuality and Chronic Disease is a chronicle of two concurrent struggles: one about
achieving lofty life goals; the other on battling ongoing chronic kidney disease. Melissa Carter's discussions of her struggles
and achievements create a life-infused jolt of experiences that don't just center on her illness, but on the health of making
and setting goals and growing into life. In this effort, she shines.
From coming out as a lesbian to becoming a successful media personality and embarking on a lifelong journey to understand
why her body reacts so differently than others, Carter embeds her story with personal observation, background, and details
of growth that will both entertain and enlighten her readers.
The story opens like a play, exploring a vivid hospital scene and presenting names and medical personnel in upper case to
reinforce the shifting participants in a dramatic portrait of Carter's birth. Actually, it's an imagined drama, because Carter
shortly confesses that this event held medical challenges, but wasn't quite as edgy as the opening description suggests. As
background life notes evolve, it becomes apparent that "tall tales" run in the family... and thankfully, for the reader's
entertainment.
With this vivid setting in place, Carter's off into what promises to be a captivating, vivid exploration of life that begins with
birth and moves into related growth and drama.
Everyone around her teaches her something about life. Her chance meeting with celebrity David Byrne, for example, holds a
lesson that will be central as she hones her career:
It was my first real lesson in being humble as a celebrity, and I found his behavior incredibly charming.
As important these career- and life-building observations are, injections of reality about death and illness are equally
compelling draws:
I didn't want the Grim Reaper hanging around the neighborhood for any extended period of time. However, illness requires
patience and a whole lot of mental strength, so I knew I would just have to find a way to endure.
Readers facing their own struggles with chronic kidney disease and transplant will find plenty of examples and insights in
Carter's memoir about survival and proactive thinking. However, to view her story as a health foray alone would be to do
Facing Inward an injustice. As much as Carter confronts many possibilities of death, she gives equal attention to
life-affirming choices and options which build both career and growth. As she finds joy in life and in her embrace of her
oddities and strengths, Carter's memoir serves as a blueprint to readers for developing self-understanding and
acceptance.
Libraries that choose Facing Inward for its insights on chronic health challenges will find it highly recommendable to
readers interested in the (ultimately uplifting) personal journeys of women who have gone the mile in growing into new
personalities and objectives.
For these reasons, book clubs and women's reading groups, too, will find Facing Inward delightfully enlightening and
worthy of assignment and discussion:
Instead of asking why me, now you have to say, what's next?
Of Ash and Salt
Daniel G.M. McGee
https://danielgmmcgee.com
Ruby Cave Publishing
9781763800106, $14.99
https://www.amazon.com/Ash-Salt-Emorean-Prophecy-Book/dp/1763800105
Of Ash and Salt, the first book in the Emorean Prophecy sword-and-sorcery fantasy series, combines a coming-of-age saga
with an epic battle. This is set in a time when those with magical abilities are torn from their homes by the repressive
Cernite Order.
Young orphan girl Eila dreams of joining the rebellion movement lest her gifted friend Tondor vanish from her life, grabbed
by the Order's Blackcoats. Meanwhile, Aiden's father grapples with a dark spirit that seems to portend the end of all life - if
the prophecy is correct. Aiden doesn't care about this outcome. He just wants to save his father.
It turns out that Eila's friend isn't the only one with enviable gifts. Eila harbors an ability that connects her to other
creatures:
A squeak interrupted her search. Mouse was back. The grey ball of fur came climbing up the wall, wiggling his tail to
provide just the right balance, and continued up Eila's leg to her knee. He stopped and flared his nostrils, long whiskers
moving in rhythm. Nothing to eat in here, Eila. Just dust and dirt everywhere.
Each character cultivates friendships that lead to lessons and improvements in their various abilities as battle looms.
Overshadowed by the predicted apocalyptic event, Eila and Aiden hone skills and relationships as they confront their
destinies and the possibility of benefiting from combined abilities.
Mouse accompanies Eila and sniffs out trouble in the form of housekeeper Vilita, whose mercurial efforts portend adversity
from unexpected quarters. Eila's increasing distance from Tondor, despite her efforts to save him, also enter into the fray to
present bigger-picture thinking about the nature of friendships set side for larger pursuits:
As she stood there, frustration and fear set in, her thoughts turning to Tondor. How much time had passed since she'd last
seen him? Had the Blackcoats turned him against her? Was he still the friend she remembered, or had he become something
else, something unreachable? The possibility of being too late to rescue him filled her with dread.
An invitation to set something free introduces further dilemmas as Eila and Aiden reap the consequences of their choices,
delving into the uncharted territory of commitments, loyalty, questions of good versus evil, and impossible bids for freedom.
These challenges involve accepting the help of the Darsaad blade, which masks its true intentions.
Tension is nicely developed as the two disparate characters come to terms with their life connections, evolving missions,
and revised perceptions of the world around them and their places in it.
Mystery, intrigue, prophecy and magic entwine and are deeply woven into the coming-of-age component in Of Ash and Salt.
This creates a realistic scenario in which the characters are compelled to discover and learn how to employ their hidden
powers and new connections during the course of their journey.
There's no hiding from this cataclysm.
The realization propels both players into new directions in a vivid series of growth-inducing encounters that proves hard to
put down, whether the reader is a teen or an adult. Both audiences will thoroughly enjoy the quandaries that grapple the land
and its inhabitants.
Libraries seeking series titles that open especially compellingly and strongly, taking the time to build characters against a
realistic backdrop of social and political turmoil, will find Of Ash and Salt an excellent collection addition that's highly
recommended for fantasy and thriller audiences alike.
Align Your Business With the Real You
Jennifer Musser
PenRock Press
www.JLMAConsulting.com
9798991544214, $19.99 Paperback/$31.99 Hardcover/$9.99 eBook
https://www.amazon.com/Align-Your-Business-Real-You/dp/B0DRTHRXNF
Align Your Business With the Real You: Connect with Yourself, Create What Matters Most, and Define Your Success
belongs in business, economics, and entrepreneurial libraries. Jennifer Musser's focus on linking personal vision and ideals
of success with basic business concepts and objectives gives her book an edge of authenticity that stands out from other
business and personal growth titles.
From its initial chapters covering "Finding Where You Belong" and "Focus to Win" to later discussions such as "Shift Your
Perspective" and "Be Your Catalyst for Change," Align Your Business With the Real You will especially appeal to
audiences who would better marry business objectives and interests with a concurrent focus on personal growth, adaptation,
and transformation.
Musser creates a novel opportunity in her exploration of a new way of approaching business. She tackles difficult questions
of self-interest and balance that will require readers to reconsider many of their assumptions and beliefs. Questions provoke
deeper-level thinking and psychological insight:
How do I stay focused in the daily bustle of my life?
How do I feel fulfilled while supporting significant others, employees, clients, employers, supervisors, community - even
kids, aging parents, and pets?
How do I gain traction to move forward, feeling less confused, conflicted, and frustrated?
How do I give myself the support I need?
How do I connect with others who lift me up rather than those who zap my energy?
The good news is that the very definition of an entrepreneurial personality often involves applied creative change to produce
a product or service that differs from traditional norms. Thus, the seemingly radical contentions of this book won't seem as
daunting to the entrepreneur as they will to those who have been immersed in traditional business culture.
A series of tools help thinkers move forward. These range from understanding Musser's 'Gratitude Equation' and its
applications beyond new age thinking into business realms to visualization exercises, questions that encourage
self-inspection, and methods that embrace the freedom and space to process new ideas about entrepreneurial and personal
values:
The keystone of your calendar is your time to work on your business without anyone else around. Keep in mind your
keystone time is separate from the Silence Solution time we covered in Chapter 6, for you to you spend alone, not working,
to collect your thoughts for the day. This keystone is the most important part of your weekly work schedule. If you find time
to reallocate, this is the place.
Aspiring business leaders will appreciate the concrete ideas posed in Align Your Business With the Real You - but they
come with a caution. Readers should be prepared to self-examine on a level that goes beyond identifying strategic pathways
to business success.
Libraries that choose Align Your Business With the Real You for their collections will especially want to highly recommend
it to business readers and book clubs interested in considering and discussing the connections between and mechanics of
effecting real change to better understand not just business structure, but one's self.
What We Give Away
Paulette Stout
www.paulettestout.com
Media Goddess Inc.
https://books2read.com/what-we-give-away
9798989023936, $21.99 Paperback/$4.99 eBook
https://books2read.com/what-we-give-away
https://www.amazon.com/What-Give-Away-Delicious-Standalone/dp/B0DNRRH9ST
What We Give Away: A Delicious Standalone Novel sports an unusual subtitle amplification that is such a good idea, it
should be a clarifier on many a book that is part of a series (this is the fourth book in the Bold Journeys exploration).
