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Table of Contents
Reviewer's Choice
Love in Their Hearts
Marc Bekoff & Jeff Campbell
Armin Lear Press
https://arminlear.com
9781968919306, $24.95
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Love-Their-Hearts-Celebration-Compassionate-ebook/dp/B0GY8ZJD28
While some may be tempted to consider this a collection of "animal stories," in fact Love in Their Hearts: A Celebration of Animal Emotions and a Guide to Compassionate Action is so much more, guiding readers on the topics of animal observation, emotional connection, and animal activism. It offers an exciting survey for readers interested in animal behavior, whether they come from scientific or general interest backgrounds, taking a deep dive not only into research, but the interconnectedness of humans and their subjects: "Dolphin researcher Maddalena Bearzi says, when something unexpected or extraordinary happens, "I put my dry scientific objectivity on hold in favor of the empathy of the moment."
Each animal story embodies an emotional connection and response which will not just delight and warm readers who love animals, but often surprise them. From play behavior exhibited in various species to the researcher's mandate to dig deeper into its incarnations and meaning, Love in Their Hearts considers many aspects of behavioral observation: "Dogs invite play by creeping forward on their stomach, tail wagging. They sometimes engage in play pants (or rapid breathing). Some species even have play scents. Research has found that a species of voles emits a pheromone from the back of their heads that stimulates play in other voles. Dogs and other animals might have the same thing, but we don't know yet. The contagious joy of play is perhaps the most recognizable sign. Still, it's important to remember that identifying emotions is much easier than understanding the how and why of animal behavior. To correctly interpret the complex interactions and social behaviors involved in an expression of joy requires training, experience, and research."
This provides as much insight into the nature and special challenges of animal behavior research as it does the process of documenting and understanding these exhibitions of emotion. Animals wild and domestic are considered, but the survey doesn't stop with identifying their patterns and behaviors. It embraces the concept of how humans can improve animal lives through different choices based on better understanding. Ultimately, Love in Their Hearts teaches how to live with animals in a more cognizant, informed manner that can ripple into all kinds of situations and purposes.
Libraries and readers will find Love in Their Hearts a powerful attraction whether because of its research, its animal vignettes, its human interactions and discussions of choice, or its diverse descriptions of magpies, dogs, dolphins, foxes, and concerns about zoos and captivity. Love in Their Hearts ideally will be chosen for book club and reading group discussion among animal behavior researchers and general-interest readers alike. Its insights on behaviors and, more importantly, human responses are invaluable first steps towards effecting positive change and building better relationships - not just between animals and humans, but between human beings.
The Money/Finance Shelf
Retire Widowed
Terri McGray, CFP, AIF
Precocity Press
9798993115023, $19.95 Paperback/$9.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Retire-Widowed-Reclaiming-Retirement-Security/dp/B0GT54QWTF
Retire Widowed: Reclaiming Retirement Security and Peace of Mind After Loss covers a topic seldom discussed in books about retirement or bereavement - what happens when a spouse passes before or shortly after retirement. The focus on navigating retirement after loss delves into emotional, financial, and social challenges peculiar to the newly retired widow, considering how retirement is changed by this event, and how a new widow can plan for a single future.
From updating an estate plan and revising financial projections to handling retirement challenges alone, Retire Widowed offers gentle guidance into a host of revised situations many newly widowed individuals might not have begun to comprehend: "Your life has changed in significant ways, and your financial plan needs to reflect that. What once worked for you as part of a couple may no longer apply. Now, your financial plan needs to be designed around your needs, your goals, and your comfort level as a single person. This may involve re-evaluating several key areas."
Newly bereaved retirees need this book. Its mix of practical financial information, necessary revisions, and emotional support gives voice to many underlying assumptions and precedents most books about widowhood don't tackle. Even more importantly, Retire Widowed tailors the vision of retirement to a new reality - that of a newly single person - and informs readers what they need to do to make life work again across many levels.
The result is a powerful survey that admonishes, teaches, gently supports, and offers rationales for these important reflections and revisions: "You have spent a lifetime building what you have. You've earned the right to protect it properly, and with care, intention, and dignity. Completing this work is not just about legal compliance. It is an act of love toward yourself and those you will one day leave behind." Librarians will find Retire Widowed unparalleled in its scope, contents, and practical applications, making it a 'must' for health, general-interest, and reference collections.
The Psychology Shelf
An Essential Resource for Every Silva Mind Control Method Student: Q&A
Staff Lecturers of Silva Mind Control International Inc.
Compiled by Jose Silva and Ed Bernd Jr.
G&D Media
9781722507671, $12.95 Paperback/$9.98 eBook/$14.99 eAudio
Indiepubs
https://indiepubs.com/products/qa-an-essential-resource-for-silva-mind-control-method-students-9781722507671
An Essential Resource for Every Silva Mind Control Method Student: Q&A was originally published in 1983 by the Institute of Psychorientology, Inc. and here returns in new packaging to reach new generations of Silva students with an in-depth survey of the programming technique and its promises and pitfalls. The Q&A format expands upon Silva's technique by answering common questions about how and why the method works (or doesn't) and how it can be applied to real-life concerns.
The questions come not from Silva practitioners, but from queries asked and answered over the years in the Silva Mind Control Newsletter and, more recently, on the Silva Method UltraMind websites. Thus, their origins in everyday users and common situations make for an especially useful series of inquiries and applications that help readers work on health problems and benefit more directly from the Silva techniques.
From halting sleepwalking to dealing with relationship problems to addressing stuttering, the range of applied solutions offered in this book survey the extent of Silva applications to real-world situations. The result is a book that should be required reading for Silva students, offering a treasure trove of applied solutions that expand the Silva techniques into often-unexpected, new directions. As an adjunct to the Silva course, An Essential Resource for Every Silva Mind Control Method Student: Q&A will prove remarkably invaluable for its insights into the many, many ways the Silva techniques can be applied to daily life issues.
The Health/Medicine Shelf
Silva Superstars' Weight Loss Secrets
Jose Silva and Ed Bernd Jr.
G&D Media
9781722507688, $14.95 Paperback/$9.98 eBook/$19.99 eAudiobook
Indiepubs
https://indiepubs.com/products/silva-superstars-weight-loss-secrets-9781722507688
Silva Superstars' Weight Loss Secrets shares the promise that the subconscious mind can act as a catalyst for weight loss by incorporating the basic message "eat less and move more" into daily routines that can prove instinctive rather than an effort. Jose Silva's Superstars Weight Loss System is designed to do just that: make connections between food and exercise automatic, to the point that they are part of daily life rather than an addendum to one's routines.
Unlike most weight loss books, this involves employing the mind towards better, actionable results. Silva's mind methods are a foundation of this process, but prior familiarity with them isn't a requirement for newcomers who choose this book with weight loss in mind. Chapters review programming (and reprogramming), mental exercises, better understanding and employing mind/body connections for optimal results in weight management, and using relaxation, centering, and purposeful mental exercises to aid in the motivation process. These differ from most approaches to weight loss in that they embrace a holistic connection between thought and action that empowers readers to adopt strategies, perceptions, and support systems stemming from their own mental abilities.
Silva's step-by-step exercises are easy to follow - but they do require that readers commit to following directions, apply the training, and believe in its effectiveness: "We will now impress and program Habit Control, mental techniques you can use to control the eating habit and reduce your weight to your ideal weight. When you decide to reduce weight, enter level 1 by the use of the 3 to 1 method and analyze your weight problem. At level 1, mentally mark a big red "No" over every item of food considered to be causing the problem. Program yourself that hunger between meals will vanish by eating a piece of carrot, celery, or apple, or some such helpful foods, or by taking three deep breaths. Program yourself to leave something on your plate, realizing that you do not need all the food you have taken. Program yourself not to eat dessert."
The result ties the Silva Method to concrete, achievable weight loss results for those that hold the mental discipline and open-mindedness to embed these routines into their daily lives. Support comes from website and additional systems that further understanding and training: "If you are using the Silva Centering Exercise (also known as the Long Relaxation Exercise) on the SilvaNow.com website to enter the alpha level, then you can skip the information that follows."
The result is not an idealistic view of weight loss, but a mental strategy that employs the Silva Method in a concrete manner to address a very common problem. Weight loss efforts will be enhanced by these routines, while librarians seeing interest in the other Silva books (or who want alternative weight loss guides and approaches) will find Silva Superstars' Weight Loss Secrets an intriguing, different choice that deserves recommendation, especially among health and self-help readers.
Walking Your Way to Vitality
Dr. Jacques MoraMarco and Dr. Yun Kim
Skyhorse Publishing
www.skyhorsepublishing.com
9781510784710, $16.99 Kindle/$18.00 Print
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Walking-Your-Way-Vitality-Integrating/dp/1510784713
Walking Your Way to Vitality: Integrating Walking, Breathwork, and Mindfulness Into Your Daily Exercise surveys how walking more mindfully can enhance an exercise routine. It takes the idea of walking for exercise a step further by employing the authors' decades of experience in East Asian medicine and healthcare, outlining six unique walking styles rooted in qi, prana, tai chi, chi gong, and yoga. This approach elevates the walking effort in different ways that promotes these styles of walking as options for those who would increase the health benefits of simply taking a walk.
