Old Mr. Higgins asks the Mysterious Six to investigate some strange lights he has seen along the cliffs at the back of his property in The Little Giants as the Mysterious Six in the Supernatural Great Escape by Lynette Harrell. The six friends agree to...

Beautifully illustrated, The Adventures of Gracie and MonkeyBear - Book 1: Summer revels in the imagination and the marvels of childhood. The narrative is by C.S. O’Kelly and illustrations are by Jordy Farrell. Together they create a delightful book. Gracie and MonkeyBear (her dog) share...

The House That Dorothy Built by Dorothy Ainsworth is an empowering nonfiction work about a woman who takes a chance on an unforgettable dream. This is a collection of articles that Ainsworth has written for Backwoods Home, with advice and how-to guides that contain humor...

The CleanSweep Conspiracy: A Matt Tremain Technothriller by Chuck Waldron is a strong opening for the Dystopian World Chronicles that features a powerful setting, a great conflict, and complex characters. This is the kind of fiction that will appeal to fans of thrillers, crime fiction,...

In The Tale of Two by Micah Inouye, two little kids brought together by misfortune and fate grew up to be best friends. Living across the street from each other, Lexi and Darren grow up to be as close as siblings. Unbeknownst to them, however,...

The Great Sugar War is an adventure fantasy novel for children and preteens written by Benjamin Ellefson and illustrated by Kevin Cannon. Brandon wasn't crazy about school; he was able to do his assignments and get good grades without too much effort, but he'd much...

The Inn Game and Sins of Kot-Do-Init: Roger Sundbee Returns is a cozy mystery novel written by Karen Truesdell Riehl. Kot-Do-Init is a small town in New Hampshire with a rich and somewhat hilarious history, whose legacy is shared by many of the current residents....

One perfect word quickly comes to mind when trying to distill the effect of Theodore Jerome Cohen’s collection of short (truly short) stories in The Road Less Taken. The word is: Gripping. And I do not use that word lightly. I mean, utterly, sometimes devastatingly,...

I had the great privilege to review Theodore Jerome Cohen’s Book 2 of The Road Less Taken, and I mentioned there the primary descriptive word for his great skill at short story writing: Gripping. Actually, I may have said: Utterly Gripping. Having the honor then...

The Prophecy by Petra Landon is the first book in the Saga of the Chosen series. Tasia has kept her true power hidden all her life, warned that she should stay in the shadows as a Level 2 Wizard. One night, while on a job,...

It’s November of 1944 in Germany and adept American OSS agent Lilian Saint James has just been handed the perfect opportunity to insert herself into the home of a leading Nazi tactician, after saving the German army colonel’s young daughter from being run down by...

The Moose with the Pump by Yerachmiel Altman is about David Jacob, the little blue moose who has type 1 diabetes. His parents tell him that he need not be scared as they will not let him down and, with the right information, he will...

A breath of fresh air is the description that befits The Mermaid's Carol: A Last Chance for Love in more ways than one. Abigail Keam has written a fantastic tale of love, adultery, family struggles, and the legend of a magical mermaid - yes, a...

When Bill and Cheryl Parker are visited by an aggressive reporter who has recognized them from news footage of an earthquake on Molokai, their idyllic, love-filled lives are turned upside down and inside out by more than the earthquake in this riveting political thriller, The...

The scenarios and characters who people The Purified by Melinda Tyler are something that the author knows very well. She has lived much of what she has woven into this rather realistic thriller based on the sex trade. Those unfamiliar with the world of...

The Diamond Escape by Sheila Bitts begins at a platinum mine in Marikana, near Johannesburg, starting in August 2012. In a series of events, miners and drillers were on strike for higher wages as the Mine and Construction Workers Union staged a rally. Unbeknownst to...

The Wizard of Crescent Keep by Lady Saera is an epic fantasy that will have great appeal for both young and adult readers, a well-crafted tale of a powerful sorcerer caught up in a world filled with dangerous and wicked people. Things get even more...

The Intersect: When Life Veers off Course, Strangers Find Comfort and Lasting Connection by Brad Graber is a compelling and fascinating story with a powerful political and social setting, a story that explores the links between humans in a fast-paced consumerist culture. Set against the...

The Underground Toy Society and the Annual Toy Drive by Jessica D. Adams is a fun children's book that follows a society that helps unloved toys. The Underground Toy Society helps toys that are no longer played with find new homes where children will love...

An unexpected treasure handed over from an ex-spouse via the divorce lawyer; a classic mother-son bonding experience on a roller coaster ride; tragic tales of survival of ordinary Cuban citizens in the 1960s; a paranormal happening in the Museum of the Weird, the Sad, and...