The subtitle clarifier encourages newcomers to delve right in, confident that any prior events will be incorporated into and
smoothly explained from the outset. It neatly addresses any concerns that the fourth book in a series demands the
prerequisite of familiarity.
Award-winning journalist Leslie is approaching her forties with the knowledge that one big lie might have driven away the
true love of her life. Her decision to become personally involved in an investigation of food habits and psychological
connections leads her to self-examine her own food choices in a new manner, connecting her to a journalistic pursuit that
holds new possibilities for her life.
Her prior romance with Chef Risto has ended, giving her the freedom to explore new opportunities, however lonely they
may be. In reality, each person secretly licks their love wounds and dreams of the other.
When Leslie's investigation begins to strike too close to home in more negative ways, she is forced into a position of having
to choose between professional advancement and personal anguish. The powerful saga of love and success rests on Leslie's
revised definition of both.
Paulette Stout once again creates a powerful inspection of life, juxtaposing issues of identity and love into greater concerns
about responsibility, professional advancement, and how personal life and career can clash.
Many of Leslie's personal and food insights will more than resonate with her readers, keeping the plot not just believable,
but thoroughly attractive:
"Why should you have thought there was anything wrong with how you were approaching food?"
"Oh, I don't know. I'm scared shitless at mealtimes. I avoid family and friends when there's a meal involved. I keep an empty
fridge to reduce temptation. Shop online to spare myself the sensory assault of the grocery store. I haven't had a regular
period since I was sixteen. Oh yeah, how about the nagging thoughts of food but the inability to eat? Zero desire for sex and
the constant tiredness in my bones?"
It all sounded so obvious when I said it aloud. So why was I just putting the puzzle pieces together?
Leslie does more than experience a revelation that changes her life. She tackles auxiliary relationships and professional
issues in a manner that will completely immerse readers in life's dilemmas, prompting them to consider the special blend of
insight and change that drive personal success and career advancement.
Stout adds intrigue into the mix for added value, profiling both characters as they come to terms with food and other
influences while flavoring descriptions that are mouth-wateringly realistic:
Instead of the usual overwhelm that typically left me fleeing the store empty handed, cartoon-style through the wall, I calmly
browsed. I read labels, and Dot and I discussed the importance of eating a variety of foods. While I was now following a
specific meal plan to restart my system, eventually my hunger signals would return. Once that happened, I'd be able to
follow my cravings like the women we talked about at Dot's meeting. So odd to think of trusting my body after fighting it
for so long.
While romance readers and prior fans will certainly choose What We Give Away, its added value lies in raising important
questions about body image, food habits and their sources, and underlying influence on eating healthily or unhealthily.
This is why libraries will want to recommend What We Give Away to book clubs considering not just novels about love and
relationships, but the most important relationships of all - body image and psyche. The discussions What We Give Away
will provoke on these subjects will be far more vigorous and engaging than most nonfiction analyses could achieve.
In the Company of Knaves
Anthony R. Wildman
www.anthonyrwildman.net
Plutus Publishing
9780648945499, $6.99 eBook
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DMZHG789
In the Company of Knaves, Book Three in the 'Lost Years of William Shakespeare' series, opens in 1589. A new play by
young William has been presented to the actors of Lord Strange's Men for performance. The effort no sooner reaches stage
than the show is shut down by authorities for a minor transgression.
Undaunted, William begins on a new play, Titus Andronicus. Ironically, this too comes to a halt when a burglary results in
the manuscript being stolen from his room, along with other writings. Forced to engage a band of thieves to track and get
back his literary work, William moves from literary to mystery pursuits. His search for his missing plays leads him deep into
the underbelly of an artistic and performance subterfuge he'd never known about.
Anthony R. Wildman crafts a powerful tale that will attract mystery and historical fiction readers a well as literary fans of
well-crafted novels based on real people. His portrait of Shakespeare's times embraces many intriguing, thought-provoking
moments about the intersection (and sometimes the clash) of artistic and political special interests:
For any company that played within London's walls, there was always the possibility that the Puritan-dominated city council
would seize on some pretext to close them down. On the other hand, plays and theatre-going were popular with the gentry,
not to mention the queen, and so the city fathers had to tread carefully.
This, in turn, adds pragmatic insights on events that swirl around Shakespeare's literary efforts, social responsibilities, and
the disparate lives of those who become involved with his efforts.
Tyrannical behaviors, duels, and feminine rebellion emerge as underlying threads to the greater story of Renaissance
rivalries among artists that draw in political figures. This gives the times a sense of delicious realism that keeps readers
engaged - even those who may have thought the Renaissance period a relatively dry collection of facts and events.
Wildman's lively explorations and intrigue developments prove otherwise.
The addition of Emma Ball into the mix of special interests and striking personalities will draw women into the era with the
knowledge that not all Renaissance women worked in kitchens or went to balls. Emma's powerful personality and
involvements draws William into unsettled, murky waters as the intrigue and associations evolve.
Libraries seeking literary historical fiction that excels in a sense of place, time, and psychological twists and turns that not
only keep the characters compelling, but the action vividly personal, will be happy to recommend In the Company of
Knaves to a wide audience, from prior series fans to readers that seek a standalone novel sporting great attraction for its
striking sense of time, place, people, and events.
Letter to a Dandelion
Jeffry Glover
www.JeffryGlover.com
Poems for Pleasure Press LLC
9781948854085, $14.99
https://www.amazon.com/Letter-Dandelion-Gardeners-Nature-Lovers/dp/B0DT5QTJKL
Letter to a Dandelion: Earth Verse for Gardeners & Nature Lovers is a poetry collection rich in descriptive, appreciative
celebrations of the outdoors. This will especially please readers who hold deep connections to gardens and writings that
celebrate them.
A winning cover illustration by Mary Bausman provides the initial draw to a collection replete with as much whimsy and
delight as Glover's previous The Wildebeest and a Bunch of Crock and Other Animal Story Poems.
The seasonal arrangement opens with spring blossoms and celebrations as winter recedes and flowers and creatures of the
outdoors emerge to celebrate the sun.
This collection isn't intended to be philosophical and heavy reading, as are too many nature reflections. Its light-hearted
approach to gardens imparts a personal touch that is inviting and warm. One example lies in the introductory poem
'Welcome to Our Yard and Garden':
Read with pleasure
At your leisure
About our yard and
Lovely garden
Through each season
Warm to freezin'...
The wildlife that visits this garden also receives wonderful explorations, as in 'Renditions of the Wren':
Renditions of the wren
Add music to my day,
And this has always been
A special joy, a way
To give my life a lift,
A measure of delight.
Given its underlying messages of happiness and warmth, readers could not opt for a better collection of verse to combat the
cold of winter months and turbulent times. Another big plus is that Glover employs rhymes rather than free verse. These are
astutely and finely rendered to demonstrate literary prowess as well as reflecting a personal celebratory touch.
Libraries seeking contemporary nature-oriented poetry that demonstrates a seasoned and effective hand to employing verse
will especially welcome the opportunity to add Letter to a Dandelion to their collections. It promises to attract a wide range
of poetry readers and others, from fans of modern verse and nature to gardeners who will find its lilting, celebratory
descriptions a perfect key for enjoying and celebrating both the outdoors and literary talent.
Naked Girl
Janna Brooke Wallack
www.jannabrookewallack.com
Independently Published
9798892125703, $18.99 Hardcover/$14.99 Paperback/$0.99 eBook/$10.00 Audiobook
https://www.amazon.com/Naked-Girl-Janna-Brooke-Wallack/dp/B0CWL3GZ4L
Readers of historical fiction and coming-of-age novels will find Naked Girl fits the bill for a vivid read. It blends oddball
father Jackson's views of life with his influence on two siblings who are largely left on their own, but who benefit from his
quirky perspective as much as they suffer from his benign neglect:
Jackson approached us on a wave of incense smoke undercut by a bittersweet gush of marijuana. He plopped down between
us where we sat watching "Captain Kangaroo" on the wicker sectional left by some hopeful woman who wasn't our mother,
but who might have intended to stay.
"Hey, you two munchies," he said, his smile as dilated as his pupils. "Who's in the mood for an adventure?" And, like
magic, the whole room brimmed with mischief.
The contrast between and dichotomy of a lifestyle that becomes embroiled in a communal cult of chaos also captures the
benefits of alternative thinking patterns, self-resilience, and unexpected journeys. These facets come to life through
evocative "you are here" descriptions reinforced by the first person, allowing readers to delve into uncharted territory
cemented by memorable, malleable young personalities and experiences:
Today looked to be a great one. By noon, we might be anywhere from Key Largo to Kalamazoo. It was a crisp September
Tuesday, cloudy, minus the usual haze, and since we never went to school, it was the same as any other day. Jackson put the
top down so Siddhi and I could sit up high in the back, crunching handfuls of Cheerios and waving like pageant queens,
looking out for better views of the coming hours.
