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June 2021 MBR The General Fiction Shelf
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Midwest Book Review
Jun 29, 2021, 6:47:25 AM6/29/21
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The General Fiction Shelf
The Next Wife
Kaira Rouda
Thomas & Mercer
www.brillianceaudio.com
9781542025942, $15.95, PB, 311pp
https://www.amazon.com/Next-Wife-Kaira-Rouda/dp/154202594X
Synopsis: Kate Nelson had it all. A flourishing company founded with her husband, John; a happy marriage; and a daughter, Ashlyn. The picture-perfect family. Until John left for another woman. Tish is half his age. Ambitious. She's cultivated a friendship with Ashlyn. Tish believes she's won. -- But she's wrong.
Tish Nelson has it all. Youth, influence, a life of luxury, and a new husband. But the truth is, there's a lot of baggage. Namely, his first wife - and suspicions of his infidelity. After all, that's how she got John. Maybe it's time for a romantic getaway, far from his vindictive ex. If Kate plans on getting John back, Tish is one step ahead of her. -- Or so she thinks.
But what happens next is something neither Kate nor Tish saw coming. As best-laid plans come undone, there's no telling what a woman will do in the name of love -- and revenge.
Critique: A carefully crafted domestic and psychological thriller of a novel by and author with a genuine flair for originality and the kind of narrative storytelling style that fully engages the readers attention from first page to last, "The Next Wife" by Kaira Rouda will prove to be an immediate and enduringly welcome addition to community library collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "The Next Wife" is readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, 4.99). Librarians should be aware that there is a large print library binding edition of "The Next Wife", as well as being available as a complete and unabridged audio book (Brilliance Audio, 9781713559504, $14.99, MP3-CD).
From Ashes To Song
Hilary Hauck
Milford House Press
www.sunburypress.com/collections/milford-house
9781620064085, $16.95, PB, 219pp
https://www.amazon.com/Ashes-Song-Hilary-Hauck/dp/1620064081
Synopsis: Italy, 1911. Pietro's life on the family vineyard is idyllic. He has at last captured the melody of the grape harvest on his clarinet and can't wait to share his composition with his grandfather, but before he can play, news arrives of a deadly disease sweeping the countryside. They have no choice but to burn the vineyard to stop its spread. The loss is too much for Pietro's grandfather, and by morning Pietro has lost two of the most precious things in his life -- his grandfather and the vineyard. All he has left is his music, but a disastrous performance at his grandfather's funeral suggests that music, too, is now beyond his reach.
Adrift with grief, Pietro seeks a new start in America. He goes to work in a Pennsylvania coal mine where his musician's hands blister and his days are spent in the muffled silence of underground.
When the beautiful voice and gentle heart of a friend's wife stirs a new song in him, Pietro at last encounters a glimmer of hope. From a respectful distance and without catching the attention of her husband, Pietro draws on Assunta for inspiration and soon his gift for music returns. But when grief strikes in Assunta's life, Pietro is to blame. When Prohibition steals Pietro's last pleasure, he has to do something before Assunta's grief consumes them both.
Critique: Inspired by true events, "From Ashes to Song" by author and storyteller Hilary Hauck is an extraordinary novel of unconventional love, hope, and the gifts brought to America by ordinary people in the great wave of immigration. Inherently entertaining and, against the current backdrop of controversies with respect to immigration quite timely, "From Ashes to Song" is especially and unreservedly recommended -- especially for community library General Fiction collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "From Ashes to Song" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $6.99).
Strange Children
Sadie Hoagland
Red Hen Press
www.redhen.org
9781597091169, $17.95, PB, 312pp
https://www.amazon.com/Strange-Children-Sadie-Hoagland/dp/1597091162
Synopsis: In a polygamist commune in the desert, a fourteen-year-old boy and a twelve-year-old girl fall in love and consummate that love, breaking religious law. They are caught, and a year later, she gives birth to his father's child while the boy commits murder four hundred miles away -- a crime that will slowly unravel the community.
Told by eight adolescent narrators, "Strange Children" is a story of how people use faith to justify cruelty, and how redemption can come from unexpected places. Though seemingly powerless in the face of their fundamentalist religion, these "strange children" shift into the central framework of their world as they come of age.
Critique: An emotionally intense and deftly crafted novel by an author with a genuine flair for originality and a particularly effective narrative storytelling style, "Strange Children" is an especially and unreservedly recommended addition to community library Contemporary General Fiction collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "Strange Children" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.49).
Wheelboys
Dd Jaseron
The Book Patch, LLC
https://www.thebookpatch.com
9781642546439, $12.99, PB, 332pp
https://www.amazon.com/Wheelboys-Dd-Jaseron/dp/1642546437
Synopsis: Chad Gibbons and his best friend, Gary Lee Dillanger, have worked their way through the ranks of competitive go-karting with the legendary Kilgore racing family. Monroe Kilgore and his wife Uma see their racing world very differently, and Uma is haunted by it.
Chad is pursuing the opportunity of his lifetime to become a professional auto racer, but the fast and luxurious world of racing is not as it appears. Tragedy strikes, and Chad is left to find his own way. Elle Dillanger struggles with criminal charges against her son, Gary Lee, and the truth about his tragic accident unfolds as the detectives investigate.
More than a coming-of-age story, "Wheelboys" by Dd Jaseron challenges society's complacency with the exploitation of youth and questions adult and corporate responsibilities. The journeys faced by these three families are universal and resonate for any reader: overcoming grief, finding one's path, and discovering love.
Critique: A deftly crafted and thoroughly entertaining novel that reveals the dark side of competitive sports in general, and auto racing in particular, "Wheelboys" is especially and unreservedly recommended for community library Contemporary General Fiction collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "Wheelboys" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $2.99).
America
Mike Bond
Big City Press
https://mikebondbooks.com
9781949751208, $14.95, PB, 358pp
https://www.amazon.com/America-Mike-Bond/dp/1949751201
Synopsis: The Sixties shook America to its foundation -- the assassination of an idealistic young president, a tragic and unpopular war, a battle for civil rights, a cosmic clash of riots and burning cities, and an explosion of sex, drugs and rock'n roll.
For four young people, the Sixties is a decade of promise and freedom. For orphaned Troy, it's the joy of living with his new family and exploring the world of flight and outer space. For Tara, the girl he loves, the power of song as she evolves into a rock'n roll star. For his new brother, Mick, a football hero and rebel, a time to question everything, including the fast-growing war in Vietnam. And for Daisy, the girl Mick loves, a chance to fight for equality, join the Peace Corps, and expand her study of the human mind.
America is the first of Mike Bond's seven-volume historical novel series, capturing the victories and heartbreaks of the last 70 years and of our nation's most profound upheavals since the Civil War -- a time that defined the end of the 20th Century and where we are today.
Through the wild, joyous, heartbroken and visionary lives of four young people and many others, the Sixties come alive again, as do its questions: what is life? What is freedom? What was lost, what was won?
Critique: The debut of a planned new series by author Mike Bond, "America" is an extraordinary and deftly crafted novel that combines interesting characters within the context of an historically detailed background. The result is an inherently entertaining and even fascinating read from cover to cover. While highly recommended, especially for community library General Fiction collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "America" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $2.99).
Backstory
William Michael Ried
CK Books Publishing
https://ckbookspublishing.com
9781949085372, $14.99, PB, 328pp
https://www.amazon.com/Backstory-novel-William-Michael-Ried/dp/1949085376
Synopsis: Ansel Tone has been named "The Golden Boy of Popular History." He teaches propaganda at Columbia University and writes Redux Revisionist History best-sellers. His looks and family wealth help him to hawk his books on late night talk shows. He speaks to packed auditoriums. Undergraduates are said to swoon over his lectures. The public sees a professor who drives fast cars and runs with glamorous women, but his personal life is poised between an overbearing father and a son he hardly knows.
Ansel spent his junior year at Trinity College in Dublin, on a campus cloaked in four centuries of student pranks and mayhem. Twelve years later a classmate comes to New York and organizes a reunion. Ansel attends mostly to see how time has treated the beautiful Tess, his girlfriend that year who married their classmate, Charlie.
Charlie and Tess live in "Mountain House" in the Hudson Valley. She's a big-firm lawyer. He's trying to replicate the success of his first novel and overcome the train-wreck of his second. At the reunion Charlie announces he will fictionalize the story of how he won Tess away from Ansel. He'll change the facts to improve the story, but he first wants help remembering what really happened.
Ansel panics. Digging into the past could reveal secrets that could overturn his life, and so he sets out to manipulate the story. Complications ripple from Charlie digging into his college days, Ansel struggling to rewrite his own past and Tess wondering if she wound up with the right guy, while their classmates come to terms with themselves and each other and share the repercussions of rewriting history.
Critique: An original and deftly crafted novel that is an inherently riveting read from cover to cover, "Backstory" showcases author William Michael Ried's genuine flair for the kind of narrative storytelling style that brings his characters to life and holds the reader's rapt attention from first page to last. While especially and unreservedly recommended for community library collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "Backstory" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $4.99).
