Set in Long Island’s East End, Sparrow Beach by Shelby Raebeck shows the strain felt by locals as they try to keep up with the powerful force of commercialization while also exploring family relationships. As the real estate industry continues to grow, Willie, the oldest...

Walter is eighty-five, a man who loves the winter and the quiet peace of the night. He doesn't enjoy having to wake up. Yes, he has missed a lot in his life and all he wants is to quit everything. There is the "living room...

Saltwater Joys by Dianna Brown begins in the 1960s in Ireland's Eye, a town situated on the edge of Newfoundland and Labrador. During the controversial Confederation with Canada which centralized people into growth areas, the inhabitants of this fishing outpost were offered relocation to the...

A dark-humored story, Springtime In Lawrence Park by Arnold Logan follows the life and times of Marie Barnacle as she grows up in an elitist Canadian family. The story opens with the tragic death of the Barnacle’s first daughter which sets the tone not only...

Swimming Upstream is a literary fiction novel written by Jacob Anderson-Minshall. Flint immediately wished he could go back in time and not overhear the conversation his dad was having with the bland-looking, middle-aged man who had rung the doorbell of their Marin County home. Prior...

In Sovereignty: He Lied For Your Sins by Rhys Hagan, we meet a Roman banker who is trying very hard to make a name for himself. He wants fame and he wants recognition, but he is not getting anything close to that. Just when he...

I love books that, while telling a great story, make me think about life and its realities in a serious way and Sculptor Boy: The Journal of Jack McRose by Chris Craig is one such book, with the narrative centered on a strong character. Jack...

In the very unusual yet enticing story entitled Snow City, G.A. Kathryns has managed to trigger those stirrings of my imagination that I didn't even know existed. The protagonist, Echo Japonica, has been in Snow City for as long as she can remember, which is...

Schooled is a contemporary fiction novel written by Matthew Rockwood. James Hartman eventually achieved his dream of becoming a corporate lawyer at a prestigious law firm, but even as he gamely struggled through that first grueling year of law school, he wondered if he had...

Summer Girl by Linda Watkins is a heartfelt story of a boy and a girl. For Jake, living on Cutter Island, off the coast of Maine, life is pretty laid back. That is until the summer of ’65 when he meets fifteen-year-old Andi. That was...