As Sienna and her younger brother Siddhartha walk out of familiar, traditional patterns and into new ventures, readers that
join their ride through life will find the story replete in the unexpected. Not only is their father no ordinary parent, but they,
conversely, are not ordinary children. Forced to adapt and grow in novel ways, Sienna and Siddi choose paths in response to
their revised lives that are as unexpected as their father's choices.
Janna Brooke Wallack cultivates an attractive, zany road trip through counterculture life from the perspective of a child
whose experience and definition of home proves very different than most. Readers prompted to think about the outcomes of
parental choices will find much to consider about the ways in which the children grow from their perhaps-less-than-ideal
new surroundings.
Equally thought-provoking are moments of reflection and insight which follow the children's evolutionary process, adding
life and unexpected insights experienced from walking between two very different worlds. Of special note is how Siddi
comes to view this disparity, juxtaposing his sometimes-strange encounters with adults with his changing views of not just
his place in the world, but the impact of his upbringing. Especially pointed are his observations of others who appear to have
more control over their destinies than he:
Siddhi craved Travis's Zen with the board and his easy approach to life, treating the scariest things like they were no
biggie.
Themes of family diversity and inspection, social propriety and changes, and the different growth and revelations
experienced by each of the kids makes for a thoroughly engrossing romp through life. This provides readers with memorable
moments and thought-provoking considerations of what it means to be in and have a family.
A heartwarming, fun experience lies in wait for libraries that choose to acquire and recommend Naked Girl to a wide
audience. This includes book clubs seeking engaging, exceptional books that introduce many unexpected lines of
development with much accompanying food for thought.
Powerful descriptions create a masterpiece of insight and possibility:
I'd arrived that afternoon ready to battle Kublai Khan, to hold my ground to the bloody death, throw down the pain of my
existence at the foot of my oppressor, and demand, if not a solution, then truth, repentance, groveling, drooling, sniveling,
tearful apologies. The only thing I hadn't anticipated was being where I sat, staring into the face of my father and already
feeling like I'd won, like anything I said or did would be overkill, and the win was a distinction, a power shift, but a joyless
one, like I'd been shipwrecked and washed up in a safe harbor, and it seemed like a waste of energy, and quite frankly silly
as hell, to stand there on the shore and tell off the sea.
The Plagiarism Plot
Geoffrey M. Cooper
https://geofcooper.com
Captain Thomas Publishing
9781733771443, $15.95 paperback, $4.99 ebook
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DKY4WN2Z
Brad Parker and Karen Richmond return to the limelight of investigative efforts in The Plagiarism Plot, falling into yet
another case in the eighth book of the thriller series.
This time, Parker and his partner, FBI Special Agent Richmond, find that a probe of scientific misconduct has blown up into
a full-fledged conspiracy mystery that embraces all kinds of participants.
As in the previous Parker and Richmond books, exquisite tension is well-developed, backed by unexpected twists and turns
of plot that keep the action nonstop and the outcomes satisfyingly unpredictable.
Readers might think that the eighth book in a series requires prior familiarity with the main characters, at least. However, as
with its predecessors, The Plagiarism Plot needs no prior introduction in order to prove thoroughly engrossing and
immediately accessible to newcomers.
A prologue sets the stage with a suspicious offer made to a candidate, for a long-coveted tenured position. The job and an
envelope of money is Monica's... for a seemingly small cost. That's how one buys placement for future nefarious
investments, it seems. But it's not that simple, as "Mr. Black" makes an investment of his own that requires a big payback.
The third-person prologue sets the stage before Chapter 1 converts to the first person.
Another big plus to this saga lies in its ability to weave a tapestry of deception against the realistic backdrop of the scientific
and medical community. The politics of professional misconduct investigations come to life, as do the quandaries presented
by special interests that undermine institutions, procedures, and vulnerable participants in the system.
Brad Parker becomes involved because of his position as Director of MTRI. The initial allegation is shocking to him:
This was the last thing I'd expected. Since I'd been director, there had been a few cases of authorship disputes or graduate
students being too selective about which data to include in their theses. But nothing that rose to the level of an official ORI
misconduct inquiry.
But, it's only the tip of the iceberg as first Brad and then Karen become personally ensnared in the investigation of a
lifetime.
As in his other books, Geoffrey M. Cooper builds personal relationships and revelations that blend seamlessly into an
ambiance of professional discovery. He also widens the territory from Maine to Boston, injecting atmospheric touches to
keep the story not just fast-paced, but realistic and exciting as different researchers' approaches and interests muddy the
waters of truth.
From an analysis of career trajectories that suggest who is most vulnerable to blackmail to descriptions of the perils of going
undercover, vivid events give many talking and thinking points to thriller fans participating in book clubs or reading
circles:
"What are you, crazy? Look at the four of you, you're not cops. You look like you've spent the day playing football in the
mud. What'd you do, order the badge on Amazon?"
I had to admit, he had a point. We were all a mess, and there wasn't a uniform among us. Nor anything resembling the coat
and tie generally worn by Boston detectives.
A satisfyingly fast-paced probe into the politics, policies, and influences that underlie professional ambitions makes The
Plagiarism Plot thoroughly engrossing.
The Plagiarism Plot is thus a very highly recommended acquisition for libraries whose patrons enjoy vibrant thriller
situations, as well as reading groups and book clubs interested in scenarios that probe nefarious influences in a widely-cast
net of subterfuge and special interests.
The Catalysts
Joseph Guzzo
Resource Publications
c/o Wipf and Stock Publishers
https://wipfandstock.com
9798385236930, $37.00 Hardcover/$22.00 Paperback/$9.99 eBook
https://www.amazon.com/Catalysts-Novel-Joseph-Guzzo/dp/B0DPCMRJNT
The Catalysts will especially attract and delight cat fans seeking a charismatic animal character and a story that revolves
around a shelter cat's adoption by the Gioppolo family. Stray cat Fatty wanders into Red's sweet situation, and a secret both
share upends the lives of those around them.
Joseph Guzzo builds a cat-centric focus on these lives, which gives added value via its analysis and observations of
relationships both feline and human:
Occasionally, she would come across a house and see one of her own sitting in a window. The first time she encountered
such a sight, she almost fainted. The cat in the window looked so calm and well-fed. And warm! Maybe not all the
two-leggeds were so awful. But she knew some of them were. She had to keep up her guard.
Yet she wondered. How do I end up like one of those window cats?
Shifting perspectives give a full-bodied feel to the furry characters, while the consequences of divulging their deepest
secrets to the humans around them hold further attraction for their unexpected directions and impact.
As the cats interact, readers become involved in their perceptions of the world, their abilities, and their different objectives
in juxtaposing freedom with indoor comforts:
"Oh, you two," said Red. "Again, nothing happened the first time. You know why? Because we're cats. We're fast. We're
sleek. We don't get in trouble."
"Well, Fatty isn't exactly sleek," said Luca. "No offense, pal."
"None taken, Luca."
"Yeah, true. But she's fast. You've seen her play. She's got great reflexes. And, Fatty, you survived by your wits for a long
time outside. Do you really think something bad is going to happen if we sneak away for an hour?"
As the humans become involved in the puzzle of missing cats, so readers will be delighted by the juxtaposition of two very
different worlds, with all their disparate attitudes and expectations. Guzzo is masterful at depicting both, giving the novel an
outstanding focus that celebrates diversity and unexpected outcomes.
Libraries looking for cat novels that feature a touch of something unexpected and different will relish the opportunity to
recommend The Catalysts to readers seeking a joyful, uplifting, fun, and thought-provoking story. Its refreshing creative
flavor provides much-needed enjoyment to feline-appreciative audiences.
Sport & Leisure
Tom Trondson
Black Rose Writing
www.blackrosewriting.com
9781685136154, $21.95
Minnesota natives, residents, or aficionados will find that state's culture and sports milieu embedded in Sport & Leisure, a
novel that embraces life, love, and the cultural milieu of the North.
Ken Solberg is heading to northern Minnesota on a journey that brings to life the music and experiences of his youth:
The music turns majestic. Like an American flag rippling in the wind. That's the beauty of Springsteen - his songs are like
caught fire. They're the balm against a cruel world, his problem solver and old friend, how he blows off steam. They remind
him of America - bottled up one moment, the next like fireworks on the 4th of July.
The next lines capture perfectly the adventure Ken embarks on, which is presented in powerful metaphors that will simply
captivate readers:
It's dark like it's never dark in Minneapolis. A northern night sky has a color all its own. A black that tears straight through
you. Ken feels like he's near some end and there's nothing he can do but keep moving for fear of getting in its way.
This serves as both example and a summary of the book's wide-ranging observations and connections as Ken drinks, drives,
fights, and faces the end of his marriage.