The Next Wife
Kaira Rouda
Thomas & Mercer
https://amazonpublishing.amazon.com/thomas-mercer.html
www.brillianceaudio.com
9781542025942, $15.95, PB, 311pp
https://www.amazon.com/Next-Wife-Kaira-Rouda/dp/154202594X
Synopsis: Kate Nelson had it all. A flourishing company founded with her husband, John; a happy marriage; and a daughter, Ashlyn. The picture-perfect family. Until John left for another woman. Tish is half his age. Ambitious. She's cultivated a friendship with Ashlyn. Tish believes she's won. -- She's wrong.
Tish Nelson has it all. Youth, influence, a life of luxury, and a new husband. But the truth is, there's a lot of baggage. Namely, his first wife - and suspicions of his infidelity. After all, that's how she got John. Maybe it's time for a romantic getaway, far from his vindictive ex. If Kate plans on getting John back, Tish is one step ahead of her. -- She thinks.
But what happens next is something neither Kate nor Tish saw coming. As best-laid plans come undone, there's no telling what a woman will do in the name of love and revenge!
Critique: A deftly crafted gem of a psychological thriller, "The Next Wife" by Kaira Ropuda is an inherently compelling read from beginning to end. An impressively original and simply rivet novel, "The Next Wife" will prove to be an extraordinary and popular addition to community library Contemporary General Fiction collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists of domestic thriller fans that "The Next Wife" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $4.99). Librarians should be aware that there is both a large print edition of "The Next Wife" (Wheeler Publishing, 9781432889456, $34.99, Library Binding) and a complete and unabridged audio book of "The Next Wife" (Brilliance Audio, 9781713559504, $14.99, MP3-CD).
Memory Layne
Bob Adamov
www.BobAdamov.com
Packard Island Publishing
https://packardislandpublishing.com
9780578862934, $24.95, HC, 220pp
https://www.amazon.com/Memory-Layne-Catawba-Island-Chincoteague/dp/057886293X
Synopsis: Zeke Layne, with his white beard and red suspenders, is a man noted for his salty good humor, harmonica playing, and teller of tall tales.
Zeke lives with his daughter, teenage granddaughter and golden lab in an old mobile home, built on steel pilings at the Miller Ferry Catawba dock, with a view from his deck of South Bass Island. Alzheimer's and a worrisome heart condition haven't stopped him from his daily routine of entertaining passengers waiting at the Catawba dock to board the ferry or caring for his Chincoteague pony. It's not a bad life, even having to deal with two rapacious stepdaughters and their biker pals.
But when the unthinkable happens, Zeke must summon all his fading resources in a madcap dash to a safe haven.
Critique: In his newest novel, "Memory Layne", author Adamov populates his inherently engaging, impressively original, and always entertaining story with a cast of unforgettable characters who demonstrate the power of love, and how it is that man can be destroyed, but not defeated. Compelling, timeless, and exceptional, "Memory Layne" is especially and unreservedly recommended for community library Contemporary General Fiction collections.
The Flower Boat Girl
Larry Feign
https://larryfeign.com
Top Floor Books
https://topfloorbooks.com
9789627866541, $26.99, HC, 436pp
https://www.amazon.com/Flower-Boat-Girl-novel-based/dp/9627866547
Synopsis: Sold as a child to a floating brothel, 26-year-old Yang has finally bought her freedom, only to be kidnapped by a brutal pirate gang and forced to marry their leader.
Dragged through stormy seas and lawless bandit havens, Yang must stay scrappy to survive. She embeds herself in the dark business of piracy, carving out her role against the resistance of powerful pirate leaders and Cheung Po Tsai, her husband's flamboyant male concubine.
As she is caught between bitter rivals fighting for mastery over the pirates-and for her heart-Yang faces a choice between two things she never dreamed might be hers: power or love.
Critique: Set along the South China coast in 1801, and based on a true story, "The Flower Boat Girl" by Larry Feign is a deftly crafted and inherently impressive biographical style novel about a woman who, against all odds, shaped history on her own terms. A simply riveting read from first page to last, "The Flower Boat Girl" is especially and unreservedly recommended for community library Historical Fiction collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "The Flower Boat Girl" is also readily available in a paperback edition (9789627866558, $18.99) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $4.99).
The Endling
Deborah Maxey
https://deborahmaxey.com
Firefly Southern Fiction
c/o Iron Stream Media
www.ironstreammedia.com
9781645262640, $16.99, PB, 352pp
https://www.amazon.com/Endling-Deborah-Maxey/dp/1645262642
Synopsis: Native American Emerson Coffee is the last surviving member of her tribe. An endling. After an internship in New York, she has returned to her chosen life of solitude in the stone cabin atop the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, where her grandfather trained her to survive by seeking God's guidance in nature.
When US Marshals inform her she is being hunted by a mob hit man, Emerson declines their offer of witness protection, believing she can best outwit a predator on her own turf. But when three innocent children living in the art colony below become caught in the crosshairs, Emerson must decide if she will risk it all her mountains, her heritage -- even her life to secure their safety.
Can a lone and unarmed endling stop the most ruthless family of all or will everything her ancestors fought to preserve die with her?
Critique: A deftly crafted and impressively original novel, "The Endling" by Deborah Maxey combines a Christian perspective with elements of mystery, suspense, and Native American perspectives. The result is an inherently riveting and exceptionally entertaining read from cover to cover. While unhesitatingly recommended for community library Contemporary General Fiction collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "The Endling" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $3.99).
Editorial Note: Deborah Maxey grew up immersed in the legends and traditions of Native American and Appalachian culture. Her oil portraits and one-woman art shows helped fund her PhD in counseling. As a psychotherapist and expert witness in the courts, her fascination with characters and conflict drives her passion to create fiction.
The Weary God of Ancient Travelers
Jessica Stilling
D. X. Varos, Ltd.
www.dxvaros.com
9781941072950, $18.95 PB, $4.99 ebook, 348pp
https://www.amazon.com/Weary-God-Ancient-Travelers/dp/194107295X
The Weary God of Ancient Travelers presents the dilemma of amnesiac Lydia Warren, who struggles to regain her identity and life, then moves through a different scenario as she experiences life in Greece with a man she can't quite recall and tries to reconcile this world with a past which is shrouded in questions.
Jessica Stilling brings Greece alive from the start in an introductory paragraph that is compelling, evocative, and filled with the promise of a good mystery. Lydia knows that her current life is overlaid by a past she can't quite recall. The questions are not only what that life was and what happened to it, but at what points the two personas intersect, and how to rebuild it from a blend of new and old foundations.
When an agent from the UN arrives at her door, Lydia begins to discover that her connections to this world may not be as straightforward as the accident that caused memory loss and thwarts her recovery. She may be involved in something that involves not just present-day experiences, but past lives. This added facet of intrigue powers a story spiced with psychological inspection and mystery. As she finds out about threats to people who were her family and her role in these events through a third party agent, Lydia and Agent Rynsburger uncover evidence that much more is going on than a simple memory loss. Are her past life memories real? If not, why do they fill in so many blanks about the present?
The reports surrounding her identity don't make sense. The facts surrounding a death do not add up. And Lydia's commitment to uncovering the truth about her past and possible other lives leads her to place trust in another's ability to investigate, even though he might not prove to be acting on her best interests. The motive for her choices is especially well portrayed: "There is a comfort in his expertise and I want to push him to know the truth even if I cannot remember it. I want him to piece this together ever so carefully."
The blend of romance, mystery, the compelling-almost visceral-descriptions of Greece, and the psychological self-inspection all work together to create an absolutely compelling piece worthy of high recommendation. Who is Lydia Warren, in all this? The answer will rock not only her world, but many readers.
The Magician
Kathleen Shoop
Independently Published
9798596878127, $14.99 PB, $4.99 Kindle, 509pp
https://www.amazon.com/Magician-Kathleen-Shoop/dp/B092HJK2W7
The Magician is a sweeping historical family saga that moves between 1920 and 2019, tracing the heritage, birth, and growth of a baseball legend whose achievements change the Donora household. Before Stanislaw Franciszek Musial steps into his destiny, however, a series of mishaps (both personal and social) pose seemingly insurmountable barriers to his goals.
His story is told by 92-year-old Patryk Rusek who, having been thwarted in his escape from a retirement community, decides to capture the magic of his family history for a young boy, which eventually expands to embrace other listeners. Rusek hoped that, by gathering these recollections, he would be deemed sane enough to return to his Donora, Pennsylvania home.
Donora is a real town, affected by the mills that became its lifeblood and by the peoples whose lives were changed and challenged by factory work. Kathleen Shoop consulted members of the Donora Historical Society to build authentic color into her story, which represents a fine blend of fictionalized lives and nonfiction realities and social issues. She also reviewed source materials about the legend and life of baseball player Stan Musial, injecting a background of solid history and biographical facts into the story.
Stan Musial is a baseball player deemed a "magician" by Rusek and everyone who knew him. His magic stemmed as much from his attitude towards his abilities, an equally extraordinary way of overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles to achieve the impossible, and his kindness towards others as his skillful playing. As Shoop delves into his childhood, Donora history, and the events and elements that shaped Musail's life, readers receive a powerful story of the Depression, the concurrent battle Patryk faces over cancer, and the choices it brings to both his present world and connections with his family. Perhaps the greatest strength to Shoop's story lies in its evocative descriptions of not just Stan's life and relationships, but the inner logic of his thoughts.