More than just a how-to collection of walking strategies, this book incorporates the basic premises and philosophy of each tradition into breathing and movement exercises. One example lies in the survey of quigong movements: "The qigong movements are made with a minimum of effort. No matter how difficult the position is, it is done efficiently and smoothly. This requires you to become conscious of how much effort is required, and then to do just that amount and no more or less."
Differences between vitality walking and traditional walking, methods of individual walks and combinations of these traditions, and complimenting walks with dietary adjustments completes the exercise tips, which will appeal to an unusually wide range of readers, from seniors whose movement abilities are limited to those younger who want to blend different traditions and approaches into their daily walks. Librarians will find this wide-ranging discussion offers many practical starting points for exercise even for those who barely walk at all, making Walking Your Way to Vitality not just an integrative experience, but a highly accessible gathering of routines that encourage readers to expand their concept of walking for exercise.
The Biography/Memoir Shelf
At Leap of Faith Farm
Cheryl Suzanne Heide
Anamcara Press LLC
https://anamcara-press.com
9781960462848, $21.99 Paperback/$9.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/At-Leap-Faith-Farm-Memoir/dp/1960462849
At Leap of Faith Farm: A Memoir For Animal Lovers tells of author Cheryl Suzanne Heide and her partner's decision to leave the comfort of jobs in Twin Cities Minnesota to say yes to a rural farm opportunity in southern Minnesota. From the start, their decision involves turbulence, but promises future peace: "My future husband and I struggled back from the rim of a chasm that threatened to swallow us. Now with hours of counseling behind us we took precarious steps toward not only a continued future together but also a new lifestyle in a new location. It did not go smoothly. It was a turbulent series of months with no future job for my husband and no permanent home. Almost every weekend we made the two-hour trip south to search for my lifelong dream - a farm where I could keep my horses."
The farm introduces many new challenges and experiences to their lives, from horse management to issues surrounding trapping woodchucks, acquiring numerous cats, handling the acquisition and loss of horses, and better understanding the personalities, needs, and realities of rural living and farm creatures big and small. Heide creates a loving observation of her vastly changed world and the impact it has on human and animal participants and residents alike, crafting stories which will appeal to anyone interested in making the leap from urban to farm life. As life introduces possible disability and health issues, Heide weaves accounts of her own adjustments with those of the farm she manages: "My physical recovery was very hard, but harder still was acceptance that something that was so much a part of my life might change forever."
At Leap of Faith Farm is a rural memoir that librarians will find a winning collection addition, with its close inspection of animal personalities and farm experiences. The uplifting, celebratory atmosphere Heide creates surrounding her choices will delight readers either contemplating such a life from urban armchairs or considering making such a leap themselves.
Don't Tell
Told by Troy Eklund
Written by Teresa Schapansky
www.teresaschapansky.com
TNT Book Publishing
9781988024530, $9.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Tell-Teresa-Schapansky-ebook/dp/B0GQNBKQWW
The events narrated in Troy Eklund's story Don't Tell were never meant to see the light of day - not if the engrained childhood admonition to never speak of these events was followed. Thankfully, as an adult, Troy Eklund disregarded this mandate in favor of the healing that comes from exposure and truth, and so Don't Tell survived to see the light of day and provide hard-hitting revelations about family secrets, abuse, and survival tactics. Unfortunately, Eklund did not survive his struggles, and so this book is a posthumous creation based on Teresa Schapansky's interviews.
By now, readers should have absorbed that Don't Tell holds many trigger warnings and comes with a caution that the story won't be uplifting or easy. It will be worth the read, for those interested in emotionally charged accounts of achieving recovery, becoming invincible by truth-telling, and firmly grasping second chances in life.
One of Eklund's purposes in crafting this narrative is to expose a toxic mother who, on the face of things, seemed the best mother in the world. Another is to chronicle how a child can survive living long-term in the eye of a storm of abuse at home, and how addiction in his home is delivered with a mandate to never reveal the truth about what was taking place. Perspectives shift in this story, reaching out to embrace the observations of friends and others privy to parts of Eklund's story, such as babysitter Colleen Olson. The incorporation of these disparate viewpoints strengthens the story and outlines events from different vantage points to lend further insights into how addiction, abuse, and family secrets evolve.
Few other memoirs offer the immediacy and family insights of Don't Tell. The spotlight may be on Teri Eklund's choices and abusive ways, but it also lands on the impact of this childhood on adult Troy, who battles his own demons as a result of an ongoing lack of emotional support: "Mom, in her unique, loving way wasn't pleased that I'd stuck to my guns and had proven both her and Bill wrong. She spoke not a word of praise and her facial expressions made it clear that she was less than thrilled that I was earning a decent living and enjoying a good, clean life."
In particular, the legacy of the mandate "don't tell" comes to roost in unexpected ways as the child grows into a man and the mother/son relationship shifts: "By the fifth grade, I had begun to see mom in a different way, and it felt as though a dynamic relationship shift had occurred between us overnight. For every inch I'd grown taller and broader, she'd decreased in size proportionately before my very eyes. There were multiple times, when I'd caught her stealing looks in my direction with a hint of fear in her expression. I knew without a doubt and with every inch of my being, that this stemmed from every single incident in my life, when she had ordered, "don't tell." The result is a powerful chronicle of parenting, family ties and secrets, addiction and crime, and recovery and love that will draw and immerse readers in many ways.
Libraries and readers seeking hard-hitting, emotionally impactful memoirs that come not just from a son's experiences but the insights of everyone around him, from ex-husbands to babysitters and family friends, will find Don't Tell a powerful force. It deserves consideration for book clubs, emotional support groups, family counseling circles, and anyone interested in the road to personal liberation from past experiences.
Guerrilla Dancer
Joan Stone
Anamcara Press LLC
https://anamcara-press.com
9781960462817, $31.99 Paperback/$9.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Guerrilla-Dancer-Revolution-Joan-Stone/dp/1960462814
Guerrilla Dancer: Memoir of a Revolution blends dance with political inspection in a memoir of the 1960s and '70s, examining Joan Stone's growing political awareness, which seeped into her passion for dancing. Readers might think these two subjects unlikely for commingling, but Stone draws important connections between art and social movements from the start: "The movement-happenings of the moment were being shaped into dances, as the gestures of the court had been shaped into ballet dances, the rhythms of the countryside into folk dances, and the patterns of earth and sky into tribal dances."
The memoir first tracks Stone's entry and evolution in the dance world, citing influences such as Yale and her attendance at the American Dance Festival in 1959, where she studied under such notable names as Merce Cunningham and Daniel Nagrin. The foundations of her involvement in dance and choreography evolve simultaneous to her development of a "deep social consciousness" which stems as far back as World War II and McCarthyism, but includes such surprising influences as a reform temple rabbi. When Stone moves away from dance in later years, it's that political consciousness which leads her back and prompts her to keep a journal during the 1960s which chronicles her insights.
Readers interested in memoirs of the 1960s and its political and social turbulence will be fascinated with an account of how the arts weaves into these bigger pictures to create insights into the impact of performance in movements supporting change. Of special note are descriptions outlining unusual connections and challenges of incorporating new political and social realizations and norms into dance's interpretation and creation: "Even for a choreographer, who was not upset and confused, the gender issue would have been too complex to handle in a study, but I felt compelled to try and speak. Where to turn for a vocabulary? During the personal confessions at the women's meetings, there were gestures in words and motions that could be interpreted as crouching, unable to stand - pouncing and clawing in all directions - flying high - hiding the body, flaunting the body - ..."
Exquisite are the moment-by-moment dance descriptions that lead readers - even non-dancers - to better understand the interpretive effort involved in creating a political dance packed with emotional and physical messages: "No matter which prison Rosa was in, she was locked up for the night and sometimes for the day as well. On the toes to defy gravity and backward to feel rather than see, pace off four steps, turn ninety degrees, then eight steps and another turn. Step sideways - crossing and opening the feet - with stamps at the corners. In a few letters, she describes herself as reacting "like a beast in a cage." Walk forward, thrusting the crossed hands forward on the fourth and eighth steps. Continue the rounds with low kicks of anger and frustration, lunges, crawls, and finally just ticks of the head to indicate the dimensions of the cell. Finish in a heap. Rosa didn't allow herself to stay down long. Use the crossed hands to rise from the ground. Lift them high, glaring at them, and let them drop."
Libraries interested in multifaceted memoirs that will appeal to readers studying the 1960s and '70s, dance and the arts, political and social representations, or performance creation will find Guerrilla Dancer: Memoir of a Revolution a powerful representation of dance and social change that considers how revolutionary thinking is imparted through the arts.
Dance isn't politics. But "it can make people think about politics in new ways." So can this memoir, which should be a 'must' acquisition for libraries and readers interested in powerful connections: "The group was dancing for civil rights activists, who can't be content to titillate an audience with new gimmicks. They know the message as well as the medium has to be changed, and they're being jailed and killed for trying!"
Stride
Avra Wing
https://avrawing.com
GFB
www.girlfridayproductions.com
9781967510603, $18.95 paperback / $9.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Stride-Walked-Trauma-Toward-Healing/dp/1967510601
Stride: How I Walked Away from Trauma Toward Healing details a life transformed when a car jumped the curb and took mother Avra Wing's leg in 1990, creating disability and prompting Wing to tap empowering sources and messages from childhood onward. These come from her feisty grandmother and a newfound friendship circle that contributes to adaptation and change. Stride is different from other accounts of sudden disability and adaptation, in that it merges lessons from past and present with an examination of the sea change in public and personal attitude towards disability that accompanies the experience.