Tom Trondson presents a romp through Minnesotan culture and individual angst, lacing all with an air of familiarity and
allure that will attract readers to Ken's uncertain, shifting positions as villain and ordinary guy.
Music and drinking fuel this sojourn through life as women confront men, men confront themselves, and life goes on. From
best friends and blank checks to hunting and intriguing contrasts between the worlds of humans and nature, Trondson
captures facets of Ken's life, friends, and family in a way that feels both familiar and surprising. These stark contrasts create
a compelling saga in Sport & Leisure that delivers many memorable moments, laces philosophical and psychological
revelation into the mix of bigger picture and ordinary life, and makes the story utterly compelling.
Bruce Springsteen songs play through the story in a tantalizing fashion. At times Ken fades into the background to allow
other characters to assume central position, such as Sherman Garrity, wife Kimberly, and others. Their perspectives and
experiences dovetail nicely with protagonist Ken's ride through life, creating interesting juxtapositions of interests,
background, and objectives.
From film-making to life-changing events, Trondson whirls through Minnesota with a realistic, thought-provoking, and
revealing attention to life flash points, influences, and detail.
Libraries seeking a novel steeped in a vivid sense of place and culture will welcome Sport & Leisure's multifaceted
reflections and its down-home, realistic portrait of a world in flux, finding it highly recommendable to book clubs seeking
novels of change and challenge.
Readers will appreciate its special focus on Springsteen, shows, and life reflections that will prompt thinking as much as
immersive enjoyment.
Between Sport & Leisure's solid sense of place and purpose and its probe of marriages gone right and wrong, the novel's
engrossing intersection of danger and discovery is unexpected, enlightening, and makes for a page-turner.
Brotherhood of the Wolf: The Lesser Evil
Written by Ezra LC (prose) and Wes Al-Dhaher (comic)
Illustrated by Aurelio Mazzarra
Tales of Khayr LLC
https://talesofkhayr.com
ISBN: None, $47.95
https://booksirens.com/book/JIJ4HQM
Imagine a graphic fantasy novel of prose storytelling accompanied by silent comic art. Set it in Constantinople, where a
shaky but powerful Christian ideology reigns; then add a vision of restoring the Ottoman kingdom to spread its dominance
over the Balkans. This commanding introduction to Brotherhood of the Wolf: The Lesser Evil promises riveting,
multifaceted reading which excels in a succinct scenario made all the more hard-hitting for its diverse characters and
format.
Ezra LC Wes Al-Dhaher crafts a masterful saga in which teenager Nikephoros grows into his powers and political destiny in
the early 15th century, facing many unexpected obstacles and observations as he comes of age.
His foray with friend Adam into an inky black darkness where ancient carvings portend dangerous threats will engross
readers with its "you are here" atmosphere as fear, pain, and a vanished fellow adventurer emerge from the depths.
The fantasy, horror, and historical backdrop are nicely entwined to create attraction to readers who are interested in one or
more of these genres.
Constantinople comes to life in all its diversity and attractions:
In Constantinople, there was always something new to see, always a new food to try, or some new trinket from a faraway
land. He loved this city and would do all he could to defend it and Christianity from the devils outside the walls.
As mother Polychronia confronts evil old friend Fausta, who delivers a not-so-subtle threat against her son, she struggles
with her noble duties and heritage and the very real possibility that her son may be sacrificed for a dubious higher
cause.
The mother and son's relationship teeters against the onslaught of emerging events neither can control - but love is the one
thing they can count on:
"I don't blame you for asking those things but know this; I am your mother and I love you. Everything I do is for you. There
is nothing I would not do to protect you. Do you believe that?"
"Yes," he said, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. He breathed in his mother's familiar scent as she hugged
him, pushing his doubts away. Whatever else, he believed that, and believed it with all his soul.
Half the story is presented in prose and half in a black and white graphic novel format with illustrations by Aurelio
Mazzarra, whose excellent work adds visual drama to the story. The "silent comic" presentation means that readers are
further encouraged to fill in the blanks and think about the pictures, rather than simply being "fed" the plot and action.
Graphic novel readers who like their plots complex and characters realistic and attractive will find Brotherhood of the Wolf:
The Lesser Evil a winner.
With its alluring backdrop, premise, illustrations, and unexpected situations, Brotherhood of the Wolf: The Lesser Evil is
easy to pick up and hard to put down. The wordless action requires readers think about the evolving events, filling in word
blanks based on battle portraits, character confrontations, and vivid action.
Diane C. Donovan, Senior Reviewer
Donovan's Literary Services
www.donovansliteraryservices.com
Gary Roen's Bookshelf
The Teacher
Freida McFadden
Poisoned Pen Press
c/o Sourcebooks
www.sourcebooks.com
9781728296210, $17.99 pbk / $3.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Teacher-Freida-McFadden/dp/1728296218
The suspense comes in waves, in "The Teacher." Eve. a math teacher at a high school is cautious with one of her students,
who the year before was involved in a scandal, with a fellow instructor. Now he no longer works there. As Eve talks to her
husband who is part of the English department, she finds he defends this female, no matter the issue. The novel takes many
twists and turns to the humdinger conclusion that will change all the characters lives forever. "The Teacher" races along
with solid writing, interesting people, and an out of the ordinary finale that ensures page turning excitement.
The Surrogate Mother
Freida McFadden
www.freidamcfadden.com
Independently Published
9798639013379, $17.99 pbk / $3.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Surrogate-Mother-addictive-psychological-thriller/dp/B087CVY9ZQ
"The Surrogate Mother" opens quietly, then roars along to the end in a suspenseful story. Abby and her husband have been
unable to have a child, no matter the way, they've tried. She has felt incomplete as a woman until Monica, a personal
assistant volunteers to a medical procedure, to ensure Abby's world is complete. All is perfect until Monica turns it into
something sinister. "The Surrogate Mother" is a page turning thriller that is a roller coaster ride with plenty of twists and
turns until the very last page
Do Not Disturb
Freida McFadden
www.freidamcfadden.com
Independently Published
9798474673417, $19.99 pbk / $3.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Do-Not-Disturb-addictive-psychological/dp/B09FS9ZGJD
Freida McFadden captures the reader with the first paragraph in "Do Not Disturb" "While I'm washing the blood off my
hands in the kitchen sink, the doorbell rings." Quinn Alexander has committed a crime. Rather than staying around and
facing her situation, she runs away staying in touch with only her sister. Along the way she encounters someone from her
past she never expected. She finds a hotel to stay in during a blizzard to find out the lodge has strange elements to it she
begins to explore as she realizes she is stuck there. "Do Not Disturb" is a rousing read from start to finish filled with strong
mysterious characters, solid plotting to the very end sure to keep readers glued to the last page.
Do You Remember
Freida McFadden
www.freidamcfadden.com
Independently Published
9798799032494, $10.99 pbk / $3.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Do-You-Remember-gripping-psychological/dp/B09Q681Y13
"Do You Remember?" opens with a great line to ensure readers want to continue "An ice pick is jabbing me in my right
temple." Tess Strebel is unsure of everything in her life as she struggles to remember things that people now say is not true.
She has doubts though about a man who says he is her husband but she recalls someone else who is in touch with her but
she is told things she is not sure about him. All her life is upside down, but she is sure what is before her, is not as it should
be. She is sure someone is preventing her from her learning the truth. Later things emerge where she knows without a doubt
matters, are not as they should be. "Do You Remember" is great to the end where it is confusing with two different
endings.
Navigator Down! A Jewish P.O.W. In Nazi Germany
Rick Lockenbach
Independently Published
9798334850996, $18.99 pbk / No Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/NAVIGATOR-DOWN-JEWISH-NAZI-GERMANY/dp/B0DC5R7JSX
Books on World War II continue to come out, and that is very good. So many of the men and women who served in the
armed forces or other ways to beat Germany, Italy and Japan have died off leaving fewer and fewer people from that
generation as well as Holocaust survivors. Author Lockenbach in his book "Navigator Down! A Jewish P.O.W. In Nazi
Germany" is so much more than the retelling of his combat fighter father but the story of so many other GI who served and
were prisoners. For so long details depicted here have been mostly unknown until now. Told in easy-to-read prose
"Navigator Down" is the authors account of his family's contribution that also informs, concentrating on that era, in the
hopes we learn from history to not repeat it.
Not Nothing
Gayle Forman Author
Aladdin
c/o Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
https://www.simonandschuster.com/kids
9781665943277, $17.99 HC / $10.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Not-Nothing-Gayle-Forman/dp/166594327
"Not Nothing" is so much more than Alex a twelve-year-old boy sentenced by a judge of the court system for a bad thing he
did. Alex is to spend his summer volunteering at a senior living center for his punishment. At first he resents the whole
situation. As he begins his punishment, his mood changes from one person he has met, The individual opens up to him, a
first for him to talk to anyone. Alex learns of a dark and sinister past of World War II in the patient's life. They bond as Alex
also changes as a person who is more caring for others. "Not Nothing" is a much more complicated YA novel than it first
appears to be that is thought provoking reading for all ages to enjoy and discuss.
