Hope. It is such a simple word. Yet it is what drives most of us: hope for a brighter future; hope for wealth, happiness and health. So, when firefighter Jude Elliot loses a leg due to a bomb explosion, he has a hard time adjusting...

Struggling opera singer Paige Marshall needs more income, so she signs up to work with the show choir at Prospect Glen High School outside Chicago. The first line of Chapter One of "Murder for Choir" says it all: "If Dante ever added a tenth circle...

"The Rescue Team" by Dr. Billi Tiner is a wonderful adventure featuring Ellie the dog, Toby the cat, and Anne, their human companion. Playing an important secondary role are Brent the fireman, and his dog Tank, reportedly one of the ugliest and scariest looking sweethearts...

Elizabeth Chalker suffers from late stage lyme disease, probably fatal, offering nothing but a slow, agonizing death. Lyme disease is complicated and compounded by other serious health issues that have left her bedridden and mostly alone. In this roaring furnace where she experiences daily frustration,...

Joana James's "Finding Romeo" is the first in a romance trilogy about finding true true and the trials along the way. Daynia is stuck in life. She is still living at home, working at a job she hates at a resort in a number one...

Poppy Johnson, an exemplary, exceptional and a super-focused high school junior, is given the prestigious Denton Award. The full paid scholarship to Columbia University has been Poppy’s and her family’s dream ever since Poppy could remember. It is awarded only to one outstanding student. In...

Authors Aaron J. Cox and Gregory L. Wright write from experience. They do not claim to have degrees in psychology or that they are renowned therapists. Instead they are individuals who have faced bad relationships and survived. The titles of the chapters worried me at...

When an undergraduate student steals an ancient ceremonial dagger to pay a gambling debt, all hell is unleashed on an unsuspecting and unprepared populace. Found under the ice in Antarctica, the dagger has been found to be many millions of years old. This is no...

"The Housekeeper's Son" by Christopher Loke is a compelling and, at times, complicated tale. Christopher Loke weaves quite a story involving Eleanor, hired as housekeeper, her son David, and the Cunningham family, Elizabeth, Katherine and Edmund. Add abuse, incest and murder, and you have the...

"Gerry the Giraffe" is written by Melissa Northway and illustrated by Jennifer Mercede. The first thing that jumped out at me when I saw this book was the delightful colors of Gerry. The illustrator has given him orange, giving him the look of a quirky...

Authors Lori Culwell and Katherine Sears have written a marvelous 'How To' book for writers wanting to know how to get their book known to the public. In "How to Market a Book", the reader is exposed to the various facets of marketing. First, the...

Golden girl Heven Montgomery had it all: the looks, the body, the talent, the popularity and the good grades, and she is (of course) a cheerleader. Life is perfect until one day something dreadful happens. Heven is attacked by some horrific creature while walking home...

Author K.E.Pottie continues his fabulous World War II story about the bravery of those in the French Resistance with this episode that sees Henri, Madeline and Charlene escaping Nazi-occupied France even though World War II is drawing to its ending days. OSS's Lieutenant Robbie Robertson...

Author Juanima Hiatt was raped and molested repeatedly as a young girl, beginning with abuse by her uncle when she was only seven years old. Molested and then threatened by her stepfather Ron when she was a young teenager, and then sexually assaulted by both...

In "When a Woman You Love Was Abused" Dawn Jones has written a thought-provoking and up-front book of what it is like to be an abused child and what emotional problems may be faced by those trying to love the survivors of childhood sexual abuse....

This is a quite compelling and yet different kind of book that addresses bullying in schools. It is well organized and will keep the attention of the kids reading it. It is a great tool for parents and teachers to use to talk about this...

In Chicago, FBI Agent Nick Catlin spent months setting up a sting on Damon Hannah’s business, INYO Industries, that supposedly focuses on high-end medical equipment. It is clear there is a leak in the FBI team. Twice an enormous explosion has obliterated all traces of...

“Red Leaves and the Living Token” by Benjamin David Burrell is a riveting fantasy featuring multiple interwoven sub-plots, with a captivating over-arching theme. Three distinct “species” of characters are the primary personalities in this story: Bota, Zo, and Petra. The Bota are a BOTAnical species,...

Samantha English’s life has become a deep dark nightmarish dream. Her best friend Lucas whom she had grown up with and his brother Ethan are powerful angels. They are special angels sent from above to help watch over and protect Samantha. The life that she...

Scarlet the dolphin and Hailey have teamed up and are ready for another adventure in the deep blue sea where Scarlet lives. This time, it is on the west coast, the Pacific Ocean, where their new adventure takes place. Scarlet takes her best friend Hailey...