Her ability to bring these to life to explore Stan's progression through hard work, family crises, love, and baseball dreams alike lends a powerful flavor to the book that even non-sports readers will find absolutely compelling: "...when I bat and I'm looking at the pitcher and everything just fades away, all the voices, the fielders, my doubts, and I feel the pitcher's movement like it's mine, and in the back of my mind I register the grip and see the ball come off his fingertips - but that's not even what's important; it's what comes after all that stuff that I concentrate on, and before the ball gets halfway to the plate I know where it's gonna break or curve or drop, and I know whether to swing for short left field or smack one through the center right gap. And then I do. It's not like the kind of thinking in algebra or making sure I don't stammer or deciding to try college. It's like nothing else I've ever experienced. It's like magic. It's when I'm the most happy I could ever be."
These moments of fulfillment, happiness, and walking in the shoes of destiny drive this story and makes all its characters and their choices and trials realistic and gripping. Readers who believe that a prior interest in baseball or Donora history is a requirement for enjoying The Magician will be in for a surprise. All that's required is an open mind and heart. The magic embedded in the tale will do the rest.
Standees
Robert Rubenstein
Independently Published
9798579977748, $4.99 PB, $2.99 Kindle, 174pp
https://www.amazon.com/STANDEES-robert-Rubenstein/dp/B08T872QV8
The 2021 world depicted in Standees holds the rare attribute of simultaneously feeling both familiar and alien. This will delight readers of social satire and literary allusion, offering a close inspections of ironic and dark settings that provide a twist on perspectives of modern society's oddities. Take a walk into Lovee's world, where an elderly best friend has been reborn as a 'standee' - a cardboard cutout of himself who represents a wave of undead new observers in a strange half-dead/half-alive milieu. It's a pandemic setting which puts all kinds of relationships to the test. In this world, "love has run amuck," and has washed everything away. Lovee still finds plenty to fear, despite his changed condition.
Standees is no straightforward progression through the usual pandemic scenario, but a surreal romp that juxtaposes inner and outer worlds of imagination and change. Readers familiar with the usual logical progression of such a scenario may chafe at the twisting, turning, winding story line that ebbs and flows like the tide. Standees assumes not a linear progression but the mercurial staccato images of a dream, intoxicating in its romp through images, underworlds, and the dark, stark reality of newly-formed standees who are corrugated coroplasts of their former selves.
Dip into a stream of consciousness style of narration in which Lovee is buffeted, abused, changed; the observer of a society transformed by pandemic and its own implosion of values: "Rui'an was being brainwashed. How else to explain the rage? He was being programmed to kill, or to suicide by over-ingesting milk chocolatey frosted donuts. There were many ways to kill Americans those days." It brings to mind One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest; but Lovee is too often the participant as well as the observer of revised survival tactics and choices in this dreadfully altered world.
Prepare to be amazed and confused and delighted, all in one. Standees is no light read, but carries its readers into the dissolution of society and self which seems both all too familiar and hauntingly surrealistic. Literature readers well used to the devices of satire and dark humor are in for a treat, as well as sci-fi or pandemic fiction audiences looking for a far more thought provoking twist on the subject.
Splinter on the Tide
Phillip Parotti
Casemate Publishers
1940 Lawrence Road, Havertown, PA 19083
www.casematepublishers.com
9781612009582, $22.95, PB, 336pp
https://www.amazon.com/Splinter-Casemate-Fiction-Phillip-Parotti/dp/1612009581
Synopsis: Having survived the sinking of his first ship, Ensign Ash Miller USNR is promoted and assigned to command one of the sleek new additions to "the splinter fleet", a 110-foot wooden submarine chaser armed with only understrength guns and depth charges. His task is to bring the ship swiftly into commission, weld his untried crew into an efficient fighting unit, and take his vessel to sea in order to protect the defenseless Allied merchant vessels which are being maliciously and increasingly sunk by German U-Boats, often within sight of the coast.
Ash rises to the deadly challenge he faces, brings his crew of three officers and 27 men to peak performance, and meets the threats he faces with understated courage and determination, rescuing stricken seamen, destroying Nazi mines, fighting U-Boats, and developing both the tactical sense and command authority that will be the foundation upon which America's citizen sailors eventually win the war. During rare breaks in operations, Ash cherishes a developing relationship with the spirited Claire Morris who embodies the peaceful ideal for which he has been fighting.
Critique: A deftly craft novel of naval combat in World War II, "Splinter on the Tide" effectively showcases author Phillip Parotti's genuine flair for originality, attention to historical detail, the creation of memorable characters, and the kind of narrative driven storytelling that fully engages the reader from first page to last. While highly recommended for community library General Fiction collections, it should be noted for the personal reading lists of all military history and fiction fans that "Splinter on the Tide" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $13.95).
Commandos: Set Europe Ablaze
Richard Camp
Casemate Publishers
1940 Lawrence Road, Havertown, PA 19083
www.casematepublishers.com
9781636240084, $22.95, PB, 240pp
https://www.amazon.com/Commandos-Europe-Ablaze-Casemate-Fiction/dp/1636240089
Synopsis: U.S. Marine Captain Jim Cain and his Gunnery Sergeant Leland Montgomery are surprised to receive orders to the British Commando training center in the Scottish Highlands. There they are put through the brutal specialized training that will hone their fighting skills. Pitiless forced marches, dangerous live fire exercises and hazardous assault courses building their physical endurance, and a strong sense of brotherhood develops between the British soldiers and the two Marines.
Lucky to be quartered in the spacious home of the Commandos' commanding officer, Cain has the pleasure of meeting his daughter, Loreena. Bright and stunning, Loreena is secretive about her work in London. Before Cain can learn more about her, the training course is interrupted and the commando squad is sent on a special mission to destroy a German radar station on Nazi-held Alderney, off the coast of France.
While the site is defended by a squad of second-rate garrison soldiers who are no match for the highly trained and motivated commandos, a reaction force of infantry, led by a German combat veteran, joins the fight. The action is fierce and bloody and there are heavy losses on both sides. The surviving raiders withdraw to Royal Navy motor torpedo boats, but a marauding squadron of Schnellboots (E-Boats) lies in wait.
Critique: It is clear that as an author of the World War II action/adventure novel, "Commandos: Set Europe Ablaze", Richard Camp has drawn upon his years of experience and expertise of 26 years in the U.S. Marine Corps (and being a Purple Heart recipient) to produce an outstanding war story that will hold the reader's rapt attention from cover to cover. Certain to be an immediately popular addition to both personal reading lists and community library WWII Military Fiction collections, it should be noted that "Commandos: Set Europe Ablaze" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $13.95).
All Sorrows Can Be Borne
Loren Stephens
Rare Bird Books
453 S. Spring Street, Suite 302, Los Angels, CA 90013
https://rarebirdlit.com
9781644281987, $26.00, HC, 360pp
https://www.amazon.com/All-Sorrows-Can-Be-Borne/dp/1644281988
Synopsis: Inspired by true events, "All Sorrows Can Be Borne" by novelist Loren Stephens is the story of Noriko Ito, a Japanese woman faced with unimaginable circumstances that force her to give up her son to save her husband. Set in Hiroshima, Osaka, and the badlands of eastern Montana and spanning the start of World War II to 1982.
Told primarily in the voice of Noriko, a feisty aspiring actress who fails her audition to enter the Takarazuka Theater Academy. Instead, she takes the "part" of a waitress at a European-style tearoom in Osaka where she meets the mysterious and handsome manager, Ichiro Uchida. They fall in love over music and marry. Soon after Noriko becomes pregnant during their seaside honeymoon, Ichiro is diagnosed with tuberculosis destroying their dreams.
Noriko gives birth to a healthy baby boy, but to give the child a better life, Ichiro convinces her to give the toddler to his older sister and her Japanese-American husband, who live in Montana. Noriko holds on to the belief that this inconceivable sacrifice will lead to her husband's recovery. What happens next is unexpected and shocking and will affect Noriko for the rest of her life.
Eighteen years later, her son enlists in the U.S. Navy and is sent to Japan. Finally, he is set to meet his birth mother, but their reunion cracks open the pain and suffering Noriko has endured.
Critique: An eloquent and engaging novel that was inspired by true events and deftly written with a compelling sensitivity, "All Sorrows Can Be Borne", explores how families are shaped by political and economic circumstances, tremendous loss and ultimately forgiveness. One of those masterpiece works of literary fiction, "All Sorrows Can Be Borne" is especially and unreservedly recommended, especially for community, college and university library Literary Fiction collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "All Sorrows Can Be Borne" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $11.49).
Editorial Note: Loren Stephens is a two-time nominee of the Pushcart Prize and the book Paris Nights: My Year at the Moulin Rouge, by Cliff Simon with Loren Stephens was named one of the best titles from an independent press by Kirkus. She is president and founder of the ghostwriting companies, Write Wisdom and Bright Star Memoirs.