Rise Of The Spider
Michael P. Spradlin
Margaret K. McElderry Books
c/o Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
https://www.simonandschuster.com/kids
9781665947213, $7.99 pbk / $7.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Spider-1-Web/dp/1665947217
Many of us have heard over the years stories of how Hitler and Nazi Germany rose to power after World War I. "Rise Of
The Spider" shows the effect on a father and his two sons. One is brainwashed to believe all is happening is for the good of
the country, while father and second son are determined to not support the cause, like their lost relation. "Rise Of The
Spider" delves deep into the darkness that took over Germany to show what can happen when people are caught up in the
frenzy stirred of nationalism. "Rise Of The Spider" is the first of a series of novels that should be required reading for all
ages.
Marvel After-School Heroes: Ghost-Spider's Unbreakable Mission
MacKenzie Caderhead, author
Dave Bardin, illustrator
Simon Spotlight
c/o Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
https://www.simonandschuster.com/kids
9781665959094, $5.99 pbk / $5.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Spiders-Unbreakable-Mission-Marvel-After-School/dp/1665959096
Marvel expands its universe with a new story, in the realm of super heroes with "Marvel After-School Heroes: Ghost
Spider's Unbreakable Mission." Gwen Stacey briefly pauses her school assignment, to be Ghost Spider to save the universe.
Its hard enough being a crime fighter, but her educational task as Gwen is just as difficult, to see to it that an egg in her
possession does not break apart. "Ghost Spider's Unbreakable Mission" is another entreating excursion into the Marvel
world for all ages to enjoy.
The Make-Believers
Ryan Seacrest and Meredith Seacrest Leach, authors
Bonnie Lui, illustrator
Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
An Imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
c/o Simon & Schuster
https://www.simonandschuster.com/kids
9781665949873, $19.99 HC / $10.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Make-Believers-Ryan-Seacrest/dp/1665949872
"The Make-Believers" is for all ages to enjoy the combination of prose and art fused together to tell a single story. We all
have dreams when we sleep. Some of us remember them and others don't. There are lots of underlying messages here but
one that is very clear is never lose your sense of imagination that is with us awake or not. We can train ourselves to
experience imagining anytime anywhere in the future. "The Make-Believers" fun for all of us.
Love From Snoopy: Inspired by the comic strip Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz
Charles M. Schulz, author
Maggie Testa, adapter
Scott Jeralds, illustrator
Simon Spotlight
c/o Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
https://www.simonandschuster.com/kids
9781665968591, $9.99 HC / $9.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Love-Snoopy-Peanuts-Maggie-Testa/dp/1665968591
The doctor is in. Five cents please, applies for "Love From Snoopy" Resident medical expert Snoopy, exposes the many
ways of love. in the world, just in time for the spectacular holiday, Valentines Day. The expert delves into all types of
emotions, for people to experience. "Love From Snoopy" is the perfect title for a romantic relationship. Even Charlie Brown
and Lucy Van Pelt would enjoy,
Gary Roen
Senior Reviewer
Helen Dumont's Bookshelf
Unpacking the Infant-Toddler Pyramid Model
Amy Hunter, et al.
Brookes Publishing Company
www.brookespublishing.com
9781681258591, $49.95, PB, 208pp
https://www.amazon.com/Unpacking-Infant-Toddler-Pyramid-Model-Practical/dp/1681258595
Synopsis: "Unpacking the Infant-Toddler Pyramid Model: A Practical Guide for Teachers and Providers " is the highly
anticipated follow-up to "Unpacking the Pyramid Model" and a one-of-a-kind book that is the first to provide a
comprehensive, step-by-step overview of the widely used Pyramid Model Practices for infants and toddlers from birth to
three. With this accessible training guide, teachers and providers will use research-based practices to meet the unique needs
of infants and toddlers -- and boost their social-emotional development in the critical first years of life.
Created by Professor Amy Hunter and other Pyramid Model developers and experts with extensive training experience,
"Unpacking the Infant-Toddler Pyramid Model" gives readers a complete introduction to the framework, plus in-depth
guidance, evidence-based practices, and helpful checklists for implementing all levels of the Pyramid Model: universal,
targeted, and individualized.
Teachers and providers will learn how to:
Address their own well-being to prepare for their important work
Build positive partnerships with families and colleagues
Develop predictable and responsive schedules, routines, and transitions
Promote children's social skills and emotional competencies
Support children's active engagement with their environment and peers
Create an anti-racist and inclusive early care environment
Meet the needs of young children who have experienced trauma
Understand, prevent, and effectively respond to challenging behavior
Use data to monitor Pyramid Model practice implementation and effects
Provide individualized support for children with persistent needs related to social-emotional development and behavior
Ideal for use in preservice and inservice training, "Unpacking the Infant Toddler Pyramid Model" will expertly prepare
infant-toddler teachers and providers to give the youngest children a strong foundation of social-emotional competence.
Critique: This large format (0.79 x 8.5 x 10.98 inches, 1.25 pounds) paperback edition of "Unpacking the Infant-Toddler
Pyramid Model: A Practical Guide for Teachers and Providers" is the collaborative work of early childhood specialists Amy
Hunter, Mary Louise Hemmeter, Kathryn M. Horen and twenty-eight other contributors. Exceptionally well organized and
presented, it includes Checklists of Effective Practices for each main topic covered, as well as tools for observation,
planning, and reflection; vignettes and photos illustrating classroom examples. Especially and unreservedly recommended,
"Unpacking the Infant-Toddler Pyramid Model: A Practical Guide for Teachers and Providers" is an ideal pick for personal,
professional, daycare center, preschool, and college/university library Early Childhood Education collections for teachers,
parents, and caregivers of children ages 1-3. It should be noted that this paperback edition of "Unpacking the Infant-Toddler
Pyramid Model: A Practical Guide for Teachers and Providers" from the Brookes Publishing Company is also available in a
digital book format (Kindle, $47.45).
Editorial Note: Amy Hunter (https://challengingbehavior.org/team_member/amy-hunter-licsw) is Assistant Professor at the
Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development. Currently, Amy oversees the mental health section of
the Head Start National Center on Early Childhood Health and Wellness. Amy is also faculty on the Substance Abuse and
Mental Health Services Administration-funded National Center of Excellence on Infant/Early Childhood Mental Health
Consultation.
Bedrock: The Making of a Public Garden
Jill Nooney
Peter E. Randall Publisher
www.perpublisher.com
9781942155812, $50.00, HC, 224pp
https://www.amazon.com/Bedrock-Making-Public-Jill-Nooney/dp/B0DLJGQNBD
Synopsis: "Cultivation is just another word for commitment. You think you are just pulling weeds, but what you are really
doing is writing a love letter to your patch of earth." Thomas Rainer
This quote opens "Bedrock: The Making of a Public Garden", a fascinating volume that is a love letter from a woman to the
garden she spent 40 years creating. Jill Nooney, a psychotherapist and graduate of the Radcliffe Seminars Program in
Landscape Design, and her husband Bob Munger, a physician, developed their 30 acres in Lee, New Hampshire into an
unforgettable garden.
Featuring more than 300 photographs of the garden and Jill's artful sculptures, water features, and built structures that
provide places throughout Bedrock Garden from which to contemplate the complete landscape, "Bedrock: The Making of a
Public Garden" takes us from the garden's origins as a private space to its present life as a public garden. The garden has
slowly evolved through its creators' deep love for the land -- and an indomitable urge to experiment.
Rich with entertaining anecdotes of realizing improbable, visionary concepts that involved moving boulders, carrying trees
and rocks on planes, ferreting out rare plant material, operating all manner of equipment, and managing thousands of
visitors, this is a story of love, loss and generosity. The book takes the reader into a landscape that is green and wild, but
also filled with a deep sense of peace. Just like visitors to the garden, readers will fall in love with Bedrock.
Critique: This large format hardcover edition of "Bedrock: The Making of a Public Garden" by Jill Nooney is beautifully
and profusely illustrated in full color throughout. As an original year round public garden developing history, simply
browsing through its informative pages is the next best thing to an on-site visitation. This edition of "Bedrock: The Making
of a Public Garden" from Peter E. Randall Publisher is perfect for the armchair traveler and certain to be a well received
pick for personal, professional, community, and college/university library collections.
Editorial Note: Jill Nooney attended the Radcliffe Seminars Program in Landscape Design. She has had a lifelong interest in
plants, art, and healing the human spirit. Together with her husband, Bob Munger, and over the span of forty years, they
created Bedrock Gardens and in 2023 they gifted the garden to the Friends of Bedrock Gardens to be enjoyed by all.