From Avra's successful effort to save her three-year-old from the car that took her leg to the perceptions of others about her loss, many thought-provoking scenarios emerge that are thoroughly revealing and often shocking: "Now her husband will divorce her." It's what I overheard someone say who didn't know me and Mike well. The person who jumped to that conclusion was a woman, and her assumption reflected how badly she felt about herself and about being female. She reasoned that I had been disfigured, so I no longer was acceptable as a woman and a wife. That I had no or very little intrinsic value, and that my husband would naturally want to discard me and replace me with a substitute in factory-fresh condition."
Equally candid are the self-assessments of her psyche before and after the accident, which embraces a sense of how the accident changed not only her life, but the perceptions of those around her: "Not having a strong sense of who I am, and always doubting myself, it is hard for me to believe that other people see me as an actual, individual person and, somehow, even a likeable one. When I look back on it now, I wish I could have appreciated more the message Kate was giving me. Even when I was at my worst, when I felt awful about myself, a lovely woman enjoyed my company, wanted to be friends, and was not put off by my missing leg."
The whole, in this case, is greater than the parts. This memoir is about more than adaptation - it's about understanding how the loss of a limb or a sense becomes part of the process of regaining one's stride with new realizations about self, friendships, life connections, and purpose. In this, Stride is a standout, offering much food for thought and many discussion points for not just the disability community, but those facing new challenges in life. This is why librarians will want to highly recommend Stride to a wide audience beyond the usual memoir or disability reader. Wing's story is ultimately about embracing life to its fullest, identifying and pursuing one's passions, and making the most of achievements and goals while coping with sorrow to ultimately emerge stronger - and perhaps wiser. Everyone needs these messages in modern times.
The General Fiction Shelf
No Home Without You
Lena Gibson
https://lenagibsonauthor.ca
Black Rose Writing
https://www.blackrosewriting.com
9781685137663, $6.99 eBook/$21.95 Paperback
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/No-Home-Without-You-Post-Apocalyptic-ebook/dp/B0GSMZSRZM
No Home Without You is the third book in a post-apocalyptic romance series and takes place seven years after an asteroid strikes the Earth, changing the world forever. Two individuals are the focal point of this journey: Lissa, a loner who lives in an abandoned mansion in Nebraska, and Cam, who has grown up in the sheltered Vita xTerra survivalist community and is on his own after defying orders to not help a refugee family. Readers may anticipate the usual outcome - romance - but Lena Gibson evolves this from a friendship and a parting. Events only bring the two star-crossed lovers back together when Lissa stumbles upon a plot that threatens xTerra and Cam, then she is compelled to undertake a dangerous journey to reconnect with and help him.
Peppered into the story of this evolving relationship are additional moving reconnections with a damaged world. Gibson is especially adept at injecting these moments into the overall bigger picture to give readers a satisfying "you are here" feeling that points to how rejuvenation and connection can exist even in the darkest of days: "She inhaled the scent of thawing earth, relishing the rich aroma that meant spring was warming the frozen land. Soon, leaves would return to the trees, blossoms to the flowers, and birds would be everywhere, their calls filling the forest with sound. Animals would have young, and insects would hatch and arrive to provide background noise. Everywhere around her, life and color would return. Spring was usually her favorite time."
Family relationships, however fractured by ideology, also enter into the picture as Lissa confronts her potential mate's mother in an unusually candid manner: "You came here to meet me. Now you have. Cam was kind enough to let me stay here while my shoulder heals. It's a shame you can't see him the way I do. He cooks delicious food, helps with any task, remembers everything he's read, and thinks about other's feelings. Including yours, even if you don't deserve it. We don't want you here. You call yourself a mother, but all I see is an angry, bitter woman grasping at power she no longer has. What we do is none of your business. I'll see you out."
With the focus on nature, family, love, and growth, Gibson gently guides readers through the process of reconnecting. While prior readers will especially appreciate this latest book's depth in expanding the challenges that move beyond daily survival into moral and ethical territory, newcomers won't be lost, and will relish how Cam and Lissa find their way. Many books about survivalism incorporate romance into the picture. No Home Without You stands strongly alongside such books as Linda Howard's After Sundown as an exceptional study in not the daily evolution of a community, but the reinvention of humanity and kindness, which begins with Lissa and Cam's special challenges to accept and meld with one another.
Vivid, realistic, and thought-provoking, No Home Without You is steeped in the basic quandaries of not just survival, but regaining humanity. It's a top recommendation for readers of apocalyptic fiction who look for human connections in the physical struggle to exist.
The Music Room
Margaret Farrell Kirby
Proving Press
https://www.provingpress.com
9798901830482, $25.95 Hardcover/$16.95 Paperback/$7.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Music-Room-Margaret-Farrell-Kirby/dp/B0GQH7GXML
The Music Room is a novel about grief, recovery, and family that follows the story of Cath Breslin, who was twenty when her mother died, burying her dream of becoming a writer in the wake of overwhelming grief. Thirty years later, Cath still has not really come to terms with the past, even though she's happy with her own marriage and family. How would her life be different if she had continued to reach for her dreams? Cath's enrollment in a writing class not only reconstitutes her possible talents, but resurrects emotions about her mother's death and their connection, resulting in unexpected changes to her life. Is Cath having a midlife crisis, or is this turn of events about what she's too successfully buried of her past which is rising anew to change her future? Cath's questions receive succinct and hard-hitting description early in the story: "Perhaps it wasn't so simple. Did she expect too much? For life to be happy, neat, tied together with no doubts, no discontent? A perfection of sorts?"
Cath's discoveries are poignantly presented as her memoir takes the form of a special self-examination that delves deeply into her relationship with her mother and the choices she made surrounding her life and death:
"Your death thrust me into the unfamiliar territory of grief. My world turned inside out. I couldn't accept it as true. As time passed and the pain ebbed, you were receding from me. The anguish kept me connected to you in a visceral way. I needed the pain to keep you close. It was like another leaving.
"But I buried your words and my dream of writing. Not wanting to let go of my grief - my connection to you - I worked in the hospital where you had been a patient.
"But after a time I found you in the music room. It's where I visit you and 'talk to you.' And now, as I write about you, I feel closer. I am trying to recover the person I was."
As Cath performs the cathartic release of writing, she also moves closer to new possibilities in her life which involve meetings with strangers, assuming the role of detective in a mystery about the past, and re-examining the nature of friendships and life connections. Margaret Farrell Kirby's story is more about grief and recovery. It's about the long-term impact of decisions made in life, and how one woman reconciles her actions with renewed purpose to forge new relationships while sometimes battering old ones. Also notable is how Cath's process affects her relationship with husband Matthew who, despite being a psychiatrist, doesn't know how to help her as she becomes more distant and keeps secrets from him.
Librarians seeking women's fiction that embraces all kinds of life challenges, from the death of a parent to the evolution of a long-term marriage, will find The Music Room a powerful survey of new beginnings and old habits that will lend especially well to women's book clubs and reading groups. Packed with realistic, involving insights into Cath's world, The Music Room is filled with notes of music and discovery that will prove hard to put down.
The Historical Fiction Shelf
In Darkness and Light
Tudor Alexander
Boyle & Dalton
www.BoyleandDalton.com
9798901830451, $16.99
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Darkness-Light-Tudor-Alexander/dp/B0H31PFYN9
In Darkness and Light is a historical novel companion to Tudor Alexander's The Last Patient and follows a Jewish family's trials in Rumania during the deportations that preceded the country's transition to authoritarian rule during the war. If this sounds familiar, it's all the more pointed for its mirror of modern events. Tudor Alexander opens the story with two women who are embarking on new phases in their lives. Floria, five months pregnant, has just married and moved in with her new husband. Her former roommate Tina has moved in with another medical student and is pursuing her studies. Both women have absorbed the contentions of communism about equality: "...it doesn't matter if one is Jewish or Romanian. Communism taught us that."
The post-war environment seems to negate the experiences of Jewish people during the war, and Tina has fully embraced the contentions of Communism about connecting to the working class through labor: "Learning a trade is useful, and it helps us understand the working class and their just struggle. I've been working on and off as a seamstress since before the war when, in Cāmpulung, they expelled all the Jews from high school. As for you, look how much you've achieved! A well-known poet, in charge of a major publication."
But those who would change as the status quo shifts find their work cut out for them as they toe a fine line between Communist ideals and political mandate: "The work on the publication proved complex and time-consuming. The courier showed up every Monday morning with news from the war. Iulian had Monday afternoons and Tuesdays to condense the information and present it in a clear and succinct manner, along with a lead article for the week. He was careful to include relevant excerpts from Stalin's book, as well as from other books by Marxist leaders Emma brought for him from Timi oara."