The Essence of Nathan Biddle
J. William Lewis
Greenleaf Book Group Press
PO Box 91869, Austin, TX 78709
www.greenleafbookgroup.com
9781626348462, $27.95, HC, 440pp
https://www.amazon.com/Essence-Nathan-Biddle-William-Lewis/dp/1626348464
Synopsis: Kit Biddle is a rising prep school senior who finds himself tangled in a web of spiritual quandaries and intellectual absurdities. Kit's angst is compounded by a unique psychological burden he is forced to carry: his intelligent but unstable Uncle Nat has committed an unspeakable act on what, according to the Uncle's deranged account, were direct orders from God.
The tragedy haunting his family follows Kit like a dark and foreboding cloud, exacerbating his already compulsive struggle with existential questions about the meaning of his life. When the brilliant, perhaps phantasmic, Anna dismisses him, Kit quickly spirals into despair and self-destruction. But when his irrational decision to steal a maintenance truck and speed aimlessly down the highway ends in a horrific accident and months of both physical and emotional convalescence, Kit is forced to examine his perceptions of his life and his version of reality.
Calamity leads to fresh perspectives and new perceptions: it focuses Kit's mind and forces him to confront the issues that plague him. Readers will empathize (and celebrate) as the darkness lifts and Kit comes to terms with the necessity of engagement with life's pain, pleasure and absurdity.
Critique: A deftly crafted and eloquently original novel that showcases author J. William Lewis's impressively entertaining and narrative driven storytelling talents. "The Essence of Nathan Biddle" is one of those coming of age tales that will linger in the mind and memory long after the book itself has been finished and set back upon the shelf.
Diamond Hill
Kit Fan
World Editions
www.worldeditions.org
9781642860887, $16.99, PB, 304pp
https://www.amazon.com/Diamond-Hill-Kit-Fan/dp/1642860883
Synopsis: Britain signed the Joint Declaration with the communist Chinese agreeing to hand over its last colony, Hong Kong, to them in 1997. With that declaration comes the promise that the city will remain unchanged for fifty years. But upheaval is already happening in an area called Diamond Hill.
Once the 'Hollywood of the Orient,' it is now a shanty town and an eyesore right in the middle of a glitzy financial hub. Buddha, a recovering heroin addict, returns home to find the shabby neighborhood being bulldozed to make room for gleaming towers. Buddhist nuns, drug gangs, property developers, the government and foreign powers each have itchy palms, and all want a piece of Diamond Hill.
Critique: All the more impressive when considering that "Diamond Hill" is author Kit Fan's literary debut as a novelist. This compelling, deftly crafted, and inherently entertaining story of a on powerlessness, religion, memory, and displacement, and the demise of a city is an especially and unreservedly recommended addition to community library General Fiction collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "Diamond Hill" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).
The Youngest Boy: Stories
Jim Heynan, author
Tom Pohrt, illustrator
Holy Cow! Press
www.holycowpress.org
9781513645599, $16.95, PB, 128pp
https://www.amazon.com/Youngest-Boy-Stories-Jim-Heynen/dp/1513645595
Synopsis: "The Youngest Boy" is comprised of Jim Heynen's short stories (and occasional illustrations by Tom Pohrt) about unnamed farm boys that first debuted many years ago with the publication of 'The Man Who Kept Cigars in His Cap'. Several collections of Heynen's boy stories have been published since then and have been models in the short-short or prose poem form now used by many other writers. "The Youngest Boy: Stories" is the first collection to focus on the youngest boy, a character who can be a dreamer one minute, a trouble-maker the next, and a problem-solver the next. The youngest boy's charm is in his unpredictability.
Critique: This edition of "The Youngest Boy: Stories" from Holy Cow! Press is enhanced for the reader's enjoyment with an informative Preface by David Pichaske (Professor of English at Southwest Minnesota State University). Collectively providing an erudite entertainment from beginning to end, each carefully crafted story is a true literary treat and will be of special attraction to readers with an interest in small town and rural life -- making "The Youngest Boy: Stories" highly recommended for personal reading lists, as well as community, college and university library Contemporary Literary Fiction collections.
Editorial Note: Jim Heynen grew up on an Iowa farm in one of the last areas in the state to get electricity. He attended a one-room schoolhouse and graduated from eighth grade at age 12 before going on to college and then graduate school at the University of Iowa -- and again at the University of Oregon. For many years he was writer in residence at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. He has been awarded National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships in both poetry and fiction.
The Audacity of Sara Grayson
Joani Elliott
Post Hill Press
https://posthillpress.com
9781642937824, $27.00, HC, 400pp
https://www.amazon.com/Audacity-Sara-Grayson-Novel/dp/1642937827
Synopsis: Sara Grayson is a thirty-two-year-old greeting card writer about to land the toughest assignment of her life. Three weeks after the death of her mother--a world-famous suspense novelist -- Sara learns that her mother's dying wish is for her to write the final book in her bestselling series.
Sara has lived alone with her dog, Gatsby, ever since her husband walked out with their Pro Double Waffle Maker and her last shred of confidence. She can't fathom writing a book for thirty million fans -- not when last week's big win was resetting the microwave clock.
But in a bold move that surprises even herself, Sara takes it on. Against an impossible deadline and a publisher intent on sabotaging her every move, Sara discovers that stepping into her mother's shoes means stumbling on family secrets she was never meant to find -- secrets that threaten her mother's legacy and the very book she's trying to create.
Critique: A deftly penned novel about mothers, children, and inevitable travails of holding a career in the face of a demanding domestic life, in the pages of "The Audacity of Sara Grayson" author Joani Elliott writes with wit and originality, the result is an inherently entertaining read from cover to cover and one that will linger in the mind and memory long after the book itself has been finished and set back upon the shelf. While very highly recommended, especially for community library Contemporary General Fiction collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "The Audacity of Sara Grayson" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).
Pale
Edward A. Farmer
Blackstone Publishing
31 Mistletoe Road, Ashland, OR 97520
www.BlackstoneAudio.com
9781982673864, $26.99, HC, 256pp
https://www.amazon.com/Pale-Novel-Edward-Farmer/dp/1982673869
Synopsis: The summer of 1966 burned hot across America but nowhere hotter than the cotton fields of Mississippi. Finding herself in a precarious position as a black woman living alone, Bernice accepts her brother Floyd's invitation to join him as a servant for a white family and she enters the web of hostility and deception that is the Kern plantation household.
The secrets of the house are plentiful yet the silence that has encompassed it for so many years suddenly breaks with the arrival of the harvest and the appearance of Jesse and Fletcher to the plantation as cotton pickers. These two brothers, the sons of the house servant Silva, awaken a vengeful seed within the Missus of the house as she plots to punish not only her husband but Silva's family as well. When the Missus starts flirting with Jesse, she sets into motion a dangerous game that could get Jesse killed and destroy the lives of the rest of the servants.
Bernice walks the fine line between emissary and accomplice, as she tries her best to draw secrets from the Missus's heart, while using their closeness to protect the lives of the people around her. Once the Missus's plans are complete, families will be severed, loyalties will be shattered, and no one will come out unscathed.
With a dazzling voice and rich emotional tension, Pale explores the ties that bind and how quickly humanity can fade and return us to primal ways.
Critique: A superbly crafted story of racism, family secrets, compulsive revenge, and the legacy of patriarchy, "Pale" also showcases the impressively literary talents of novelist Edward A. Farmer and his genuine flair for the kind of narrative storytelling that creates memorably distinctive characters and a compelling page-turner of a read from cover to cover. While highly recommended, especially for community library General Fiction collections, it should be noted for persona reading lists that "Pale" is also readily available in a paperback edition (9781799956440, $16.99) and in a digital boo format (Kindle, $9.99).
A Season Unknown
Keith Cohen
K+P Press
https://www.kandppress.com
9781735934600, $16.99, PB, 318pp
https://www.amazon.com/Season-Keith-Cohen/dp/1735934607
Synopsis: From the time he is a small child, Malach reveals unique and unexplained connections with the animals that inhabit the wilderness surrounding him. As Malach grows, so too does his knowledge of the workings and mysteries of the natural world. His mother, Judith, fearful for him and struggling to understand the gift her son possesses, is determined to protect him at all costs. While grappling with the uncertainty of where Malach's future will lead, Judith must confront her own painful and secretive past.
Approaching adulthood, joined by his brilliant and fiery girlfriend, Ginny, Malach brings a profound awareness of the earth to a world facing a precariously changing climate and existential perils. Together they begin to deliver a message of transformation, sacrifice, and even revolution in how we live our lives. Their story of love, and triumph over loss, is at the heart of "A Season Unknown", an urgent coming-of-age story by Keith Cohen where time is no longer a luxury.
Critique: All the more impressive when considering that "A Season Unknown" is the debut effort of clinical child and adolescent psychologist Keith Cohen as a novelist. Inherently interesting, clever and unique, "A Season Unknown" showcases Cohen's genuine flair for originality and the kind of narrative storytelling style that creates memorable characters and an engagingly entertaining read from beginning to end. While especially and unreservedly recommended for community library General Fiction collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "A Season Unknown" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $8.99).