(https://blog.hardyplantsociety.org/meet-jill-nooney-of-bedrock-gardens-our-zoom-presenter-on-02-18-2025)
Helen Dumont
Reviewer
John Taylor's Bookshelf
How to Get Along with Anyone
John Eliot & Jim Guinn
Simon and Schuster
www.simonandschuster.com
Blackstone Publishing
https://www.blackstonelibrary.com
9781668033074, $29.99, HC, 304pp
https://www.amazon.com/How-Get-Along-Anyone-Predicting/dp/1668033070
Synopsis: The average American worker spends 156 hours a year engaged in the kind of moderate to intense workplace
conflict that adversely impacts both performance and health.
Managers spend twenty-six percent of their time addressing and resolving conflicts on their team -- the equivalent of
chewing up one full workday each week.
But what if it didn't need to be like this? What if there was a way to spend less time in stressfully interpersonal interactions
and more time on the things that really matter?
Through three decades of building and facilitating team chemistry for Fortune 500 companies, professional sports
franchises, schools, government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and families with the publication of "How to Get Along
with Anyone: The Playbook for Predicting and Preventing Conflict at Work and at Home", co-authors Jim Guinn and John
Eliot show how to reduce the time and cost of conflict resolution.
With their on-the-ground experience combined with industry-leading science and research, Guinn and Eliot discovered
people respond to conflict in one of five ways: avoid, compete, analyze, collaborate, or accommodate.
Because our responses are ingrained byproducts of the subcortex in action, they are predictable. If you can predict how
someone will behave in a given circumstance, you can formulate a game plan. The secret is knowing which of the five
patterns someone is wired to use when smacked by a stressor.
"How to Get Along with Anyone" is a pragmatic hands-on instruction guide and 'how-to' manual helping you determine
conflict types so you can navigate the arguments that emerge in day-to-day life. You will learn the formula for identifying
your coworkers' and loved ones' conflict styles and how to use this information to foster better communication and more
effective, collaboration.
With fun, engaging examples and actionable techniques, "How to Get Along with Anyone" teaches you how to predict and
prevent escalated conflict, arming you with practical tools for flipping the script on sticking points to nurture stronger and
more meaningful relationships.
Critique: Science based, 'real world' practical, exceptionally well written, thoroughly 'reader friendly' in organization and
presentation, "How to Get Along with Anyone: The Playbook for Predicting and Preventing Conflict at Work and at Home"
by Drs. John Eliot and Jim Guinn is an extraordinary effective and unreservedly recommended pick for personal,
professional, community, and college/university Leadership/Management, Interpersonal Relations, Conflict Resolution, and
Social/Communication Skills collections and supplemental MBA curriculum studies lists. It should be noted that this
hardcover edition of "How to Get Along with Anyone" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $14.99)
and as a complete and unabridged audio book (Blackstone Publishing, 9781797188997, $39.99, CD).
Editorial Note #1: Dr. John Eliot mentors executives and advises professional sports teams, coaches, and athletes on
enhancing health, performance, workplace culture, and bottom line. He has consulted for many groups, including NASA,
the Mayo Clinic, and scores of Fortune 500 decision-makers. His work has received considerable media attention. He has
held professorial appointments at the University of Virginia, Stanford, Rice, the SMU Edwin Cox School of Business, and
the Texas Medical Center. Dr. Jim Guinn is the president of the Resolution Resource Group, a training and development
company that works with Fortune 500 companies, professional sports franchises, large-scale school districts, universities,
law firms, and governments on effectively handling conflict. As a mediator, he has conducted over a thousand successful
mediations involving family, organizational, civil, and governmental disputes. He also personally trains numerous
celebrities. sports icons, and CEOs from all walks of life.
Editorial Note #2: Dr. Jim Guinn is the president of the Resolution Resource Group, a training and development company
that works with Fortune 500 companies, professional sports franchises, large-scale school districts, universities, law firms,
and governments on effectively handling conflict. As a mediator, he has conducted over a thousand successful mediations
involving family, organizational, civil, and governmental disputes. In addition to his firm's corporate work with a large
diversity of clients across HR departments, sales staffs, middle management, and boards, Dr. Guinn personally trains CEOs
from all walks of life, plus numerous celebrities and sports icons.
John Taylor
Reviewer
Mary Cowper's Bookshelf
They're All Barking: A Dog's Guide to Human Behaviour
Prof. Daniel Springer, author
Dr. Peter Pointer, author
Ruth McDonagh, editor
Professor Daniel Publishing
9781399975353, $21.99, HC, 176pp
https://www.amazon.com/THEYRE-ALL-BARKING-Guide-Behaviour/dp/1399975358
Synopsis: Does your dog jump all over you? Do you dread leaving it alone? Does it have a wardrobe of outfits? Does it
console you when life turns sour? If you've answered yes to any of these questions, then 'They're All Barking' is meant for
you.
With the publication of his entertaining and emotive new book, "They're All Barking: A Dog's Guide to Human Behaviour",
Professor Daniel Springer-Spaniel pulls no punches in telling us how life really is -- from a dog's perspective. Find out
which type of human you are and how your behavior, emotions and lifestyle could be affecting your best-friend.
Professor Daniel is a Fellow of the European Trust for Canine Health (FETCH), and in consultation with his colleague Dr
Peter Pointer, PhD, Philosopher of Dogs, reveals what happens when your dog has no boundaries, little training, is
humanised and unsocialised.
His study demonstrates how a human's stress, grief, depression, anxiety and frantic living, can affect their beloved pet and
features genuine case studies.
Described as 'faction', "They're All Barking" is based on fact, with fictional material added for literary effect. Former
journalist turned canine massage therapist Ruth McDonagh, has acted as Professor Daniel's editor and personal assistant,
typing up his wise words.
Critique: Absolutely essential reading for anyone who shares their life with a canine companion (or who are contemplating
having one), "They're All Barking: A Dog's Guide to Human Behaviour" is witty, wise and welcome. Simply stated. from
start to finish "They're All Barking: A Dog's Guide to Human Behaviour" is a fascinating, fun, informatively thoughtful and
thought-provoking read on how humans impact their canine companions. "They're All Barking" is especially and
unreservedly recommended for community library pet themed Self-Help/Self-Improvement collections. It should be noted
for personal pet owner reading lists that this hardcover edition of "They're All Barking" is also readily available in
paperback (9781399972048, $16.99).
The Hustle Cure: A New Approach to Burnout and Productivity for Women
Sophie Cliff
https://sophiecliff.com
Blue Star Press
https://bluestarpress.com
9781958803806, $24.95, HC, 224pp
https://www.amazon.com/Hustle-Cure-Approach-Burnout-Productivity/dp/1958803804
Synopsis: With the publication of "The Hustle Cure: A New Approach to Burnout and Productivity for Women", author
Sophie Cliff has created an empowering guide that offers a new approach to productivity that prioritizes making time for
what you as a woman actually enjoy.
With values-driven activities and mindful self-care tips, "The Hustle Cure" teaches how to embrace flexibility, find flow in
your work, and take small, joyful steps toward meaningful achievements.
"The Hustle Cure" inspires women to let go of unrealistic expectations and turn compassion inward. Create a personalized
routine aligned with your energy levels, family needs, work demands, your body's natural cycles, and more. Experience the
positive results you desire through mindful self-care and values-driven action.
"The Hustle Cure" offers the tools to:
Identify your innate strengths and use them to boost motivation and enjoyment
Map out step-by-step plans to turn ambition into daily progress
Release expectations that weigh you down to make space for creativity
Define what success really means for you
Part manifesto and part manual, "The Hustle Cure" helps you redefine productivity through greater self-awareness and
balanced action over strict guidelines. Shift your mindset, reclaim your purpose, and lead the life you desire.
Critique: Exceptionally well written, organized and presented for the benefit of the non-specialist general reader seeking
practical advice and motivational inspiration on dealing with a wide range of 'real life' issues including personal
money/finance management and personal time management, "The Hustle Cure: A New Approach to Burnout and
Productivity for Women" is thoroughly 'reader friendly' in style and format, and an unreservedly recommended pick for
personal, professional, community, and college/university library Self-Help/Self-Improvement collections for women
readers (and the men who love them!).
Editorial Note: Sophie Cliff (https://sophiecliff.com) is a certified coach and positive psychology practitioner who uses her
expertise to help individuals and organisations flourish by finding more joy and prioritising wellbeing. She is also the author
of Choose Joy and Sprinkles of Joy. Now through her coaching, workshops and chart-topping podcast, Practical Positivity,
Cliff helps people all over the world lead more joyful lives and has way more fun than she ever had in her previous career.
