Sixteen-year-old Jonathon ‘Jack’ Goode spends his school holidays in the little village of Upper Uffing, together with his parents, his aunt and his cousin, Elizabeth ‘Lizzie’ Waterhouse. One night, at the town’s fair, a fortune teller tells Jack that he “will meet an elf in...

The Chocolate Pilgrim: A Journey to Self-Discovery and Transformation on the Camino de Santiago by Marie Maccagno is a beautifully written, emotionally intense, and intimately personal account of a month-long trek across Spain by Maccagno, her husband, and their adult son in the spring of...

Helen of Troy, Illinois is a very well written story of love and relationships by Annie Sereno. Helen is a young woman who seems to have it all; expensive clothes, a hectic social life in New York and a successful fiancé. However, this picture-perfect lifestyle...

Cherries. They really are very good for you. Sweet, sour, even the most popular maraschino cherries. Why? Cherries are full of good nutrients: Vitamin A and C, Manganese, Potassium, Copper and Vitamin K (a not-so-well known vitamin, but it should be as it helps deal...

Compassionate Capitalism: The Intersection of Economic Growth and Social Justice by Gerard L. Hasenhuettl is a great book. It is an idea that society needs, but seems to always to be ignored because one of the ways capitalism is defined is greed; and greed is...

Deanna Lynn Sletten’s Night Music is a story of hearts divided. Joseph Russo is a soldier in Vietnam. He becomes pen pals with a girl named Charlotte. Char writes to Joe about Grand Falls, her small hometown in Illinois. Joe clings to those letters, they...

Chad Bishop’s Sanctuary of Lies is a thriller with a mesmerizing plot and characters that readers will stick with. It starts with the auction of a particularly dangerous device, and with a crime. But what caught my attention, the hook, was the first line in...

Christmas Best is a children’s holiday-themed picture book written and illustrated by Diana Kizlauskas. Tap, Tweak, Twinkle, Plumperson and Top had very special jobs at Santa’s toy shop. Tap built dollhouses that were sturdy and strong. Tweak was the engineering expert who kept the trains...

The Greasy Chip is the fourth book in the children’s series, Chompy & the Munchy Bunch, written by Nancy Beaule and illustrated by Lauren Goldstein. When word gets out that Coach Brock O. Lee is assembling a new baseball team at Munchytown’s school, the students...

Ronaldo: The Phantom Carrot Snatcher (Ronaldo the Flying Reindeer Book 2) by Maxine Sylvester is an exciting storybook for children that highlights friendship and sacrifice through the story of Ronaldo, a young reindeer who came first at the prestigious Reindeer Flying Academy. He wears his...

Tree Soldier is a children’s picture book written by Sarah M. Flores and illustrated by Maksym Stasiuk. Billy was feeling kind of bored with his toys, his games and just about everything. He didn’t live in a castle with golden floors, which he thought would...

The Still Sad Music by Shawn Merritt is a sometimes melancholic, but always interesting journey through the coming of age of a troubled young man. Jeffrey is an awkward adolescent, just coming to terms with his feelings and emotions, when both his parents are killed...

Sage wisdom in numbered poems, beginning with one word, “Transfiguration”, meaning a complete change of form – the form of a poem change from one to fifty. Imagine a series of poems, a collection really, each one using a specific number of words, each poem...

Sam to the Ends of the Earth is the third book in The Sea Witch Series by Mike Ward, a wonderful meld of young adult fantasy and adventure. This is the story of a brave young girl, sixteen-year-old Jenny, who is upset by the sudden...

Clyde and Wanda is a work of fiction with Christian themes and plenty of interpersonal family drama and was penned by author Cynthia Ulmer. In this second novel in The Cedar Cove Chronicles, we find ourselves following the Jansen family seven years after the events...

Bigger than a blueberry, the Saskatoon berry has many other benefits that outshine the more commonly known blueberry. For instance, it’s high in vitamins and fibre and, of interesting note, it contains 11 percent of the daily intake required of calcium. The First Nations knew...

This fast-paced science fantasy adventure, Dimension 7, the first of Kristen Jackson's Keeper of the Watch series, will grip you from the outset. Chase Walker has just turned eighteen. His life lacks focus with no plans for the future. His friends are all about to...

Hell Shall Not Prevail: Apostle John Series by Susan M.B. Preston is a powerful blend of historical fiction and inspirational writing, a story with a setting that uncovers great historical and cultural elements during the period of the Roman Empire. In this entry in the...

SAM and ME: The Week I Spent A Year With Sam Kinison is a nonfiction music/entertainment memoir written by Steve Lamar. As Lamar was growing up, he soon came to the realization that he wanted to be in show business. He was the youngest of...

The Christmas Redemption: A Courtroom Adventure by Landis Wade acquaints the reader with an unusual attorney, one with intimate connections with Santa Claus and Christmas — and there is no joking about this! For how could Thad Raker even defend people working for Santa Claus?...