The Friendship Bench is a children's picture book written by Whitney Dineen and illustrated by the students of Fir Grove and Oak Grove Elementary Schools in Albany, Oregon. Ella thought second grade was just perfect. Her teacher, Mrs. Fancy, was a fun and enthusiastic teacher...

The Highland Curse is a young adult paranormal novel written by Shelby White. Alycia and her three best friends, Sarah, Sacha and Lauren, were looking forward to a long, and mostly lazy summer, but those expectations were soon shattered. They were still recovering from their...

The Loneliest Whale by Lily Markova is an intriguing science-fiction short story about other lifeforms living on earth and how they have been affecting our race for centuries. Joy met Julius at the pier when they were fourteen. He had been going through a change...

I took my time reading The Pursuit: Citizens of Logan Pond Book 3 by Rebecca Belliston because I was intrigued by the story, especially by the intense drama. The story follows Carrie Ashworth. She swore to protect her siblings and find the safest place for...

I have been reading a lot of novels based on Norse mythology this month. I like them. I like the war. I like the doom and gloom attitude of Norse warriors. The Oath Breaker by Alaric Longward met all my expectations about stories centered around...

The Secret King: First Contact is the sequel to Dawn Chapman's The Secret King: Lethao. Kendro, King of the Aonise, has led his people to a new world called Earth. Communicating primarily with the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Kendro tries his best to...

Mitch and Sandi had the perfect life: gorgeous city apartment, two pretty children, a lucrative income, and the world in their hands. And then Mitch’s law firm went belly up and his father died. As Mitch reflects on his life, he realizes that neither of...

Frank Cudgill is a self-made man, a factory owner and farmer. Wealthy and upstanding in the community, he has no enemies and he is admired. When he and his wife, Lizzie, are unable to conceive they decide to adopt. They get a boy whom they...

The Boyfriend Whisperer by Linda Budzinski is a delightful new take on the teen romance novel. Instead of simple boy-meets-girl, we have a situation where high school basketball star Lexi Malloy is secretly helping every girl out there, except herself, to find the boyfriend of...

The Haunted Aquarium Castle by Robert Scott McKinnon is a fascinating and spooky mystery. Mini Ann Harper and her roommate, Jane Mary, are ichthyology aficionados. They are fish enthusiasts, and they possess one of the most notable aquariums in the world. It holds four thousand...

There is a new Magical Aquarium that’s just opened up in town. PJ is quite excited. She loves everything about the sea and she wants to learn everything she can about life in the sea. Her older sister, Blake, has already studied the sea at...

The Vatican Cameos: A Sherlock Holmes Adventure is a historical mystery by Richard T. Ryan. In 1501, Michelangelo is commissioned by the pope to create cameos of specific cardinals portraying the seven deadly sins they commit. Michelangelo becomes a pawn in a scandalous religious game...

The Barataria Key by JM Richardson is a fast-paced suspense novel. Residents of New Orleans, James Beauregard, and his fiancée, Noelle, are both geology professors. School is out for a week and Tim, James's long-time friend, college roommate, and also a professor, is flying in...

The Sun Skips Christmas is a children’s book written and illustrated by Anderson Atlas. One very hot December, as the days become longer and hotter, people grow angry and complain. They tell the sun to go away as it is neither welcome nor wanted. The...

The Ugly Duckling is an incredibly relatable book, especially if you ever had the opportunity to play that role growing up. This book follows Libby, a girl who was scorned by her first 'love' in high school. And by 'scorned,' I mean she harbored a...

The Painted Pony is the first book in the Magical Adventures & Pony Tales series, written by Angharad Thompson Rees. Stargazer is a pony that lives on a carousel. He feels excitement during the day, as children scramble to score a ride on Stargazer’s saddle,...

A butler has disappeared, carrying ten thousand in cash. A woman dies in a police station; her last words accuse a mysterious man of stealing a large sum of money, leaving them with few leads. The Missing Butler And Other Life Mysteries by J. Schlenker...

Niagara is different from other mosquitoes. She does not like feeding on blood or nectar from plants. In The Mosquito by Cindy Christmas, readers are taken to a small town where there are a lot of mosquitoes. Niagara is disliked by other mosquitoes, especially females,...

The Heritage by Jack Michonik (translated from the Spanish by Michael B. Miller) is an epic story of family, hardships, triumphs, life and death, and assimilation. In the year 1961, Leon Edri, a Jewish immigrant from Russia, now living in Larida, Peru, attends the funeral...

The King of Mischief by Devonia Reed is a delightful children’s book that tells the story of how just a little bit of love and support can make a huge difference. A nine-year-old boy named Maurice Wallace is the resident troublemaker in Ms. Henderson’s class,...