Follow Sophie on Instagram @sophiecliff for your daily dose of joy.
Mary Cowper
Reviewer
Micah Andrew's Bookshelf
Fountain Safari
James Garland
ORO Editions
www.oroeditions.com
9781961856196, $55.00, PB, 416pp
https://www.amazon.com/Fountain-Safari-James-Garland/dp/1961856190
Synopsis: We build water fountains (those vibrant symbols of life and physical embodiments of beauty) to mark and
celebrate our favored places.
This act is an honor to all, and like listening to music, it is understood on an intuitive level. We also build fountains to
commemorate life. Water is the basis for, and the symbol of, life. Many fountains are articulated to recognize some person,
institution, or idea. Those particular recognitions are fused with water's deeper symbolism to convey everlastingness to the
identities being celebrated.
With the publication of "Fountain Safari", author James Garland offers a sharply focused, comprehensive, useful,
entertaining, and hopefully lasting survey aimed to provide a panoramic portrait of the fountain class of artistic endeavor.
The material attends especially to the aesthetics of water expression by examining numerous esteemed examples. In the
process, a sketch is roughed out of the evolution of fountains over some two millennia and across several cultures.
Ultimately, the work attempts to deepen the understanding and appreciation of water features by identifying and clarifying
their most essential aesthetic qualities.
Critique: This large format (11.97 x 0.63 x 8.98 inches, 3.49 pounds) coffee-table style paperback edition of James
Garland's "Fountain Safari" from Oro Editions will be especially appreciated by design professionals, architects, landscape
architects, urban designers, planners, students of the arts or the built environment, as well as the non-specialist general
reader with interest the subject. Very profusely illustrated with captioned photos of fountains throughout, this original study
is a unique and unreservedly recommended pick for personal, professional, community, and college/university library
Ornamental Architecture and Landscape Augmentation collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists.
Editorial Note: James Garland is an architect with a thirty-five-year career specialization in water design. In 2002, he
founded the international water feature design and engineering firm Fluidity Design Consultants,
(https://www.fluidity-design.com/studio) which is based in Los Angeles, and where he continues to work today.
Micah Andrew
Reviewer
Michael Dunford's Bookshelf
The CIA Intelligence Analyst: Views from the Inside
Roger Z. George & Robert Levine
Georgetown University Press
www.press.georgetown.edu
9781647124694, $104.95, HC, 285pp
https://www.amazon.com/CIA-Intelligence-Analyst-Views-Inside/dp/1647124697
Synopsis: The common perception of a CIA officer is someone who collects secret intelligence abroad -- a spy. However,
the critical link between secrets and policy is the intelligence analyst. With the publication of "The CIA Intelligence
Analyst: Views from the Inside", co-editors Roger Z. George and Robert Levine brings to light the vital, but often-unseen,
work of these officers.
George, Levine, and the other contributors to "The CIA Intelligence Analyst: Views from the Inside" demystify the
profession of intelligence analyst at the CIA and describe how the wide array of analytic specialties (or "disciplines" in the
language of the CIA) function. The disciplines range from political, economic, leadership, and military matters to science
and technology, cyber, counterterrorism, and counterintelligence.
Each of the chapters (written by former or current CIA analysts) comprising "The CIA Intelligence Analyst: Views from the
Inside) discusses how analysts interact with those who collect raw intelligence. Just as important, are the chapters describe
the relationships analysts develop with the diverse set of policymakers who use CIA analyses. The contributors reveal the
key intelligence questions that analysts address, their methods, their products, and their challenges.
"The CIA Intelligence Analyst: Views from the Inside" will prove to be an invaluable resource for scholars of national
security and intelligence who want to develop a fuller picture of the internal workings of the CIA and for those who are
considering a career as an analyst.
Critique: Exceptionally well organized and presented, "The CIA Intelligence Analyst: Views from the Inside" is also
enhanced for the reader's benefit with illustrations, two Appendices (Suggested Further Readings on Intelligence Analysis
by Discipline & Glossary of Intelligence Analysis Terms), a four page listing of the contributors and their credentials, and a
seven page Index. Exceptionally well organized and presented, "The CIA Intelligence Analyst: Views from the Inside"
offers a complete and comprehensively descriptive presentation on the role of a CIA intelligence analyst. While especially
and unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, and college/university library Governmental
Political Intelligence/Espionage collections, it should be noted for students, academia, and non-specialist general readers
with an interest in the subject that this hardcover edition of "The CIA Intelligence Analyst: Views from the Inside" from
Georgetown University Press is also available in paperback (9781647124700, $34.88) and in a digital book format (Kindle,
$33.20).
Editorial Note #1: Roger Z. George had a 30-year career as a political-military analyst at CIA and is the author of
Intelligence in the National Security Enterprise and co-editor of Analyzing Intelligence and The National Security
Enterprise.
Editorial Note #2: Robert Levine retired from the Central Intelligence Agency after 33 years and is currently a lecturer at
John Hopkins University, the School of Advanced International Studies.
Michael Dunford
Reviewer
Paul Vogel's Bookshelf
Playing with Infinity: Turtles, Patterns, and Pictures
Hans Zantema
CRC Press
c/o Routledge
https://www.routledge.com
9781032738000, $100.00, HC, 234pp
https://www.amazon.com/Playing-Infinity-Peters-Recreational-Mathematics/dp/1032738006
Synopsis: Infinity is something which is boundless, endless, or larger than any natural number. It is denoted by the symbol
for infinity.
"Playing with Infinity: Turtles, Patterns, and Pictures" by Professor Hanz Zanema about infinity -- specifically the infinity of
numbers, and how one kind of infinity is greater than all the rest.
Along the way Professor Zanema demonstrates how infinity can be made to create beautiful 'art', and how this process can
help us to understand the fundamental nature of numbers. "Playing with Infinity: Turtles, Patterns, and Pictures" is a
fascinating read for students and mathematicians interested in number theory, infinity, math art, and/or generative art, and
could be used a valuable supplement to any course on these topics.
Of special note are the truly elegant examples of generative art that in "Playing with Infinity: Turtles, Patterns, and Pictures"
are made fully accessible to anyone with a reasonable high school level of mathematics.
Critique: An impressive compendium of challenges and puzzles to engage the reader, "Playing with Infinity: Turtles,
Patterns, and Pictures" is unique, fascinating, informative, and especially recommended for personal, professional,
community, and college/university library Mathematics, Number Theory, and Geometry collections and supplemental
curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the
subject that this hardcover edition of "Playing with Infinity: Turtles, Patterns, and Pictures" from CRC Press is also
available in paperback (9781032706108, $42.99) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $30.36).
Editorial Note: Hans Zantema (https://hzantema.win.tue.nl) studied mathematics and received his PhD in pure mathematics
in 1983. After a few years in industry he returned to university, in computer science. Apart from his position as an associate
professor in computer science at Eindhoven University of Technology, from 2007 until his retirement in 2022 he was part
time full professor at Radboud University in Nijmegen. His professional interest is mainly in mathematical reasoning, in
particular applied to computation and automated reasoning. His hobbies include solving and designing logical puzzles.
Paul T. Vogel
Reviewer
S. A. Gorden's Bookshelf
Death Among the Diamonds: (A Cressida Fawcett Mystery Book 1)
Fliss Chester
Bookouture
9781803146454 $10.99 paper
B0B5LNRLRY $2.99 Kindle 300 pages
https://www.amazon.com/Death-Among-Diamonds-addictive-Cressida/dp/1803146451
Death Among the Diamonds is a readable cozy mystery with a young wealthy female protagonist. It is the type of tale you
would want to read with a cup of coffee or tea while sitting in a comfortable chair next to a fire.
Honourable Cressida Fawcett is invited to a weekend party at her friend's English country estate. There has been a diamond
theft the night before and Cressida wants to help her friend. She arrives late in the day, as usual. Cressida wakes early in the
morning to find the chandelier cleaner dead at the base of the chandelier he was cleaning.
Cressida soon finds that many of the aspects of the diamond theft and murder make little sense and the more she
investigates the more danger she encounters. She has to find out why the unusual theft has occurred to discover who the
killer is before she becomes one of the victims.
Death Among the Diamonds is an easy recommendation for those who enjoy a relaxing and puzzling cozy mystery. In many
ways it reads as a softer version of the Miss Fisher's Mysteries by Kerry Green.
The Chartreuse Clue (Davey Goldman Series Book 1)
William F. Love
Lume Books
9781556112119, $9.60 hc
B01NCQWI4F, $0.99 Kindle, 256 pages
https://www.amazon.com/Chartreuse-Clue-Davey-Goldman-Book-ebook/dp/B01NCQWI4F
The Chartreuse Clue is a more contemporary version of the classic Nero Wolf and Archie stories by Rex Stout tale. Instead
of Nero we have Bishop Francis Regan in a wheelchair and instead of Archie we have David Goldman. The story is a nice
mix of a classic mystery with a more modern setting.