EDITOR'S NOTE:
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James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review
278 Orchard Drive
Oregon, WI 53575-1129
To submit reviews of any fiction or non-fiction books, email them to Frugalmuse (at) aol (dot) com (Be sure to include the book title, author, publisher, publisher address, publisher website/phone number, 13-digit ISBN number, and list price).
James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review
The Next Wife
Kaira Rouda
Thomas & Mercer
www.brillianceaudio.com
9781542025942, $15.95, PB, 311pp
https://www.amazon.com/Next-Wife-Kaira-Rouda/dp/154202594X
Synopsis: Kate Nelson had it all. A flourishing company founded with her husband, John; a happy marriage; and a daughter, Ashlyn. The picture-perfect family. Until John left for another woman. Tish is half his age. Ambitious. She's cultivated a friendship with Ashlyn. Tish believes she's won. -- But she's wrong.
Tish Nelson has it all. Youth, influence, a life of luxury, and a new husband. But the truth is, there's a lot of baggage. Namely, his first wife - and suspicions of his infidelity. After all, that's how she got John. Maybe it's time for a romantic getaway, far from his vindictive ex. If Kate plans on getting John back, Tish is one step ahead of her. -- Or so she thinks.
But what happens next is something neither Kate nor Tish saw coming. As best-laid plans come undone, there's no telling what a woman will do in the name of love -- and revenge.
Critique: A carefully crafted domestic and psychological thriller of a novel by and author with a genuine flair for originality and the kind of narrative storytelling style that fully engages the readers attention from first page to last, "The Next Wife" by Kaira Rouda will prove to be an immediate and enduringly welcome addition to community library collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "The Next Wife" is readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, 4.99). Librarians should be aware that there is a large print library binding edition of "The Next Wife", as well as being available as a complete and unabridged audio book (Brilliance Audio, 9781713559504, $14.99, MP3-CD).
From Ashes To Song
Hilary Hauck
Milford House Press
www.sunburypress.com/collections/milford-house
9781620064085, $16.95, PB, 219pp
https://www.amazon.com/Ashes-Song-Hilary-Hauck/dp/1620064081
Synopsis: Italy, 1911. Pietro's life on the family vineyard is idyllic. He has at last captured the melody of the grape harvest on his clarinet and can't wait to share his composition with his grandfather, but before he can play, news arrives of a deadly disease sweeping the countryside. They have no choice but to burn the vineyard to stop its spread. The loss is too much for Pietro's grandfather, and by morning Pietro has lost two of the most precious things in his life -- his grandfather and the vineyard. All he has left is his music, but a disastrous performance at his grandfather's funeral suggests that music, too, is now beyond his reach.
Adrift with grief, Pietro seeks a new start in America. He goes to work in a Pennsylvania coal mine where his musician's hands blister and his days are spent in the muffled silence of underground.
When the beautiful voice and gentle heart of a friend's wife stirs a new song in him, Pietro at last encounters a glimmer of hope. From a respectful distance and without catching the attention of her husband, Pietro draws on Assunta for inspiration and soon his gift for music returns. But when grief strikes in Assunta's life, Pietro is to blame. When Prohibition steals Pietro's last pleasure, he has to do something before Assunta's grief consumes them both.
Critique: Inspired by true events, "From Ashes to Song" by author and storyteller Hilary Hauck is an extraordinary novel of unconventional love, hope, and the gifts brought to America by ordinary people in the great wave of immigration. Inherently entertaining and, against the current backdrop of controversies with respect to immigration quite timely, "From Ashes to Song" is especially and unreservedly recommended -- especially for community library General Fiction collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "From Ashes to Song" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $6.99).
Strange Children
Sadie Hoagland
Red Hen Press
www.redhen.org
9781597091169, $17.95, PB, 312pp
https://www.amazon.com/Strange-Children-Sadie-Hoagland/dp/1597091162
Synopsis: In a polygamist commune in the desert, a fourteen-year-old boy and a twelve-year-old girl fall in love and consummate that love, breaking religious law. They are caught, and a year later, she gives birth to his father's child while the boy commits murder four hundred miles away -- a crime that will slowly unravel the community.
Told by eight adolescent narrators, "Strange Children" is a story of how people use faith to justify cruelty, and how redemption can come from unexpected places. Though seemingly powerless in the face of their fundamentalist religion, these "strange children" shift into the central framework of their world as they come of age.
Critique: An emotionally intense and deftly crafted novel by an author with a genuine flair for originality and a particularly effective narrative storytelling style, "Strange Children" is an especially and unreservedly recommended addition to community library Contemporary General Fiction collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "Strange Children" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.49).
Wheelboys
Dd Jaseron
The Book Patch, LLC
https://www.thebookpatch.com
9781642546439, $12.99, PB, 332pp
https://www.amazon.com/Wheelboys-Dd-Jaseron/dp/1642546437
Synopsis: Chad Gibbons and his best friend, Gary Lee Dillanger, have worked their way through the ranks of competitive go-karting with the legendary Kilgore racing family. Monroe Kilgore and his wife Uma see their racing world very differently, and Uma is haunted by it.
Chad is pursuing the opportunity of his lifetime to become a professional auto racer, but the fast and luxurious world of racing is not as it appears. Tragedy strikes, and Chad is left to find his own way. Elle Dillanger struggles with criminal charges against her son, Gary Lee, and the truth about his tragic accident unfolds as the detectives investigate.
More than a coming-of-age story, "Wheelboys" by Dd Jaseron challenges society's complacency with the exploitation of youth and questions adult and corporate responsibilities. The journeys faced by these three families are universal and resonate for any reader: overcoming grief, finding one's path, and discovering love.
Critique: A deftly crafted and thoroughly entertaining novel that reveals the dark side of competitive sports in general, and auto racing in particular, "Wheelboys" is especially and unreservedly recommended for community library Contemporary General Fiction collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "Wheelboys" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $2.99).
America
Mike Bond
Big City Press
https://mikebondbooks.com
9781949751208, $14.95, PB, 358pp
https://www.amazon.com/America-Mike-Bond/dp/1949751201
Synopsis: The Sixties shook America to its foundation -- the assassination of an idealistic young president, a tragic and unpopular war, a battle for civil rights, a cosmic clash of riots and burning cities, and an explosion of sex, drugs and rock'n roll.
For four young people, the Sixties is a decade of promise and freedom. For orphaned Troy, it's the joy of living with his new family and exploring the world of flight and outer space. For Tara, the girl he loves, the power of song as she evolves into a rock'n roll star. For his new brother, Mick, a football hero and rebel, a time to question everything, including the fast-growing war in Vietnam. And for Daisy, the girl Mick loves, a chance to fight for equality, join the Peace Corps, and expand her study of the human mind.
America is the first of Mike Bond's seven-volume historical novel series, capturing the victories and heartbreaks of the last 70 years and of our nation's most profound upheavals since the Civil War -- a time that defined the end of the 20th Century and where we are today.
Through the wild, joyous, heartbroken and visionary lives of four young people and many others, the Sixties come alive again, as do its questions: what is life? What is freedom? What was lost, what was won?
Critique: The debut of a planned new series by author Mike Bond, "America" is an extraordinary and deftly crafted novel that combines interesting characters within the context of an historically detailed background. The result is an inherently entertaining and even fascinating read from cover to cover. While highly recommended, especially for community library General Fiction collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "America" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $2.99).
Backstory
William Michael Ried
CK Books Publishing
https://ckbookspublishing.com
9781949085372, $14.99, PB, 328pp
https://www.amazon.com/Backstory-novel-William-Michael-Ried/dp/1949085376
Synopsis: Ansel Tone has been named "The Golden Boy of Popular History." He teaches propaganda at Columbia University and writes Redux Revisionist History best-sellers. His looks and family wealth help him to hawk his books on late night talk shows. He speaks to packed auditoriums. Undergraduates are said to swoon over his lectures. The public sees a professor who drives fast cars and runs with glamorous women, but his personal life is poised between an overbearing father and a son he hardly knows.
Ansel spent his junior year at Trinity College in Dublin, on a campus cloaked in four centuries of student pranks and mayhem. Twelve years later a classmate comes to New York and organizes a reunion. Ansel attends mostly to see how time has treated the beautiful Tess, his girlfriend that year who married their classmate, Charlie.
Charlie and Tess live in "Mountain House" in the Hudson Valley. She's a big-firm lawyer. He's trying to replicate the success of his first novel and overcome the train-wreck of his second. At the reunion Charlie announces he will fictionalize the story of how he won Tess away from Ansel. He'll change the facts to improve the story, but he first wants help remembering what really happened.
Ansel panics. Digging into the past could reveal secrets that could overturn his life, and so he sets out to manipulate the story. Complications ripple from Charlie digging into his college days, Ansel struggling to rewrite his own past and Tess wondering if she wound up with the right guy, while their classmates come to terms with themselves and each other and share the repercussions of rewriting history.
Critique: An original and deftly crafted novel that is an inherently riveting read from cover to cover, "Backstory" showcases author William Michael Ried's genuine flair for the kind of narrative storytelling style that brings his characters to life and holds the reader's rapt attention from first page to last. While especially and unreservedly recommended for community library collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "Backstory" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $4.99).