From how illegal Communist thought permeates the 1944 milieu and its backdrop of World War II to Tina's own creation of new life and opportunities that both buffet and come with it, Alexander crafts a powerful novel of lives in upheaval, with all the hope and choices involved as political swirls of change sweep various characters into new ethical and moral dilemmas. Life goes on, as is demonstrated by Alexander's juxtaposition of these lives and the forces which direct their courses. Of special note and interest is how the characters find their political associations under fire in new ways: "The rumors, the explanations, and the stories he heard and shared with Tina were each more preposterous than the next. Until his reporters received their special instructions from the Central Committee, they weren't allowed to investigate or write anything about this leadership change. With her gone, he feared he might lose his position. He was her protege. But how much time did he still have? Would they come to arrest him?"
Perhaps it's the changing times, but it feels as though In Darkness and Light could not have been published at a better moment in time to give modern Americans food for thought about all kinds of social and political influences. The characters are realistic and their motivations varied, the focus on family, political, and social relationships is wonderfully detailed with a myriad of characters offsetting one another with special insights and experiences, and the novel shines with a rich realism that is attractive and compelling.
Librarians that choose In Darkness and Light for their collections will find it stands nicely alone as well as a companion to Alexander's The Last Patient, profiling the strengths and vulnerabilities of women and individuals who became at risk in a changing world.
The Capitol Showdown
Jay Perin
East River Books
www.eastriverbooks.com
9798988264842, $4.80 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Capitol-Showdown-Historical-Political-HUNDRED-ebook/dp/B0H1JVL4PP
The 7th book and grand finale of the One Hundred Years of War series deserves and will attract attention from prior fans of this historical thriller series, who will find the culmination of struggles between former American president Temple and the Kingsley, Sheppard, and Barron families reaches a crescendo prior fans won't see coming. A sniper has ended child Mike's life, leaving father Alex bereft and Temple certain he knows who the killer is - even if he still can't articulate much due to his brain injury. It doesn't help that a room full of men well know the perp and have the firepower to take him out, because "...if any of us goes anywhere near Drummond, they'll kill us and claim self-defense."
This is just the opening salvo to a political thriller that traverses international ground from the U.S. to Argentina, Spain, and the challenges and drives stemming from family love as well as political ties. Readers won't expect the philosophical and ethical considerations that weave into this saga, but they are delightful adjuncts to the action and dilemmas that face the wide cast of characters: "Attachment can also be to your own pride or identity," Harry went on, "chaining you to expectations of self rather than freeing you to act selflessly. Then, you'd be right. There would be nothing meaningful you could do going forward. True courage, however, comes from selfless love for family and nation and humanity. It will guide you through this terrible unfairness. You'll find there's more to you than your size and your capacity to carry someone out of a burning building... new ways to give and to appreciate life."
As a war is on the cusp of being won, individuals involved in it find their personal lives and relationships marked with a conflict that has built up in prior books, but which many still won't see coming. These create delightful interplays between objectives, methods of reaching goals, and the dire consequences of making mistakes to engage readers with a story of murder, empowerment, political decision-making and subterfuge, and a corporate war that places presidents and politicians in impossible situations. While newcomers could appreciate the drama and relationships that evolve here, it's the prior fan who has dedicated hours to absorbing the complex relationships and choices of the families and characters who will best appreciate the dovetailing and culmination of struggles created in prior books.
Replete with action, unexpected revelations and realizations, family and political quandaries and ties, and the unexpected collapse of towers and men, The Capitol Showdown is rich in action and surprises. These make for a top recommendation to libraries and readers seeking a powerful story that rests upon and adapts the classic Mahabharata, an Indian epic myth. Its depth and insights about grappling with and rewriting history are eye-opening, compelling, and neatly sum up the prior books with a concluding volume packed with discovery.
The Literary Fiction Shelf
Tent City
Amy L. Bernstein
Open Books
https://www.open-bks.com
9781948598910, $21.95
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Tent-City-Amy-L-Bernstein/dp/1948598914
Open Books
https://www.open-bks.com/library/moderns/tent-city/about-book.html
By closely considering the microcosm of one American small town hit by economic collapse, Tent City personalizes and expands the choices, circumstances, and individual and community pressures involved in survival tactics and the clash between rich and poor. When hundreds of tents occupy the backyard of the wealthy King family in the town of Willing, one family is forced to not just witness but participate in the downfall of ordinary lives buffeted by nightmares and forces which are driving costs beyond what anyone can pay. Observations about the nature of the town itself juxtapose with personal experience in intriguing ways: "As a commercial town, she thinks, Willing is almost more of an idea now, than a reality. It is a town that was, now partially extinct. I am not a dying town."
These are supplemented by social and philosophical reflections that add an extra dimension of insights that will prove perfect for literary or social science book club discussions: "Progress is no longer something you count on, it's something you bargain for." As Sylvia and others find their families, relationships, ideals, and choices tested by the expanding tent city and its dystopian vision of a society experiencing a downhill slide, readers will find many moments filled with emotional connections and displays of anger, frustration, and realization about how and why things are changing: "As the conspiracy theories about how and why this is happening wax and wane in popularity, a subterranean deep-seated despair takes hold and remains largely unspoken. But that does not mean such feelings are invisible. Tent City is seething all the time now."
Amy L. Bernstein's powerful novel reflects modern times with a twist, offering powerful insights into groups that used to work together and now find themselves seemingly at odds, but connected in unusual ways. The food for thought generated by this social and psychological examination will prove especially compelling for readers seeking literary reflections of present and future dilemmas surrounding haves and have-nots, simmering frustrations on all sides, and the raise of poverty that both births Tent City and portends its ultimate collapse, as well.
Librarians seeking a haunting, evocative consideration of a family facing forces of change both within its structure and from outside will find Tent City a thoroughly compelling story of Everytown which, like Every Man, represents universal themes of the casualties in a war "not of their making" whose lives "are already shaped by its consequences."
Veil of Silence
Danielle Abi-Saab
https://www.danielleabisaab.com
GFB
www.girlfridayproductions.com
9781967510528, $18.95 paperback / $9.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DX7K28FF
War is not just ugly and terrifying; war is sorcerous. It has the power to shrink the entire universe, to shrink the totality of human existence, reducing it to mere survival, to mere waiting: for the end of cowering in a basement, for the end of the bombing, for the end of life itself. Veil of Silence is a novel that focuses on teen Hoda's experiences, following the trials and experiences of a life during the Lebanese civil war. Hoda and her countrymen "survived in this precarious space and time, suspended between fear and hope." The strength of the story lies in how she found enclaves of survival amidst the usual teen tumult of coming of age and grappling with social expectations and family changes.
Danielle Abi-Saab creates a story steeped in reflections and experiences that also includes unexpected joy in everyday experiences, such as her wedding ceremony and the expectations of marriage that both delight and challenge her: "The reality that she'd been repressing flashed in front of her eyes, a dreary routine of early-morning rising, household cleaning, cooking, and once the kids came, more cleaning, more cooking, and endless evenings of housework. She prayed Tony would be a loving husband, and hoped that before the kids came they would have some fun together as he had promised during his courtship."
As complicated relationships evolve with lover Jihad and secrets that grow to challenge everyday life and family, Hoda moves away from tradition in unexpected ways, navigating unhappiness and the desire for something more than tradition offers. Readers receive engrossing insights into Lebanese culture in which war is only part of the equation of understanding the religious, social, psychological, and cultural influences of this nation. What began as a teen's desire for love amidst the ravages of war evolves into a story about arranged marriages and lives and Hoda's dreams for a different, possibly better future that brings readers into the changing world of Lebanese family and social conditions.
Librarians seeking a novel based in Lebanon that holds many absorbing reflections on women's roles and confrontations with tradition will find Veil of Silence a moving saga. It can be highly recommended to women's reading groups, used for discussions about Lebanese culture, and is replete with stories of family, friendship, and difficult choices.
The Accidental Future of Dean Harris
Derek McFadden
Papillon du Pere Publishing
www.Papillon-du-Pere.com
9781915221216, $15.99 Paperback/$4.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Accidental-Future-Dean-Harris-Uplifting/dp/1915221218
The Accidental Future of Dean Harris is a novel presented in vignettes about a writer who searches for and achieves literary success - only to find that his heart's desire brings with it a challenge to his ideals of life, death, and achievement. The delivery of Dean's misadventures and literary pursuits assumes an unusual form that invites readers into his perceptions and experiences from its opening lines: "We're seated next to each other, you and me, in a warm, metaphorical train car aboard a sleek, metaphorical train when you stop reading your book, insert a bookmark, glance over, and ask me what I do for work. I'm not sure why you ask. Maybe the temperature invites discourse. I work at all hours, I tell you. Then I realize - in part thanks to the quizzical look on your face - that you aren't in search of a vague, opaque answer from me. You want more. A real conversation to pass the time."
What Dean does is write. His output syncs with his inner concept of who he is - until everything changes. Derek McFadden chronicles Dean's evolutionary process in six sections of revelations which are interconnected, but fluctuate in time, place, and considerations. These may challenge readers used to a linear timeline of events and sequential discoveries, but will thoroughly delight in drawing close connections between the visions of disabled Dean, literary achiever, and other incarnations as he considers the courses of his life and impact of both chance and his choices: "A young Dean Harris was impressed but remained appropriately dubious. I didn't think his Heaven was the real Heaven, but there was a chance Dad and I were unfair years ago in our judgment of the book and the man. If Heaven's Gate was right, then when I got up there, my palsy would be gone, and people wouldn't see me as a disabled drain on society (as my drunk stepfather did, and as I too often saw myself). I'd be the writer Dad and I had always known I could be, and folks would demand early access to my latest heavenly releases!"
