In Fractured, Debra Morgan recounts her upbringing after being abandoned by her biological mother as a young child; her grandmother raises her in a household characterized by blurred family roles. Her upbringing is marked by repeated exposure to emotional and physical abuse, along with manipulation...

The Creeping Darkness of Janaidar by Robert D. Holland begins in a hidden underground city called The Sleeping City, where an ancient dragon named YuLong wakes up the instant YunFei, the ruler he has been mentally linked to for thousands of years, dies. He expects...

Getting Ready for My Plane Ride: An Airplane Book for Kids by Dr. Fei Zheng-Ward explains to young readers what it will be like taking a flight for the first time. It follows a young child who is getting ready for their first plane ride....

Weighing a Miracle by Steven Nimocks is a well-written fictional account of a familiar Bible story in which Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. The story begins in a commercial setting along the Jericho Road, where Caleb and his two sons go about their daily...

In Peter Van Oossanen’s The Extraterrestrial, when an infant is left in a basket on the porch of a remote California farm, John and Mary Stanton raise him as their own son, naming him Sam and giving him an ordinary life in the Salinas Valley....

Loved in Chaos by Long Temple is an engaging psychological drama that tells the story of Kia, a talented actress. She has always felt that she has been playing many characters throughout her life. Growing up in an unpredictable environment, Kia was raised by a...

In Long Temple and Fielder Whitley’s What Survives the Pressure, Gia is assaulted the night before graduation and moves into the next morning with what happened unspoken. On the way to the ceremony, a man connected to her attacker follows Gia and her friends into...

In J.P. Ramzy’s Marked: Game of Deception, after being expelled from St. Francis Catholic School, teenager Devyn Prescott is forced back to Avail, the institution she once barely survived, where old enemies and buried memories await her. Years later, Devyn lives an outwardly polished adult...

Phase by James K. West is an impressive novella for young adults. We are transported to the office of a Washington D.C. law firm and meet twenty-five-year-old Alison Riley, a conscientious, high-performing legal secretary who values her job and the living comforts it provides. Alison...

In Dangerous Books and the Magic Within Them by R. H. Buffington, twelve-year-old Michael loses his grandfather and is forced to live in a foster home with Perry and Linny. Once there, he stumbles upon a mysterious trunk with ties to his family. Inside, he...

A Faithful Companion by Kasey Stockton is a delightful example of one of my favorite genres. Emma Darling was deeply in love with her neighbor’s nephew, Owen Buckley. When he visited his aunt and uncle in Derbyshire, he and Emma experienced an idyllic summer filled...

Klood P. Trouvay’s Embers in the Salt introduces us to Syra, a woman who has survived the worst of New Merserat’s fighting pits only to end up doing forced labor for the city officials. She’s a survivor through and through, with the nickname Greykiss, like...

Tall as the Sun by Stephanie Henson is a children’s picture book set at the beach, told from a little girl’s perspective. As she rides upon her father’s shoulders, she delights in the views of swimmers, surfers, and seagulls. But it’s the special feeling of...

Lilly's determination to prove her colleagues wrong takes her down a path where she stumbles upon one of the king's trusted advisers, Galwyn, in the middle of an attack by unknown assailants. Galwyn's best efforts and a stroke of luck from the young linenmaid enable...

In 1876, eighteen-year-old Loren Ardoin left his home in Louisiana, escaping from the lingering aftermath of the Civil War, heading west with only his worn guitar. After days on the railroad and drifting through towns with his music, Loren ends up in Nogales. In this...

Nick Drake is a war veteran turned ranger and game warden for the US Fish and Wildlife Service stationed in Harney County, Oregon. He was on Malheur Lake trying to catch a bird poacher when he witnessed a fighter jet pilot fall into the water....

Spun by Glenda Toews is the true story of what happens when a con man finds his way into the life of someone who genuinely believed in him. Glenda is a bartender at Corky's Pub in British Columbia, a woman of sharp instincts and warm...

Surfing on Dry Land by Sheryl Recinos is a searing story that documents the struggles of a mother and daughter in two timelines. Ixchel is just fifteen and with a baby when she escapes from her home village in Guatemala because of gang violence, traveling...

The Self-Driving You by Alan Bodnar is a well-written self-help guide to awaken the driver within and a framework to explore the human vehicle through science and how we can intentionally rewire our vehicle for success. This book is divided into two parts, where Alan...

In a wonderful and exciting new mystery from debut author Ranjini Iyer, The Colossus, readers will follow caterer Maxine (Max) Rosen as she stumbles upon a mysterious coded document of her father's, which seems to be a link to the Nazis, pharmaceuticals and medical research....