The Next Wife
Kaira Rouda
Thomas & Mercer
https://amazonpublishing.amazon.com/thomas-mercer.html
www.brillianceaudio.com
9781542025942, $15.95, PB, 311pp
https://www.amazon.com/Next-Wife-Kaira-Rouda/dp/154202594X
Synopsis: Kate Nelson had it all. A flourishing company founded with her husband, John; a happy marriage; and a daughter, Ashlyn. The picture-perfect family. Until John left for another woman. Tish is half his age. Ambitious. She's cultivated a friendship with Ashlyn. Tish believes she's won. -- She's wrong.
Tish Nelson has it all. Youth, influence, a life of luxury, and a new husband. But the truth is, there's a lot of baggage. Namely, his first wife - and suspicions of his infidelity. After all, that's how she got John. Maybe it's time for a romantic getaway, far from his vindictive ex. If Kate plans on getting John back, Tish is one step ahead of her. -- She thinks.
But what happens next is something neither Kate nor Tish saw coming. As best-laid plans come undone, there's no telling what a woman will do in the name of love and revenge!
Critique: A deftly crafted gem of a psychological thriller, "The Next Wife" by Kaira Ropuda is an inherently compelling read from beginning to end. An impressively original and simply rivet novel, "The Next Wife" will prove to be an extraordinary and popular addition to community library Contemporary General Fiction collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists of domestic thriller fans that "The Next Wife" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $4.99). Librarians should be aware that there is both a large print edition of "The Next Wife" (Wheeler Publishing, 9781432889456, $34.99, Library Binding) and a complete and unabridged audio book of "The Next Wife" (Brilliance Audio, 9781713559504, $14.99, MP3-CD).
Memory Layne
Bob Adamov
www.BobAdamov.com
Packard Island Publishing
https://packardislandpublishing.com
9780578862934, $24.95, HC, 220pp
https://www.amazon.com/Memory-Layne-Catawba-Island-Chincoteague/dp/057886293X
Synopsis: Zeke Layne, with his white beard and red suspenders, is a man noted for his salty good humor, harmonica playing, and teller of tall tales.
Zeke lives with his daughter, teenage granddaughter and golden lab in an old mobile home, built on steel pilings at the Miller Ferry Catawba dock, with a view from his deck of South Bass Island. Alzheimer's and a worrisome heart condition haven't stopped him from his daily routine of entertaining passengers waiting at the Catawba dock to board the ferry or caring for his Chincoteague pony. It's not a bad life, even having to deal with two rapacious stepdaughters and their biker pals.
But when the unthinkable happens, Zeke must summon all his fading resources in a madcap dash to a safe haven.
Critique: In his newest novel, "Memory Layne", author Adamov populates his inherently engaging, impressively original, and always entertaining story with a cast of unforgettable characters who demonstrate the power of love, and how it is that man can be destroyed, but not defeated. Compelling, timeless, and exceptional, "Memory Layne" is especially and unreservedly recommended for community library Contemporary General Fiction collections.
The Flower Boat Girl
Larry Feign
https://larryfeign.com
Top Floor Books
https://topfloorbooks.com
9789627866541, $26.99, HC, 436pp
https://www.amazon.com/Flower-Boat-Girl-novel-based/dp/9627866547
Synopsis: Sold as a child to a floating brothel, 26-year-old Yang has finally bought her freedom, only to be kidnapped by a brutal pirate gang and forced to marry their leader.
Dragged through stormy seas and lawless bandit havens, Yang must stay scrappy to survive. She embeds herself in the dark business of piracy, carving out her role against the resistance of powerful pirate leaders and Cheung Po Tsai, her husband's flamboyant male concubine.
As she is caught between bitter rivals fighting for mastery over the pirates-and for her heart-Yang faces a choice between two things she never dreamed might be hers: power or love.
Critique: Set along the South China coast in 1801, and based on a true story, "The Flower Boat Girl" by Larry Feign is a deftly crafted and inherently impressive biographical style novel about a woman who, against all odds, shaped history on her own terms. A simply riveting read from first page to last, "The Flower Boat Girl" is especially and unreservedly recommended for community library Historical Fiction collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "The Flower Boat Girl" is also readily available in a paperback edition (9789627866558, $18.99) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $4.99).
The Endling
Deborah Maxey
https://deborahmaxey.com
Firefly Southern Fiction
c/o Iron Stream Media
www.ironstreammedia.com
9781645262640, $16.99, PB, 352pp
https://www.amazon.com/Endling-Deborah-Maxey/dp/1645262642
Synopsis: Native American Emerson Coffee is the last surviving member of her tribe. An endling. After an internship in New York, she has returned to her chosen life of solitude in the stone cabin atop the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, where her grandfather trained her to survive by seeking God's guidance in nature.
When US Marshals inform her she is being hunted by a mob hit man, Emerson declines their offer of witness protection, believing she can best outwit a predator on her own turf. But when three innocent children living in the art colony below become caught in the crosshairs, Emerson must decide if she will risk it all her mountains, her heritage -- even her life to secure their safety.
Can a lone and unarmed endling stop the most ruthless family of all or will everything her ancestors fought to preserve die with her?
Critique: A deftly crafted and impressively original novel, "The Endling" by Deborah Maxey combines a Christian perspective with elements of mystery, suspense, and Native American perspectives. The result is an inherently riveting and exceptionally entertaining read from cover to cover. While unhesitatingly recommended for community library Contemporary General Fiction collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "The Endling" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $3.99).
Editorial Note: Deborah Maxey grew up immersed in the legends and traditions of Native American and Appalachian culture. Her oil portraits and one-woman art shows helped fund her PhD in counseling. As a psychotherapist and expert witness in the courts, her fascination with characters and conflict drives her passion to create fiction.
The Weary God of Ancient Travelers
Jessica Stilling
D. X. Varos, Ltd.
www.dxvaros.com
9781941072950, $18.95 PB, $4.99 ebook, 348pp
https://www.amazon.com/Weary-God-Ancient-Travelers/dp/194107295X
The Weary God of Ancient Travelers presents the dilemma of amnesiac Lydia Warren, who struggles to regain her identity and life, then moves through a different scenario as she experiences life in Greece with a man she can't quite recall and tries to reconcile this world with a past which is shrouded in questions.
Jessica Stilling brings Greece alive from the start in an introductory paragraph that is compelling, evocative, and filled with the promise of a good mystery. Lydia knows that her current life is overlaid by a past she can't quite recall. The questions are not only what that life was and what happened to it, but at what points the two personas intersect, and how to rebuild it from a blend of new and old foundations.
When an agent from the UN arrives at her door, Lydia begins to discover that her connections to this world may not be as straightforward as the accident that caused memory loss and thwarts her recovery. She may be involved in something that involves not just present-day experiences, but past lives. This added facet of intrigue powers a story spiced with psychological inspection and mystery. As she finds out about threats to people who were her family and her role in these events through a third party agent, Lydia and Agent Rynsburger uncover evidence that much more is going on than a simple memory loss. Are her past life memories real? If not, why do they fill in so many blanks about the present?
The reports surrounding her identity don't make sense. The facts surrounding a death do not add up. And Lydia's commitment to uncovering the truth about her past and possible other lives leads her to place trust in another's ability to investigate, even though he might not prove to be acting on her best interests. The motive for her choices is especially well portrayed: "There is a comfort in his expertise and I want to push him to know the truth even if I cannot remember it. I want him to piece this together ever so carefully."
The blend of romance, mystery, the compelling-almost visceral-descriptions of Greece, and the psychological self-inspection all work together to create an absolutely compelling piece worthy of high recommendation. Who is Lydia Warren, in all this? The answer will rock not only her world, but many readers.
The Magician
Kathleen Shoop
Independently Published
9798596878127, $14.99 PB, $4.99 Kindle, 509pp
https://www.amazon.com/Magician-Kathleen-Shoop/dp/B092HJK2W7
The Magician is a sweeping historical family saga that moves between 1920 and 2019, tracing the heritage, birth, and growth of a baseball legend whose achievements change the Donora household. Before Stanislaw Franciszek Musial steps into his destiny, however, a series of mishaps (both personal and social) pose seemingly insurmountable barriers to his goals.
His story is told by 92-year-old Patryk Rusek who, having been thwarted in his escape from a retirement community, decides to capture the magic of his family history for a young boy, which eventually expands to embrace other listeners. Rusek hoped that, by gathering these recollections, he would be deemed sane enough to return to his Donora, Pennsylvania home.
Donora is a real town, affected by the mills that became its lifeblood and by the peoples whose lives were changed and challenged by factory work. Kathleen Shoop consulted members of the Donora Historical Society to build authentic color into her story, which represents a fine blend of fictionalized lives and nonfiction realities and social issues. She also reviewed source materials about the legend and life of baseball player Stan Musial, injecting a background of solid history and biographical facts into the story.
Stan Musial is a baseball player deemed a "magician" by Rusek and everyone who knew him. His magic stemmed as much from his attitude towards his abilities, an equally extraordinary way of overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles to achieve the impossible, and his kindness towards others as his skillful playing. As Shoop delves into his childhood, Donora history, and the events and elements that shaped Musail's life, readers receive a powerful story of the Depression, the concurrent battle Patryk faces over cancer, and the choices it brings to both his present world and connections with his family. Perhaps the greatest strength to Shoop's story lies in its evocative descriptions of not just Stan's life and relationships, but the inner logic of his thoughts.