Readers contemplate a plethora of influences, from a father's relationship with his son to the importance of Dean's dog, Blackberry, to Dean's relationship with girlfriend Claire, plus his living with a disability, regrets and self-permission, and more. The dovetailing of personalities, themes, life cycles and encounters, and the ultimate question of whether Dean's future is truly accidental makes for a thought-provoking journey that considers the ultimate impacts of all kinds of events and choices.
Librarians seeking a literary novel that puts disability and achievement in a different light will welcome how The Accidental Future of Dean Harris builds its characters and revised images of success, failure, and what lies in between. Its ability to draw with dreams, visions of the future, and revised connections makes for a winning story that is hard to put down.
The Mystery/Suspense Shelf
The Body on the Bricks
Leonard Krishtalka
www.leonardkrishtalka.com
Anamcara Press
https://anamcara-press.com
9781960462756, $22.99
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Body-Bricks-Mary-Fanning-Mystery/dp/1960462776
Kansas Daily Tribune intrepid reporter Mary Fanning, hero of The Body on the Bed, returns in another historical mystery that combines fact and fiction in a superb Kansas setting to invite both historical fiction and suspense readers to partake of a vivid new adventure. Here, Mary faces circumstances in 1873 which leads her to write, "There is madness about." Yes, and it's about to descend on her career, life, and discoveries.
The first thing to note about The Body on the Bricks is how deftly Leonard Krishtalka weaves together facts and embellishes them with dramatic flair using narrative, conversation, and high drama to pitch the story. Readers need have no familiarity with the prior book, its protagonist, or its setting in order to fall neatly into this Kansas milieu in which a series of murders falls into the news that Mary's charged with reporting. The trouble is, Mary can't stop digging into the truth. And what emerges is more than a series of heat-inducted rages or coincidences, but a deadly series of snarls that embroils Mary and her readers in a gripping saga that entwines the lives of Lawrence residents young and old with bigger-picture plots.
Reports about the town's personalities don't just stem from Mary's pen, but come from editors and other observers who capture succinct notes about these town influencers: "When Lewis and Clark made their expedition they recorded in their log that a beautiful young woman was the belle of the community in the hamlet at the foot of the steep rise forty miles west of Westport landing. This rise, of course, has come to be known as Mount Oread, and the "beautiful young woman" was none other than our own Dutch Dooka."
From witnesses to seemingly cold calculated shootings to ambushes, executions, accessories to murder, and strangers who manage to stay distant despite small-town gossip, Krishtalka has a flair for adding realistic backdrops of the times and daily life to give his historical story a firm grounding in "you are here" experiences: "Mary woke at six-thirty on Wednesday morning, steeped a full jar of Arbuckle's Ariosa coffee, and hurried over to the boardinghouse on Massachusetts Street. The city was asleep, save for five boys sweeping the wooden walks in front of the stores, and Mr. Pike heading to open his restaurant on the corner."
This invites readers into a story that is not just mystery or history, but a plain good read, reflecting the culture, atmosphere, and concerns of its times in a thoroughly compelling manner. Libraries seeking crossover titles that skillfully move between genres to attract a wider audience will want to add The Body on the Bricks to their collections whether or not they've imbibed of The Body on the Bed. Its exquisite capturing of the times, reporter Mary's personality and drive, and the insights and experiences of a cast of small town people that swirl around her contributes to a story that is vivid, exciting, and satisfyingly hard to predict - or put down.
Creatures of Habit
Alexander Brito
alexanderbrito.com
Current Words Publishing
https://currentwords.com
9781957224718, $15.99
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Creatures-Habit-Alexander-Brito/dp/1957224711
Creatures of Habit is a work of literary fiction that blends mystery and thriller approaches with the story of Miami family man Yovanni Guerra, who is pulled into the trespasses of his past life when a favor for a friend becomes a journey threatening everything he's built and believes in. Yovanni has long held hope that his previous poor choices won't impact the life he's built, but circumstances force him into new realizations, old relationships, and dangerous territory. Yovanni struggles to preserve his present and finally escape his past - which may prove impossible.
Alexander Brito captures shifts between past and present incarnations by changing between the first and third person. This helps readers follow the flowing, changing plot as it thickens and grows, and as his family relationships are challenged. Brito injects succinct descriptions of these shifts in perspective and purpose to capture atmosphere and the challenges these revised circumstances introduce to the entire family: "The silent drive home clashed with the upbeat notes of The Jungle Book soundtrack." Especially realistic are the dialogues between father and young son after husband and wife separate:
"Yeah, papo, your dad wasn't very nice and didn't think of Mami's feelings. I'm going to be in timeout for a little longer, but you can come home after."
"What'd you do?"
"That's grown-up stuff."
These injections of family quandaries supplement the conflicts and moral and ethical dilemmas to create a full-bodied feel of a man who becomes immersed in situations he can't quite leave behind, but struggles to maintain his family connections against all odds. Readers interested in thrillers which include the spark of impact on all kinds of relationships will especially appreciate how Creatures of Habit weaves all kinds of habits and changes into its evolving plot.
Librarians seeking a thriller steeped in shifting situations and considerations of life's trajectory and the costs of love, death, and family connections will find Creatures of Habit more embracive of life's relationships than most. More than just a mystery or thriller that operates outside the usual boundaries of social interaction, Creatures of Habit places the dilemmas squarely in the milieu of new and old connections - and that makes it an especially engrossing read.
Up From Hell
Joan Moran
Independently Published
9798255314522, $11.99 Paperback/$3.99 eBook/$32.92 Hardcover
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Up-Hell-Echoes-Past-Central/dp/B0GWF8BQLT
Books 2 Read
https://books2read.com/u/4Xy6v9
Up From Hell is the first book in the crime thriller trilogy Echoes of the Past: Crimes in Central Texas. The story tells of Neil Dixon, a Texas police officer who struggles with departmental corruption even as he seems to have escaped his Las Vegas upbringing and drug-addicted mother. Life has a way of coming full circle, however, as Neil is drawn back to Las Vegas, meets his father for the first time, and becomes embroiled in a chain of events that impact his Texas life. Joan Moran creates a likeable, admirable character in Neil, employing the first person to bring his world alive.
Readers walk alongside his evolution in police work and personal life through vivid descriptions that capture atmosphere in especially evocative ways: "I'd been a rookie for six miserable months, with six more ahead of me. Still, that morning, I got to the station at seven-thirty sharp. Hollister strolled in after eight, carrying a Coke and a burrito that smelled like someone had microwaved a garlic bomb."
Equally powerful are revelations about family which continue to affect his future: "As my mind churned with the weight of my father, a memory from childhood surfaced - Gary driving me to school in Vegas, talking about my mom's illness. "Secrets are secrets until they're not," he said. Back then, I didn't understand. Now, I was starting to see light."
The juxtapositions of past experience and influence and present-day challenges involving cartels, politics, and shifting alliances make Neil not just a likeable, believable character, but one whose moral and ethical dilemmas immerse readers in unexpected situations that will give rise to questions about their own decision-making processes. Issues of justice, redemption, pulling threads of connection to arrive at unexpected truths and new realizations, and the impact of law enforcement efforts on changing future possibilities coalesce in a story which is riveting, psychologically astute, and hard to predict.
Libraries seeking thrillers that sizzle with action and tales of crime and betrayal will find Up From Hell a fine acquisition worthy of high recommendation to readers interested in tales of corruption, growth, and professional evolution in law enforcement circles. Neil's life can look like hell, but driving it are the forces of growth, truth, and new opportunities which embrace all manner of possibilities, from romance to redemption. It makes for a crime thriller that's packed with personality and proves hard to put down.
The Water Diamond
CB Wilson
Dog Tales Furever
9781964056081, $5.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Water-Diamond-Hunters-Mystery-Book-ebook/dp/B0GX36XNBC
Fans of CB Wilson's prior Gem Hunters mystery series will relish The Water Diamond, which draws diamond detective Taylor "Hunter" into a new grand theft case involving a diamond bracelet gone missing from an Art Deco Exhibition. The case of missing jewelry quickly turns into a murder investigation as history, an heiress, and a puzzle lead Hunter and her diamond-sniffing dachshund Glimmer into a mystery that holds its roots not just in the past, but in environments worlds away from one another. The mystery opens not with Hunter's efforts, but a refreshingly intriguing statement made by Merle's twin sister: "He's found me. You must protect the diamonds."
The admonition and warning come from a portent that places life-saving efforts above the reality of a marriage to a man Merle never loved. This 1929 opener leads neatly into present-day conundrums as Hunter's first-person reflection on how law enforcement efforts "run in her blood" introduces newcomers to the backdrop of her life and specialty. Her expertise, honed from the fact that she's a jewel thief's daughter, lends special reinforcement to her investigative skills.
