Forty is a significant number in the Bible. Jesus fasted for forty days. Moses stayed on the mountain for forty days. The Israelites wandered in the wilderness for forty years. You get the gist. The amount of time is long but effective. In the instance...

The Accidental Text by Becky Monson is a lighthearted romantic comedy. Maggie Cooper always enjoyed taking risks and doing things like skydiving. But, after her mother died, she lost her mojo. She tried texting her mother’s phone, hoping it would be like therapy. Turns out...

The Maltese Attack is a political thriller with a unique and interesting twist. Jay Perin employs all the necessary elements that make up a good page-turner and on top of it is characterization. The novel opens with U.S. Senator Temple aboard a search-and-rescue helicopter that...

Tunde has already lost his mother to a terrible disease. And now his father is sad and distant. Tunde feels alone. Except when his painting and drawing his pictures. It was a special activity, a passion he shared with his mother. Papa doesn’t understand, especially...

Ice and Bone by Diane Olsen is part two in the Rising Wind series. You could read this book as a stand-alone without reading the first one as the author does a decent job of bringing her readers up to speed, but my recommendation...

Draw Me Close to You is a children's story written by Kossim Osseni. The audiobook is narrated by MaameYaa Boafo. Most audiobook listeners will agree that the narrator makes or breaks the appeal of an audiobook. As an audiobook listener for many years, I can...

London for Immigrant Suckers: So Long Yugoslavia by Kolya S is Peter Kovach’s exceptional odyssey as an immigrant in the UK, a story that features powerful historical experiences and references. While sharing the story of Peter, his hardships and the many challenges he has to...

Punk is a title that might normally put me off, but I was taken by the back cover blurb on Amy Q Barker’s latest novel. I started reading, harboring some reservations, but the first few pages raised questions that kept me interested, so I persevered....

A Knock in the Attic: True Ghost Stories & Other Spine-chilling Paranormal Adventures by John Russell is an engrossing, at times, disturbing nonfiction book in which the author narrates his supernatural experiences. At the tender age of five, John had his first encounter with a...

Get to Know Your Body, written and illustrated by Ananya Prechavut, is a children’s picture book that takes an analytical look at the human body from a child’s perspective. Prechavut tells the facts of life in a way that children can understand. Get to Know...

Forgiveness: Your Key to Harmony and Inner Peace: A Memoir by Laura Throne chronicles the events in the author's life and is for women who are kind, compassionate, and have inner wisdom. The author's words are inspiring and will give encourage many readers to connect...

The Weeping God and the Book of Hope is part three in the Rising Wind series by Diane Olsen. This book is actually a prequel to the first two books, so it's not necessary to have read those first. The two lead characters, Sage Dalton...

To say that Emily Calby's sweet sixteen birthday was far from normal would be the understatement of the year. On her sixteenth birthday, she was arrested for carrying an illegal weapon. As she lived anonymously under a fake name, this arrest threatened her true identity...

Magic Unfurled by M.L. Ryan is a fascinating and entertaining urban fantasy novel. This is a world of the Haves and the Have Nots--those with magic powers who rule with an iron fist, and those with very few magic powers that are ruled by those...

The Unfocused Man: The Comet Kid Chronicles #2 is a fantasy/science fiction novel written by Tom Hoffman. After their adventures on the planet Ardenia, eleven-year-old Max and his big sister, Grace, were having some problems adjusting to life in their home surrounded by cornfields. Even...

Beginner's Mind: From Shipyard to Harvard Yard - Embracing Endless Possibilities by M.B. McLatchey will revolutionize the way readers look at the education of the young. In this book, the author demonstrates how the so-called experts limit the endless possibilities that open the burgeoning mind...

How do you turn a biography into a page-turning action novel? Donald E. Auten teaches us how with Roger Ball! The Odyssey of John Monroe “Hawk” Smith. From the opening sequence of an edge-of-the-seat ride along with “Hawk” and “Crash’s” forced landing, blind on a...

In I Wear A Mask by Terrie Kahl and Susan Morrissey Finger, we are introduced to a little boy who talks about his mask and why he has to wear one. He begins by explaining that he wears it to be safe, and to protect...

Writer's block is inevitable at some, or several, stages of an author's career. Sharing ideas isn't commonplace out of fear that it might find its way into another person's work. For those who need a bit of inspiration, Jan Power emerges and comes to the...

What happened to Kyle Gardener? Why was she found dead in her room by her mother, Sharon Gardener, the next day? Why did the police find her dad, Paul Gardener, with blood on his shirt and in his vehicle along with the murder weapon? Did...