Her ability to bring these to life to explore Stan's progression through hard work, family crises, love, and baseball dreams alike lends a powerful flavor to the book that even non-sports readers will find absolutely compelling: "...when I bat and I'm looking at the pitcher and everything just fades away, all the voices, the fielders, my doubts, and I feel the pitcher's movement like it's mine, and in the back of my mind I register the grip and see the ball come off his fingertips - but that's not even what's important; it's what comes after all that stuff that I concentrate on, and before the ball gets halfway to the plate I know where it's gonna break or curve or drop, and I know whether to swing for short left field or smack one through the center right gap. And then I do. It's not like the kind of thinking in algebra or making sure I don't stammer or deciding to try college. It's like nothing else I've ever experienced. It's like magic. It's when I'm the most happy I could ever be."
These moments of fulfillment, happiness, and walking in the shoes of destiny drive this story and makes all its characters and their choices and trials realistic and gripping. Readers who believe that a prior interest in baseball or Donora history is a requirement for enjoying The Magician will be in for a surprise. All that's required is an open mind and heart. The magic embedded in the tale will do the rest.
Standees
Robert Rubenstein
Independently Published
9798579977748, $4.99 PB, $2.99 Kindle, 174pp
https://www.amazon.com/STANDEES-robert-Rubenstein/dp/B08T872QV8
The 2021 world depicted in Standees holds the rare attribute of simultaneously feeling both familiar and alien. This will delight readers of social satire and literary allusion, offering a close inspections of ironic and dark settings that provide a twist on perspectives of modern society's oddities. Take a walk into Lovee's world, where an elderly best friend has been reborn as a 'standee' - a cardboard cutout of himself who represents a wave of undead new observers in a strange half-dead/half-alive milieu. It's a pandemic setting which puts all kinds of relationships to the test. In this world, "love has run amuck," and has washed everything away. Lovee still finds plenty to fear, despite his changed condition.
Standees is no straightforward progression through the usual pandemic scenario, but a surreal romp that juxtaposes inner and outer worlds of imagination and change. Readers familiar with the usual logical progression of such a scenario may chafe at the twisting, turning, winding story line that ebbs and flows like the tide. Standees assumes not a linear progression but the mercurial staccato images of a dream, intoxicating in its romp through images, underworlds, and the dark, stark reality of newly-formed standees who are corrugated coroplasts of their former selves.
Dip into a stream of consciousness style of narration in which Lovee is buffeted, abused, changed; the observer of a society transformed by pandemic and its own implosion of values: "Rui'an was being brainwashed. How else to explain the rage? He was being programmed to kill, or to suicide by over-ingesting milk chocolatey frosted donuts. There were many ways to kill Americans those days." It brings to mind One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest; but Lovee is too often the participant as well as the observer of revised survival tactics and choices in this dreadfully altered world.
Prepare to be amazed and confused and delighted, all in one. Standees is no light read, but carries its readers into the dissolution of society and self which seems both all too familiar and hauntingly surrealistic. Literature readers well used to the devices of satire and dark humor are in for a treat, as well as sci-fi or pandemic fiction audiences looking for a far more thought provoking twist on the subject.
Splinter on the Tide
Phillip Parotti
Casemate Publishers
1940 Lawrence Road, Havertown, PA 19083
www.casematepublishers.com
9781612009582, $22.95, PB, 336pp
https://www.amazon.com/Splinter-Casemate-Fiction-Phillip-Parotti/dp/1612009581
Synopsis: Having survived the sinking of his first ship, Ensign Ash Miller USNR is promoted and assigned to command one of the sleek new additions to "the splinter fleet", a 110-foot wooden submarine chaser armed with only understrength guns and depth charges. His task is to bring the ship swiftly into commission, weld his untried crew into an efficient fighting unit, and take his vessel to sea in order to protect the defenseless Allied merchant vessels which are being maliciously and increasingly sunk by German U-Boats, often within sight of the coast.
Ash rises to the deadly challenge he faces, brings his crew of three officers and 27 men to peak performance, and meets the threats he faces with understated courage and determination, rescuing stricken seamen, destroying Nazi mines, fighting U-Boats, and developing both the tactical sense and command authority that will be the foundation upon which America's citizen sailors eventually win the war. During rare breaks in operations, Ash cherishes a developing relationship with the spirited Claire Morris who embodies the peaceful ideal for which he has been fighting.
Critique: A deftly craft novel of naval combat in World War II, "Splinter on the Tide" effectively showcases author Phillip Parotti's genuine flair for originality, attention to historical detail, the creation of memorable characters, and the kind of narrative driven storytelling that fully engages the reader from first page to last. While highly recommended for community library General Fiction collections, it should be noted for the personal reading lists of all military history and fiction fans that "Splinter on the Tide" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $13.95).
Commandos: Set Europe Ablaze
Richard Camp
Casemate Publishers
1940 Lawrence Road, Havertown, PA 19083
www.casematepublishers.com
9781636240084, $22.95, PB, 240pp
https://www.amazon.com/Commandos-Europe-Ablaze-Casemate-Fiction/dp/1636240089
Synopsis: U.S. Marine Captain Jim Cain and his Gunnery Sergeant Leland Montgomery are surprised to receive orders to the British Commando training center in the Scottish Highlands. There they are put through the brutal specialized training that will hone their fighting skills. Pitiless forced marches, dangerous live fire exercises and hazardous assault courses building their physical endurance, and a strong sense of brotherhood develops between the British soldiers and the two Marines.
Lucky to be quartered in the spacious home of the Commandos' commanding officer, Cain has the pleasure of meeting his daughter, Loreena. Bright and stunning, Loreena is secretive about her work in London. Before Cain can learn more about her, the training course is interrupted and the commando squad is sent on a special mission to destroy a German radar station on Nazi-held Alderney, off the coast of France.
While the site is defended by a squad of second-rate garrison soldiers who are no match for the highly trained and motivated commandos, a reaction force of infantry, led by a German combat veteran, joins the fight. The action is fierce and bloody and there are heavy losses on both sides. The surviving raiders withdraw to Royal Navy motor torpedo boats, but a marauding squadron of Schnellboots (E-Boats) lies in wait.
Critique: It is clear that as an author of the World War II action/adventure novel, "Commandos: Set Europe Ablaze", Richard Camp has drawn upon his years of experience and expertise of 26 years in the U.S. Marine Corps (and being a Purple Heart recipient) to produce an outstanding war story that will hold the reader's rapt attention from cover to cover. Certain to be an immediately popular addition to both personal reading lists and community library WWII Military Fiction collections, it should be noted that "Commandos: Set Europe Ablaze" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $13.95).
All Sorrows Can Be Borne
Loren Stephens
Rare Bird Books
453 S. Spring Street, Suite 302, Los Angels, CA 90013
https://rarebirdlit.com
9781644281987, $26.00, HC, 360pp
https://www.amazon.com/All-Sorrows-Can-Be-Borne/dp/1644281988
Synopsis: Inspired by true events, "All Sorrows Can Be Borne" by novelist Loren Stephens is the story of Noriko Ito, a Japanese woman faced with unimaginable circumstances that force her to give up her son to save her husband. Set in Hiroshima, Osaka, and the badlands of eastern Montana and spanning the start of World War II to 1982.
Told primarily in the voice of Noriko, a feisty aspiring actress who fails her audition to enter the Takarazuka Theater Academy. Instead, she takes the "part" of a waitress at a European-style tearoom in Osaka where she meets the mysterious and handsome manager, Ichiro Uchida. They fall in love over music and marry. Soon after Noriko becomes pregnant during their seaside honeymoon, Ichiro is diagnosed with tuberculosis destroying their dreams.
Noriko gives birth to a healthy baby boy, but to give the child a better life, Ichiro convinces her to give the toddler to his older sister and her Japanese-American husband, who live in Montana. Noriko holds on to the belief that this inconceivable sacrifice will lead to her husband's recovery. What happens next is unexpected and shocking and will affect Noriko for the rest of her life.
Eighteen years later, her son enlists in the U.S. Navy and is sent to Japan. Finally, he is set to meet his birth mother, but their reunion cracks open the pain and suffering Noriko has endured.
Critique: An eloquent and engaging novel that was inspired by true events and deftly written with a compelling sensitivity, "All Sorrows Can Be Borne", explores how families are shaped by political and economic circumstances, tremendous loss and ultimately forgiveness. One of those masterpiece works of literary fiction, "All Sorrows Can Be Borne" is especially and unreservedly recommended, especially for community, college and university library Literary Fiction collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "All Sorrows Can Be Borne" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $11.49).
Editorial Note: Loren Stephens is a two-time nominee of the Pushcart Prize and the book Paris Nights: My Year at the Moulin Rouge, by Cliff Simon with Loren Stephens was named one of the best titles from an independent press by Kirkus. She is president and founder of the ghostwriting companies, Write Wisdom and Bright Star Memoirs.