As she meets fellow jeweler Mr. Wise, who questions her role as a recovery specialist, inadvertently leads the Teutonic Knights to new power as they've long awaited a reason to rise again, and comes to question her own carefully-honed abilities, Hunter discovers that her latest case may lead her into new revelations about frontier Arizona as well as her unique approach to problem-solving. CB Wilson's ongoing ability to build a fine mystery around not just whodunit, but why, adds the psychological depth that turns a mystery into a powerful probe of self-inspection and heritage: "...had we been chasing shadows shaped by our own childhood fears?"
Family ties, personal vendettas, and a father's lasting legacy to his daughters add to a tale powerful in its elements of not just recovery, but discovery, which operate on diverse levels of surprise and revelation. Libraries seeking a standalone series addition replete with fast-paced action and secrets surrounding ambition will find The Water Diamond a powerfully compelling acquisition that will attract readers with high drama and hidden messages. Its ability to forge a tale impossible to put down cements its plot with a jewel thief's wisdom, a daughter's quest for answers, and a spunky little dog. Each contributes satisfyingly unpredictable elements to this tale of transformation.
Bonds
H.N. Hirsch
Pisgah Press
https://pisgahpress.com
9781968218003, $22.95
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Bonds-Marcus-Mystery-H-Hirsch/dp/1968218009
Bonds returns the investigative couple Bob Abramson and his partner, Prof. Marcus George, to a new mystery - this one opening with Bob's new job as the chief Assistant DA to a new DA, which leads him to close his private practice. Adopted daughter Lily is leaving for college, so many things are changing for the family, as well as in professional circles. As if these changes weren't complicate enough, Bob is called upon to assist in a helping a friend fight a questionable murder charge - brought by the incoming new DA he'll be working for when his practice finally closes. As Bob pursues Nick's instability and disappearance and the forces at work to undermine Jason's life, he draws more and more dangerous connections that threaten to compromise his own future.
Though familiarity with H.N. Hirsch's prior books will enhance appreciation for how he continues to flesh out his characters and their relationships in Bonds, newcomers will find it easy to delve into Bob's world and its motivating forces for both justice and change: "You're just being paranoid," he said to himself, out loud. But he couldn't help himself. It was both a strength and weakness for a good lawyer - always thinking things through to any possible endgame. Stick to the facts, like his father always said. But how can you stick to the facts and think things through at the same time? That always bothered him, the contradiction."
Lily also participates in considerations of possibilities as various influences emerge, from issues of physician immunity to the truth about Nick's fate. Hirsch builds fine tension as realities spin out of control and possibilities keep growing that test the moral mettle of all involved: "In various other cases, he has come across moments like this - bad news that turning out to be good news... Bob's gut told him this was one of those times."
From disturbing thoughts about partner Anna's possible homophobia despite the fact that they are good friends and nearly family to stereotypes about Latinos and community influences, the story weaves additional facets of moral and social integrity into the bigger murder picture. The result is a powerfully-developed new Bob and Marcus tale of intrigue that libraries and readers will find attractive for its social reflections as well as its underlying whodunit. Packed with twists and turns, Bonds is an exciting foray into life possibilities that uses a mystery component to promote social inspection.
God's Eye
Robert Rapoza
https://www.robertrapoza.com
Vinci Books
B0GTTSD1GX, $0.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Gods-Eye-Government-Conspiracy-Thriller/dp/B0GVHDNHB9
God's Eye is the first book in the new Jake Stone thriller series, blending political quandaries with rogue forces intent upon destroying American democracy. At the other end of the spectrum is ex-Marine CIA operative Jake Stone, tasked with employing his covert team Nemesis to participate in a hidden war which turns out to harbor an enemy not from outside the U.S., but within. The saga opens with a vice presidential campaign overseen by presidential hopeful Thomas Owens, who is mentoring running mate Gene Romano when the unthinkable happens and Gene is assassinated at a rally.
This is just the opening salvo in a series of deadly confrontations that evolve varying points of view, giving readers delightful insights into the mindsets of operatives, perps, and collaborators such as Brian Fields, assigned to leak selected information to the press; team member Bear, who towers over his associates in more ways than one; and CEO Lauren Newsom of Athena Technologies. Each holds a stake in outcomes, attempts to manipulate situations in various ways, and poses a different kind of threat as Jake Stone and his team race against time to uncover intentions and future threats, only to discover deeper and deeper roots to new plots.
Libraries interested in political thrillers that sizzle with suspense and shifting possibilities in power grabs and control will relish how deeply God's Eye delves into a conspiracy surrounding national security and special interests. From the new God's Eye surveillance system and its ultimate controllers to DOJ and other department interactions and manipulation, fast-paced action and many surprises will keep readers thoroughly engaged and guessing about outcomes and hidden connections to the end.
One of Us Must Die
Zelly Ruskin
She Writes Press
https://shewritespress.com
9798896361800, $17.99 Paperback/$12.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/One-Us-Must-Die-Novel/dp/B0GPDHHBPQ
How far would you go to escape an unhappy marriage, especially if children and inheritance are involved? In One of Us Must Die, Sterling faces impossible choices when she finally admits the charade of her perfect marriage is being threatened by her increasingly reckless husband's dangerous actions. The final straw comes when she observes his effect on their children's choices as they learn from him and threaten to forge their own dysfunctional relationships in life. What's a woman to do?
It all boils down to legal and social entanglements which seem to point to only one resolution - one of them must die. Zelly Ruskin takes this concept to the limits as Sterling confronts the truth of the extent of Keith's repression of her, deciding on a course of action which both places her in the crosshairs of illegality and promises a form of freedom that can save her. Medicated illusion of calm aside, Sterling adopts a sly, purposeful plan even as her daughter contemplates a marriage which will follow in her mother's footsteps: "Had she been confident enough to trust her instincts and say no, she wouldn't have been the mother of the enchanting bride before her."
From Keith's subterfuge to the paths Sterling considers that will lead to either freedom or jail, readers receive a powerful story that moves between a thought-provoking novel of a woman entrapped in her own dream of a perfect life and a thriller about what she will choose and what lengths she will go to pursue something different. The tension is finely tuned, dilemmas realistic and thought-provoking, and the action wonderfully wound into evolving family relationships and impact as the saga unfolds.
Librarians seeking a novel which incorporates suspense elements and social examination alike will appreciate how One of Us Must Die unfolds a powerfully evocative tale of psychological dilemmas, problem-solving, and resolution. Filled with unexpected insights and twists, One of Us Must Die is hard to put down, and will give women much food for thought about marriage, family, repression, gaslighting, and survival.
The Fantasy/SciFi Shelf
Vampire Della Vita
A.L. Hawke
www.alhawke.com
Phantom Heart LLC
9781968775391, $6.99 ebook/$14.99 paperback/$29.99 hardcover/$19.99 audiobook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Vampire-Della-Vita-Phantom-Hearts/dp/1968775390
Blood, lust, romance and art: these form the foundations of Vampire Della Vita, the story of Evita ("Eva") Rogers and her passions. In Eva's life, her need for ongoing "treatments" leads to her definition of being partially disabled: "I love traveling more than anything in the world - except art. I love art more. I'll do anything to meet our artists and plan our events. I love this job. You know that. Don't let my cursed sick body ever stop me from living."
Her involvement with David introduces questions about her many passions - including her attraction to a shadowy figure that harbors many mysteries (but then, so does she). Readers who appreciate art will be delighted at how Eva interacts with figures in the art world with her own special insights about what constitutes art and how it should be displayed: "I'm not an artist, Mr. Allan. I'm an art curator. When I met Herr Maestro, the famous surrealist called art a burning swan. Godot said her statues are like dead wood. I only meant art is a representation of reality. That's all. It's a human creation, like a reflection of our lives."
As her passion for travel and art run headlong into David's bad news over sculptor Godot's cancellation and his public reclusiveness, readers are given insight into the special dilemmas of a vampire's life:
"I'm too easily recognized. You weren't known before your infection. When someone sees your pale features, they think you're just extremely pale. No one can know what's happened to me."
"You can use makeup like I do."
"It wouldn't take much for it to smear. Look at your fingers after you spilled the wine."
"Then you reapply it."
"And then one photo online will get everybody guessing I'm a vampire."
As the story delves into nightmares, imprisonment, smoking guns from blinding sunlight, and confrontations with vampires, readers receive a heady blend of intrigue, romance, fantasy, and art world politics. These create a compelling story hard to neatly categorize and easy to love.
Librarians seeking vampire stories that come with unexpected twists and romantic interludes will relish how original and delightfully intriguing are the characters of Vampire Della Vita, who each create a delightful probe into control, empowerment, attraction, and passion. This food for thought makes Vampire Della Vita highly recommendable to book clubs seeking vampire stories a cut above the usual predictable scenarios about survival and the costs of love.
Baen Books
www.baen.com
Two new arrivals from Baen provide intriguing reads for sci-fi enthusiasts.
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Ship-Who-Dared-Brainships/dp/1668073226
Mercedes Lackey and Veronica Giguere's The Ship Who Dared (9781668073223, $28.00) adds to the "Ship Who Sang" series with a tale about Brainship Tia and her Brawn Alex, who are testing a new singularity drive for the military. Their assignment leads them an abandoned research site where they rescue researchers left behind, only to find a punishing response to their efforts. As more snafus lead them into further danger, the ship and her partner find their future in question.
