J.R.R. Tolkien’s quote, “Not all those who wander are lost,” really captures the heart of A Wrong Turn Right by Karen Lopez. It opens with an exhausted Dr. Preston McClendon heading home from his wealthy fiancée’s family event. Things take a sudden twist when his...

In The Iron Tithe by Robert W. Riley, we meet Knight Commander Cedrik Theramond, who serves as the King’s Shield and has the grueling charge of collecting mandatory grain levies. The crux is that these come from famine-struck villages to supply the King's army of...

The Shadow of Death: A Tragedy of Yellow Fever by McKenna Rowell is set in 1793 Philadelphia, where Deborah Allard becomes entangled in a dispute that threatens David Byrne’s family after Mr. Foster accuses his father of a ruinous debt. Just when Deborah uncovers a...

A Wooden Heart in Plotlands by Dawn Knox is a historical novel that follows the intertwined lives of Miriam and Rebekah, two Jewish sisters, as they navigate the challenges of survival during World War II. The story begins in Nazi Germany, where the sisters face...

Snakeroot & Cohosh by Cathy Schieffelin begins when Eva Hoskins leaves her husband, Luther, after years of escalating violence in mid-century Kentucky, disappearing into the hills near Creech. In Helton, she assumes a new identity and gets government work guiding researchers through Appalachian forests, drawing...

In Lizzie Mac’s Family Secrets, Ben, an American in Brussels who's preparing to relocate to England, meets Nina, a British woman who refuses to share her real name or the details of her work. Intrigued by a sense of recognition, they invent aliases and agree...

In Anthony Pond’s Conquistadors, Ryan Jordan joins a small expedition in central Mexico to climb three of the country’s highest volcanoes under the direction of their guide, Ricardo. After becoming ill at a mountain lodge following a meal in town, he chooses to continue with...

The Badass Widows by Valerie Saul is an excellent book. The widows are not your typical mature women. One fixes boat engines. Another is a tech guru. The main character, Beth, is a retired FBI agent, which puts her in a formidable league of her...

The Time Between by Bryna Hellmann-Gillson looks at several young Jewish women and how they responded to the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam during World War II. Hannah, like Anne Frank, spent her early years in Germany, but her family moved to the Netherlands after the...

Radiance is Blooming by Y.L. Wigman is a charming, sweet romance set in a small town in Western Australia. Nadeen has broken off her toxic relationship in Melbourne and moved back to her hometown of Toodyay, northeast of Perth. There, she plans to set up...