David Goldman is a retired police detective who is working as a private investigator and an aid for wheelchair bound
Bishop Regan. A priest friend of both David and Regan comes to the residence in trouble. He has just woken up after a night
of drinking with a dead female friend and is worried he will soon be arrested. The pair only have a few days to discover the
true killer before the priest is found and arrested.
There are four despicable suspects in the murder. Each of them are unlikeable and one is probably a dangerous killer. David
and Regan have to solve this twisty case while avoiding the police investigation and the danger of confronting someone
capable of murder.
The Chartreuse Clue is nice throwback to the classic murder mystery style that is still popular today in movies, TV and
books. The characters are unique with enough personality to bring the story alive. It is an easy recommendation for any
mystery fan.
S.A. Gorden
Senior Reviewer
Suzie Housley's Bookshelf
Hobart's Second Quest (The Adventures of Hobart Book 2)
Heather Mullaly
https://www.heathermullaly.com
Favored Oak Press
B0DRGQQX3X, Kindle $3.99, 78 pages, (Ages 8-12)
https://www.amazon.com/Hobarts-Second-Quest-Adventures-Hobart-ebook/dp/B0DRGQQX3X
Synopsis: In a world where adventure beckons at every turn, young Hobart and his steadfast companions, Tate and Hero,
embark on an exhilarating quest filled with surprises. Their mission? To retrieve the legendary Excalibur, the very sword
that symbolizes King Arthur's right to the throne. This journey, with its enchanting twists and turns, is not just about the
destination; it's about the awe-inspiring experiences they create together.
As Hobart and his friends navigate through enchanted forests, treacherous mountains, and ancient ruins, they encounter
challenges that test their courage and resilience. Each obstacle they face is an opportunity for growth, and every triumph
strengthens their unbreakable bond. Their camaraderie produces connections, where shared experiences lead to lasting
friendships, inspiring readers with the characters' personal growth.
Through teamwork, creativity, and unwavering support for one another, Hobart and his companions learn that the journey
itself is not just a means to an end, but a treasure trove of experiences. The laughter and joy they share become the veritable
treasures of their adventure, echoing the essence of genuine friendship that fosters connection and creates unforgettable
memories.
Critique: Hobart's Second Quest is an exhilarating treasure hunt where the magic of teamwork comes alive! Imagine the
laughter and camaraderie as friends unite, each step bringing them closer to their shared goal.
Heather Mullaly's enchanting narrative reminds how friendships can blossom and deepen through shared experiences. Her
book illustrates the magic that unfolds when individuals come together, face challenges, and uncover mysteries, promoting
positive themes of teamwork, resilience, and friendship that are beneficial for young readers.
Editorial Note: Hobert's Second Quest is the 2nd book of The Hobart Adventures series, a thrilling saga that began with The
Legend of Hobart. Learn more about the first book and the entire series by visiting this talented author's website:
https://www.heathermullaly.com. The recommended reading age for this book is ages 8-12.
Odinsbane: The Waters of Mimir (The Odinsbane Saga)
Nikolai Sie
https://nikolaisie.com
Independently Published
B0D71XMDNK, Kindle $9.99, 287 pages
https://www.amazon.com/The-Odinsbane-Saga/dp/B0DDTTD27V
Synopsis: Welcome to the captivating world of Norse mythology, where the echoes of ancient legends resonate through the
icy fjords and windswept mountains. Prepare to join Rurik and his fearless sister, Ronja, on a thrilling journey that
intertwines destiny and adventure. As remnants of a shattered past, the twins rise against the God-king Odin, whose
arrogance has cost them dearly. With their family sacrificed to stave off the impending doom of Ragnarok, a fierce
determination to confront the divine fuels of them being who shattered their lives.
Guided by a mysterious witch and her ancient coven, Rurik and Ronja dive into a realm filled with epic fantasy and dark
witchcraft, where every shadow hides a potent foe, and every whisper of the wind carries tales of mythical creatures. As they
traverse this enchanting yet treacherous landscape, they find themselves entangled in battles of wit and strength, learning
that survival often means adapting to the unpredictable tides of fate.
Critique: Odinsbane is not just a tale of revenge; it explores the resilience of the human spirit and the bonds of kinship that
can withstand even the most formidable challenges. The emotional depth of Rurik and Ronja's quest resonates with anyone
who has faced adversity, making their story a powerful reminder of the strength we find in each other when confronting the
odds.
Nikolai Sie has breathed new life into the fantasy realm with his latest masterpiece, Odinsbane. This riveting Norse fantasy
adventure is not just a story; it's an odyssey that challenges the boundaries of fate and explores the intrinsic value of life
itself. What sets this book apart is its unique blend of Norse mythology and a gripping revenge plot, creating a narrative that
is both familiar and refreshingly original.
Editorial Note: Odinsbane is the first book in the Odinsbane Saga. Learn more about the other books that are to come into
this exciting series by visiting the author's website: https://nikolaisie.com/odinsbane
Would You Rather: The Haunting of Pinedale High
Kimberly Baer
The Wild Rose Press, Inc.
https://wildrosepress.com
9781509260140, $16.99 PB, Kindle $3.99, 206 pages
https://www.amazon.com/Would-You-Rather-Kimberly-Baer/dp/1509260145
Synopsis: Picture this: a classroom buzzing with the vibrant energy of youth, where laughter and curiosity intertwine. It's
just another day at school, but a substitute teacher introduces a seemingly harmless game: Would You Rather?
The thrill of choice draws students in, pondering whimsical scenarios that spark their imaginations. However, the lines
between fun and reality blur as the game progresses, and the stakes rise higher than anyone could have expected.
As the clock ticks ominously, three brave souls - Ava, Blake, and Charlie - embark on an exhilarating journey to unravel the
mystery behind the enigmatic teacher and the strange occurrences plaguing their lives. Playing that game cursed their
lives.
Their choice echoes through their world, turning the mundane into a thrilling adventure. This adventure is not just about
danger and mystery, but also about the power of friendship and teamwork.
Ava, Blake, and Charlie learn to trust each other, support each other, and work together to overcome challenges and
confront fears, embodying the spirit of camaraderie.
Critique: Kimberly Baer's book is a testament to her skill in weaving mystery and intrigue, as evidenced by her bone-chilling
scenes. The book revolves around the unsettling idea that a teacher's actions can bring evil into an innocent classroom.
This book offers a realistic look at how evil can enter the pathway of innocents. A deep life lesson exists in the pages of this
book, one that demands your attention.
Editorial Note: Recommended reading ages 12-18 years old.
The Art of Giving A Crap: You never know what someone is going through
Olivia DeSantis, author
Anais Duran, author
Angel Duran, author
Taryn Johnson, author
Kenshin Lee, author
Kenneth Loder, author
Michaella Ruiz, author
Brooklynn Satterfield, author
Young Author Project
YoungAuthorProject.Com
9798988918004, $8.99 Kindle, $18.99 PB, 416 pages
https://www.amazon.com/Art-Giving-Crap-someone-through-ebook/dp/B0DBZNTRKW
Synopsis: The Art of Giving A Crap is a remarkable collaboration between Natalie Wilkinson and the Young Author
Project, serving as a beacon for adults seeking to navigate the often tumultuous world of adolescence alongside their young
ones.
This engaging middle school fiction, crafted by teens and their dedicated teacher, invites readers into the lives of teenagers
such as Asher and Lucy - two relatable characters who embody the struggles and triumphs of their peers, creating a sense of
connection with the readers.
The portrayal of Asher, dealing with an unstable home life and feelings of isolation, and Lucy, who faces the weight of
social expectations and the desire to fit in, is beautiful as they confront the challenges of friendship, peer pressure, and
self-discovery.
Their journey is not just a story; it reflects the real emotional hurdles many students face today. This book, serving as an
invaluable resource, offers insights into the intricate lives of teenagers and fosters a deeper understanding of their emotional
rollercoasters, making the audience feel more informed.
Critique: The Art of Giving A Crap is more than just a narrative; it's a powerful tool for empathy and understanding,
fostering a sense of empathy in the audience.
The Art of Giving A Crap by Natalie Wilkinson and the Young Author Project is not just a book; it's a heartfelt journey that
dives deep into the emotional landscape of adolescence. This remarkable collaboration brings together the authentic voices
of teenagers and the wisdom of their teachers, creating an invaluable resource that resonates with parents, teachers, and
libraries alike.
Suzie Housley, Senior Reviewer
https://housleysliteraryservices.com
James A. Cox
Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review
278 Orchard Drive
Oregon, WI 53575-1129
phone: 1-608-835-7937
e-mail: mbr@execpc.com
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