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Sand-Magelight-Kacey-Ezell/dp/1668073234
Kacey Ezell's Blood on the Sand (9781668073230, $28.00) tells of Bellatrix Aelys, who left her family in the company of a dangerous man. Aleys is forced to confront her family again under very different, threatening circumstances as new forces move against her. What seems a simple favor turns out to hold deadly ramifications for Aleys and all around her as secrets unfold and schemes evolve in this gripping story of political and family ties gone awry. Both are action-packed, vivid stories that will prove hard to put down.
The Business Shelf
The Arch of Traits
William K. Snyder with Alexandra Hale
Precocity Press
https://www.precocitypress.com
9798994147658, $19.95
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H12MWR6N?nsdOptOutParam=true
The Arch of Traits outlines and reviews ten characteristics common to strong management teams, providing managers with keys to applying these traits to building better businesses. It comes from a turnaround consultant with some thirty years background helping companies recover and grow and focuses on management styles that either contribute to a company's health or unexpectedly propel it into disaster. Business readers receive numerous examples of this process and the emotional connections which involve blending turnaround techniques with psychological analysis to create better practices and identify business snafus. From how too much courage can be a bad thing.
One example is the case of Penthouse magazine, which had built a successful run on risque choices and needed to now learn lessons involving prudence. Another involves tackling the results of surrounding one's business with "yes men" (exemplified in the case of an electro-mechanical manufacturer whose success had waned).
William K. Snyder and Alexandra Hale outline direct connections between success, failure, and the kinds of perceptions and revised focuses that can identify a company's hidden influencers and why they are no longer working. Business leaders will appreciate the process of making these connections, which are imparted in an example-packed survey that will help them guide businesses on better courses based on identifying character traits in leaders at all levels, better understanding how their absence or presence can affect a company.
Business managers and owners who would utilize psychological insights for better management practices will find The Arch of Traits an invaluable survey connecting the dots between psychological qualities and leadership success. Business libraries will find The Arch of Traits very useful, highly recommendable for discussions among business and other leaders and psychology or self-improvement groups.
The Theatre/Cinema Shelf
Murder to Movies
Paul Drexler
Independently Published
9798994423417, $19.95 Paperback/$5.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Movies-Story-Hollywoods-Darkest/dp/B0GQBHD82Q
Murder to Movies: The Real Story Behind Hollywood's Darkest Films links Hollywood movie-making and true crime, analyzing selected movies and their creation. Included in the mix are such disparate crime scenes as James Cagney's inspiration for "White Heat," where his defiant stand actually stems from real-world events: "Cagney is the ultimate rebel, an iconic figure, surrounded by hundreds of armed men He is without fear, a man with nothing to lose. His last ace is his willingness, his eagerness to kill, and to die. But the lines Cagney speaks are not from the mind of a screenwriter. They are from the mouths of Francis Crowley and Augie Robles, two killers, whose lives played out 30 years apart, in barricaded New York City apartments, accompanied by the sound of bullets, the smell of teargas, the angered determination of police, and the excited chatter of tens of thousands of bystanders. Francis Crowley was a real-life version of the short, cocky Irish gangster character that James Cagney often played in his career."
The discussions of the real-world figures that influenced movie themes, actors, and the psychology of criminal behavior create important insights into not just movie-making and criminal history, but how the psychology of behavior is injected into plots and choices of portrayal to provide important links between real-world events and fictional representation on the big screen. Paul Drexler does not limit his analysis to either particular movies or actor choices. He expands the theme to consider a wide range of real-world crime, from California's famous sniper the Zodiac Killer to the Brabant Killers, a heavily armed gang that committed some 20 robberies in Belgium, which influenced the powerful but inconclusive movie "Don't Shoot."
Readers receive much more than a film synopsis, as they might expect, and will appreciate the important connections that emerge between the psyches of killers and their portrayal and analysis in the public eye of film. This will intrigue filmmakers, social historians, justice system participants, and a wide range of general interest readers interested in how films are conceived, crime interpreted and presented, and vibes created that draw viewers into the nature and dark concepts of all kinds of crime.
Ideally, Murder to Movies will not just accompany a library's film collection, but be chosen for book club debate and classroom discussion on a range of subjects, from filmmaking responsibility and interpretive license to the psychology of criminals and the public viewers interested in their lives, motivations, and methods. Packed with unexpected and lively connections between film portrayal and real life events, Murder to Movies will especially delight film buffs who have seen these movies, but not thought about them in such depth, or in such a manner.
The Christian Studies Shelf
Re-Imagining Heaven: Just When You Thought You Understood Heaven
Dr. Art McNeese
https://www.artmcneese.com
Independently Published
9798266361560, $9.99 Paperback/ $12.50 Hardcover/$2.99 Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GWR6HGTX
Re-Imagining Heaven: Just When You Thought You Understood Heaven is a discourse on heaven that offers new inspection of traditional concepts. Under Dr. McNeese's hand, the concept of heaven assumes many different possibilities - one of which is the notion that humans won't go up to heaven; but heaven will come down to meet us. Others have presented this notion, but what makes Dr. McNeese's treatise stand out is its attention to pairing personal choice, life values, and spiritual objectives with what will possibly happen when God comes down to Earth and changes everything. This solemn subject takes the form of unexpected vignettes tying human experience with nature and higher-level thinking about empowerment, Christ, and the concept of end times.
Readers may not expect the down-home feel of some of these stories, but they each hold important lessons that prove far more accessible than the lofty discussions that typically occupy religious discourses: "We had some plumbing problems that led me to shut off the water at the base of the toilet the night before. That crafty squirrel had slipped down a rooftop pipe and found its way into the toilet, spending the night in porcelain purgatory. The moment I lifted the lid, it made its break for freedom - straight into the tub! When I shared this saga at church the next Sunday, I'm pretty sure some folks avoided their bathrooms for days. I know it's a goofy story, but it carries a deeper truth. The squirrel's wild panic came from being trapped in a place it was never meant to be. It yearned for the open air, its true home, where it could dash around and explore without fear."
Accessibility and insight walk hand in hand in the many discussions in this book, which each offer lively connections between human perceptions and affairs and religious thinking: "Heaven is not a place of discrimination, but it is a place of distinction. Some will have greater responsibilities or greater opportunities to participate in God's work on the new heaven and new earth. That's hard for us, because we're so self-centered, anytime there's a difference, we turn it into a division. But when God hands out the rewards, it won't be about you, it will be about Jesus."
Ideally, Re-Imaginging Heaven will assume its place in spiritual circles consisting of book clubs, discussion groups, and Christian church meetings. Its important connections between life experiences, choices, consequences, and Christian ideals are unparalleled, setting the approach, if not the conclusions, of this book apart from most. Christian library collections and religious readers won't want to miss the opportunity presented and encouraged by these vignettes to delve deeper into not just the concept of heaven, but its place on Earth and in earthly affairs. People tend to believe these are human-centric when they should ideally involve absorbing and understanding God's greater intentions and purposes.
The Five Miracles: The Holy Spirit Finds Me
Paul Edwards
Independently Published
9798233702570, $5.99
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GTBSVVZZ
Apple
https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-five-miracles-finding-the-holy-spirit/id6760786134
The Five Miracles: The Holy Spirit Finds Me continues Paul Edwards's autobiographical journey of spiritual reflection and discovery, a testament to finding faith and better understanding God's force in life. These vibrant first-person reflections capture religious thinkers from the story's opening lines with candid wonder that reflects the process of finding God in all kinds of ways: "This is... this is me," I breathed, the words catching in my throat with a surge of unexpected joy. "God using me. Not a saint, not a scholar, but me, with all my doubts, my fumbles, and my perfectly ordinary life."
More so than most memoirs about spiritual enlightenment and discovery, Edwards captures the moment-by-moment experiences of feeling and considering God in every decision-making event, moment, and encounter in his life, pairing these revelations with daily reflections that both test and transform: "My gut clenched, a cold knot tightening. A trap! the voice inside shrieked, its rasp a chilling echo of my own ingrained distrust. It whispered of hidden agendas, of open palms waiting to snatch, of being played for a fool. God wouldn't steer me wrong, but this feels... wrong. A desperate, gnawing unease consumed me, the fear that this so-called compassion was merely a cunning disguise for my own gullibility. Part of me yearned to slam the door, to retreat into the predictable safety of my calculated, small offerings."
Confessions and revelations mount, moving in unusual directions to consider unravelings, fate, the terror of Covid, and new ways to live in an age of uncertainty. These test not only survival, but belief. The intimate, revealing nature of these experiences come full circle to make spiritual connections: "When prayer becomes the air you breathe, miracles unfurl. My life, lived through the lens of such extremes, is the greatest miracle of all."
How do people adapt, survive, keep going on, become more cognizant of God's force in the world, and absorb and reflect His word and intentions? Through such dialogues as will be created in Christian readers who choose The Five Miracles: The Holy Spirit Finds Me to augment their spiritual journeys through life. Christian libraries interested in memoirs that delve into family, life, and revised values and perceptions will find The Five Miracles: The Holy Spirit Finds Me a powerful adjunct to group discussion and individual reflection alike: "It was then, surrounded by the fragility of life and the immense power of collective prayer, that I understood Grandma's original teaching, the thread woven through every encounter, every subtle nudge. It was a complete circle, a symphony of love, a journey where the Holy Spirit had not merely found me, but where, perhaps, I had been finding Him all along."