The Essence of Nathan Biddle
J. William Lewis
Greenleaf Book Group Press
PO Box 91869, Austin, TX 78709
www.greenleafbookgroup.com
9781626348462, $27.95, HC, 440pp
https://www.amazon.com/Essence-Nathan-Biddle-William-Lewis/dp/1626348464
Synopsis: Kit Biddle is a rising prep school senior who finds himself tangled in a web of spiritual quandaries and intellectual absurdities. Kit's angst is compounded by a unique psychological burden he is forced to carry: his intelligent but unstable Uncle Nat has committed an unspeakable act on what, according to the Uncle's deranged account, were direct orders from God.
The tragedy haunting his family follows Kit like a dark and foreboding cloud, exacerbating his already compulsive struggle with existential questions about the meaning of his life. When the brilliant, perhaps phantasmic, Anna dismisses him, Kit quickly spirals into despair and self-destruction. But when his irrational decision to steal a maintenance truck and speed aimlessly down the highway ends in a horrific accident and months of both physical and emotional convalescence, Kit is forced to examine his perceptions of his life and his version of reality.
Calamity leads to fresh perspectives and new perceptions: it focuses Kit's mind and forces him to confront the issues that plague him. Readers will empathize (and celebrate) as the darkness lifts and Kit comes to terms with the necessity of engagement with life's pain, pleasure and absurdity.
Critique: A deftly crafted and eloquently original novel that showcases author J. William Lewis's impressively entertaining and narrative driven storytelling talents. "The Essence of Nathan Biddle" is one of those coming of age tales that will linger in the mind and memory long after the book itself has been finished and set back upon the shelf.
Diamond Hill
Kit Fan
World Editions
www.worldeditions.org
9781642860887, $16.99, PB, 304pp
https://www.amazon.com/Diamond-Hill-Kit-Fan/dp/1642860883
Synopsis: Britain signed the Joint Declaration with the communist Chinese agreeing to hand over its last colony, Hong Kong, to them in 1997. With that declaration comes the promise that the city will remain unchanged for fifty years. But upheaval is already happening in an area called Diamond Hill.
Once the 'Hollywood of the Orient,' it is now a shanty town and an eyesore right in the middle of a glitzy financial hub. Buddha, a recovering heroin addict, returns home to find the shabby neighborhood being bulldozed to make room for gleaming towers. Buddhist nuns, drug gangs, property developers, the government and foreign powers each have itchy palms, and all want a piece of Diamond Hill.
Critique: All the more impressive when considering that "Diamond Hill" is author Kit Fan's literary debut as a novelist. This compelling, deftly crafted, and inherently entertaining story of a on powerlessness, religion, memory, and displacement, and the demise of a city is an especially and unreservedly recommended addition to community library General Fiction collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "Diamond Hill" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).
The Youngest Boy: Stories
Jim Heynan, author
Tom Pohrt, illustrator
Holy Cow! Press
www.holycowpress.org
9781513645599, $16.95, PB, 128pp
https://www.amazon.com/Youngest-Boy-Stories-Jim-Heynen/dp/1513645595
Synopsis: "The Youngest Boy" is comprised of Jim Heynen's short stories (and occasional illustrations by Tom Pohrt) about unnamed farm boys that first debuted many years ago with the publication of 'The Man Who Kept Cigars in His Cap'. Several collections of Heynen's boy stories have been published since then and have been models in the short-short or prose poem form now used by many other writers. "The Youngest Boy: Stories" is the first collection to focus on the youngest boy, a character who can be a dreamer one minute, a trouble-maker the next, and a problem-solver the next. The youngest boy's charm is in his unpredictability.
Critique: This edition of "The Youngest Boy: Stories" from Holy Cow! Press is enhanced for the reader's enjoyment with an informative Preface by David Pichaske (Professor of English at Southwest Minnesota State University). Collectively providing an erudite entertainment from beginning to end, each carefully crafted story is a true literary treat and will be of special attraction to readers with an interest in small town and rural life -- making "The Youngest Boy: Stories" highly recommended for personal reading lists, as well as community, college and university library Contemporary Literary Fiction collections.
Editorial Note: Jim Heynen grew up on an Iowa farm in one of the last areas in the state to get electricity. He attended a one-room schoolhouse and graduated from eighth grade at age 12 before going on to college and then graduate school at the University of Iowa -- and again at the University of Oregon. For many years he was writer in residence at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. He has been awarded National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships in both poetry and fiction.
The Audacity of Sara Grayson
Joani Elliott
Post Hill Press
https://posthillpress.com
9781642937824, $27.00, HC, 400pp
https://www.amazon.com/Audacity-Sara-Grayson-Novel/dp/1642937827
Synopsis: Sara Grayson is a thirty-two-year-old greeting card writer about to land the toughest assignment of her life. Three weeks after the death of her mother--a world-famous suspense novelist -- Sara learns that her mother's dying wish is for her to write the final book in her bestselling series.
Sara has lived alone with her dog, Gatsby, ever since her husband walked out with their Pro Double Waffle Maker and her last shred of confidence. She can't fathom writing a book for thirty million fans -- not when last week's big win was resetting the microwave clock.
But in a bold move that surprises even herself, Sara takes it on. Against an impossible deadline and a publisher intent on sabotaging her every move, Sara discovers that stepping into her mother's shoes means stumbling on family secrets she was never meant to find -- secrets that threaten her mother's legacy and the very book she's trying to create.
Critique: A deftly penned novel about mothers, children, and inevitable travails of holding a career in the face of a demanding domestic life, in the pages of "The Audacity of Sara Grayson" author Joani Elliott writes with wit and originality, the result is an inherently entertaining read from cover to cover and one that will linger in the mind and memory long after the book itself has been finished and set back upon the shelf. While very highly recommended, especially for community library Contemporary General Fiction collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "The Audacity of Sara Grayson" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).
Pale
Edward A. Farmer
Blackstone Publishing
31 Mistletoe Road, Ashland, OR 97520
www.BlackstoneAudio.com
9781982673864, $26.99, HC, 256pp
https://www.amazon.com/Pale-Novel-Edward-Farmer/dp/1982673869
Synopsis: The summer of 1966 burned hot across America but nowhere hotter than the cotton fields of Mississippi. Finding herself in a precarious position as a black woman living alone, Bernice accepts her brother Floyd's invitation to join him as a servant for a white family and she enters the web of hostility and deception that is the Kern plantation household.
The secrets of the house are plentiful yet the silence that has encompassed it for so many years suddenly breaks with the arrival of the harvest and the appearance of Jesse and Fletcher to the plantation as cotton pickers. These two brothers, the sons of the house servant Silva, awaken a vengeful seed within the Missus of the house as she plots to punish not only her husband but Silva's family as well. When the Missus starts flirting with Jesse, she sets into motion a dangerous game that could get Jesse killed and destroy the lives of the rest of the servants.
Bernice walks the fine line between emissary and accomplice, as she tries her best to draw secrets from the Missus's heart, while using their closeness to protect the lives of the people around her. Once the Missus's plans are complete, families will be severed, loyalties will be shattered, and no one will come out unscathed.
With a dazzling voice and rich emotional tension, Pale explores the ties that bind and how quickly humanity can fade and return us to primal ways.
Critique: A superbly crafted story of racism, family secrets, compulsive revenge, and the legacy of patriarchy, "Pale" also showcases the impressively literary talents of novelist Edward A. Farmer and his genuine flair for the kind of narrative storytelling that creates memorably distinctive characters and a compelling page-turner of a read from cover to cover. While highly recommended, especially for community library General Fiction collections, it should be noted for persona reading lists that "Pale" is also readily available in a paperback edition (9781799956440, $16.99) and in a digital boo format (Kindle, $9.99).
A Season Unknown
Keith Cohen
K+P Press
https://www.kandppress.com
9781735934600, $16.99, PB, 318pp
https://www.amazon.com/Season-Keith-Cohen/dp/1735934607
Synopsis: From the time he is a small child, Malach reveals unique and unexplained connections with the animals that inhabit the wilderness surrounding him. As Malach grows, so too does his knowledge of the workings and mysteries of the natural world. His mother, Judith, fearful for him and struggling to understand the gift her son possesses, is determined to protect him at all costs. While grappling with the uncertainty of where Malach's future will lead, Judith must confront her own painful and secretive past.
Approaching adulthood, joined by his brilliant and fiery girlfriend, Ginny, Malach brings a profound awareness of the earth to a world facing a precariously changing climate and existential perils. Together they begin to deliver a message of transformation, sacrifice, and even revolution in how we live our lives. Their story of love, and triumph over loss, is at the heart of "A Season Unknown", an urgent coming-of-age story by Keith Cohen where time is no longer a luxury.
Critique: All the more impressive when considering that "A Season Unknown" is the debut effort of clinical child and adolescent psychologist Keith Cohen as a novelist. Inherently interesting, clever and unique, "A Season Unknown" showcases Cohen's genuine flair for originality and the kind of narrative storytelling style that creates memorable characters and an engagingly entertaining read from beginning to end. While especially and unreservedly recommended for community library General Fiction collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "A Season Unknown" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $8.99).
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