Filled with life interactions that lead the author and his readers towards divine realizations, The Five Miracles: The Holy Spirit Finds Me is highly recommended reading for Christians who would better understand how God works in daily affairs, and how human beings connect the dots to realize His presence and value in their choices and progression.
The Self-Help Shelf
Good Humans Make Great Leaders
Jody Fletcher
GFB
www.girlfridayproductions.com
9781967510504, $8.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Good-Humans-Make-Great-Leaders/dp/B0H2K266SD
Retired Commander Master Chief, US Navy author Jody Fletcher's Good Humans Make Great Leaders: Inspiring Others Begins With You surveys the basics of aspiring to and becoming not just a good leader, but a great one. It identifies the rudiments of first becoming a good human being, before considering a leadership role. This connection between the two is essential for readers who acknowledge a difference between leaders who embark upon goal-setting for others without putting their own psyches and houses in order first and those who enter into a leadership role from a foundation of self-empowerment and insight.
Jody Fletcher has his own dreams for the ultimate use of his book - which may preclude library lending, or demand that a patron obtain their own copy: "This book is meant to make you consider what it means to be a better human and leader, and like life itself, that will leave some marks! In other words, this is not a book to read and then stick on a shelf as a Zoom backdrop. I want it to be full of notes, highlighted like a toddler got ahold of the markers, with dog-eared pages, Post-it flags standing out like you just landed on the moon, and, of course, ample coffee stains."
Fletcher identifies spaces where potentially good people can get stuck, such as the "Woe Space," admonishing: "...good humans don't waste time in victim space. When they find themselves there, they find their way back out, quick!"
It takes awareness, savvy, and attention to detail to become a "good human," and therefore a good leader. Fletcher offers a host of techniques for evolutionary success, using his own life as a template for understanding and growth: "Some of the best leadership lessons you'll learn along the way are when you fail and grind the gears. Remember to push in the clutch, pause to assess and identify lessons learned, and shift into the right gear. The lesson I learned was the importance of psychological safety and how it directly relates to advocacy."
The result is a study in transformation that, more so than most leadership guides, focuses on changing oneself first before stepping into the role of guiding others. This is why librarians will want to highly recommend Good Humans Make Great Leaders to a wide audience of business leaders, entrepreneurs, political activists, and virtually anyone who would work on themselves before embarking on a life-changing mission to interact with others. The book's focus on objectives, assumptions, and realities makes it a winner worthy of book club and reading group discussions.
Getting to Better
Stephen de Groot
Networlding Publishing
https://networlding.com
9781959993599, $19.97 Paperback/$9.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Getting-Better-Model-Elevating-Potential/dp/1959993593
Getting To Better: A New Model for Elevating Human Potential at Work and in Life, a template for change, advocates that everyone can be a better leader. It introduces the CORE Algorithm, a picture of what human betterment looks like translated into practical strategies anyone can adopt to push their lives and goals forward. The premise is simple, addressing the common obstacles to achievement and the process of becoming stuck and unstuck, translating what humans can do to be and feel better into a CORE formula anyone can easily apply.
Take the concept of "resilience," for one example. While most believe this applies to conditions of crisis, Stephen de Groot maintains that resilience can be expanded to a wider range of life situations: "Resilience is our everyday human strength in action. Think about it. Whether we're talking about functioning well, performing at our best, or coping with stress, it all comes down to behavior. It's the sum of our actions, inactions, and interactions. If we only label this strength "resilience" after a crisis, we miss its true nature. Resilience is happening right now."
Links are drawn between childhood and adult experiences and goals, revised methods of viewing and achieving desires and milestones, and the process of adaptation and leadership which accompanies revised realizations: "The need to be truly seen isn't exclusive to childhood. This fundamental human desire, established early in life, stays with us forever. Regardless of who you are or how old you are, one truth remains constant: when you feel seen, heard, and understood - when your relationships and environments are consistently nurturing, encouraging, and supportive - your ability to thrive is amplified, even in the most challenging situations."
This lends to new approaches to not just leadership, but life. These embrace newfound connections between intension and action through such techniques as active listening, addressing individual and team patterns of belief, and changing dialogues and approaches for more effective results. The insights on motivation and communication are priceless as the guide evolves new possibilities through examples and revised approaches.
Libraries seeking self-help books that can expand beyond business and leadership milieus will find Getting To Better: A New Model for Elevating Human Potential at Work and in Life especially highly recommendable to book clubs, reading groups, and individuals interested in self-motivation and change. Packed with important links between life events, relationships, and new possibilities, Getting To Better: A New Model for Elevating Human Potential at Work and in Life will delight readers seeking effective guidelines for self-improvement that operates on more than one level.
The Successful Man
Kenneth G. Alexander
Desert Sky Press
www.Desertsky.press
9798990808829, $24.99 Hardcover/$19.99 Paperback/$7.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/SUCCESSFUL-MAN-Vision-Masculinity-Successful/dp/B0GQ6FNPJX
The Successful Man: A New Vision of Masculinity surveys the landscape of male success and masculinity with an eye to revising its standards and perception, giving readers a new interpretation of male value and its traditionally high costs. What does it mean to be a man, how is maleness defined, and how can ambition be redefined through newfound emotional connections? These and other questions hold answers in The Successful Man which not only consider the nature of masculinity, but success.
Chapters address the emotional components of "success" in a new light which will engage, intrigue, and delight many a reader no matter their sex: "When we're taught that some people are superior, that difference is dangerous, or that dominance equals safety, those beliefs seep into every interaction. They become the lens through which we judge others, and the cage that limits our own growth. And this is where it connects back to success and masculinity. The same beliefs that taught us who's "above" or "below" also taught us what a "successful man" is supposed to be. They linked worth to money, strength to emotional shutdown, leadership to control, and manhood to performance."
These critical inspections of the costs of manhood's values will prove not just enlightening, but important to relationships, growth, leadership, and social engagements men often find challenging. From duty and love to connections made and broken and revised definitions of "successful," Kenneth G. Alexander's dialogues and connections should form the foundation of any men's group discussion, should be in every general lending library, and should be gifted to men interested in considering the definition and cost of masculinity.
Librarians that choose The Successful Man for their collections will be especially pleased by Alexander's powerful, appealing mandate for effecting positive, lasting change: "This is the invitation: not just to rethink manhood, but to live it differently, every day, in every choice, in every relationship."
The Holocaust Studies Shelf
"Meeting" Anne Frank: An Anthology, 2nd Edition
Tim Whittome, Editor
Independently Published
9798369448809, $58.99 Hardcover/$47.69 Paperback/$9.99 eBook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GSBB4D92
The revised, updated second edition of "Meeting" Anne Frank: An Anthology is a key acquisition for libraries interested in Anne Frank history, appearing in full color to support the collection of personal stories and insights about Anne with a visual strength that gives the book further depth. The inclusion of additional essays by Anne Talvaz, Joy Gafa, and Priscilla Smits which were inspired by the author's trip to Amsterdam, further broadens the perceptions, insights, and experiences of Anne Frank for audiences interested in how the young girl's life continues to impact generations who never met her.
Why a second edition? The inclusion of powerful, hard-hitting color images would have been enough justification for this reprint, but augmenting these images are further reflections and information that stemmed from editor Tim Whittome's research, which led him to desire "to include more of my reflections on not just the lives and legacies of Anne and Margot Frank as teenage victims of the Holocaust but also on the wider impact of the Nazi occupation on the Dutch following the German invasion of the Netherlands in May 1940. I have drawn impressions and reflections from having read over fifty new memoirs, histories, and other critical studies since I first edited "Meeting" Anne for eventual publication in 2021."
Given his expanded studies and focus, the second edition of "Meeting" Anne Frank: An Anthology represents a true value in its wider-ranging inclusion and consideration of the forces that Anne's presence in the world created, which continue to resonate in many unexpected ways today. Chapters come from many thinkers and social engagers, including Italian charity founder Federica Pannocchia, who reflects: "One of my favorite quotes of Anne Frank is, "How wonderful it is that no one has to wait, but can start right now to gradually change the world!"(158) And I do believe that this quote has become my motto. In my organization, we also focus on children in need and actual issues like migrants and refugees. We focus on all those people who are still discriminated against today. We can choose what to do with our lives, how to react. We can choose to love and not to hate. We can choose to live and to help. We can choose to start to improve our world."
Each essay takes a segment of Anne's lasting influence and writing and places it in a perspective and place that most readers won't expect. This, in turn, creates a joyful expansion of Frank's impact on future generations that readers will find ultimately hopeful and uplifting - perfect panaceas for modern times, and wonderful instructions for how to not just survive, but thrive. This is why libraries will want to consider this second edition an essential acquisition - especially those that may have purchased the prior, more limited edition and have seen its popularity among patrons and reading groups. Packed with extraordinary insights into Frank's lasting legacy, the second edition of "Meeting" Anne Frank: An Anthology is a powerful celebration not to be missed.
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
e-mail: mwbookrevw@aol.com
www.midwestbookreview.com
Diane C. Donovan, Editor & Senior Reviewer
12424 Mill Street, Petaluma, CA 94952
phone: 1-707-795-4629
e-mail: donovan@sonic.net
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