Justine Avery’s short story, It Gets Easier: A Short Tale of Comical Catastrophe, is a fascinating fictional work. The story begins with Jake repeating his newly-conceived mantra, “It Gets Easier.” He is driving his girlfriend Samantha to an outlying reservoir, in her mother’s borrowed car....

For me, as a reader, there's nothing more satisfying than picking up a book that I just can't put down. That usually only happens if the book is a thriller or a mystery written by a very skilled writer. It rarely happens when I read...

Screamer by R.E. Wood is a haunting tale of life. Julia Woodson is slowly pulling her life back together following her decision to divorce her abusive husband, Todd. She has two children and she must protect them and defend her home against the man she...

Rebecca's Coronation by Gary Green is book three in the Redemption series. Rebecca is an orphan whose grandmother has guided her to a world of magic and adventure. Rebecca’s enemy, Pan, urges her to stop fighting him and just let him kill her. She mocks...

Vicki E. Hartman’s My Father’s Battle chronicles a warrior’s fight against the nightmares of World War II. In his youth, Ken Rowland joined the army and took part in decisive battles. Returning home at twenty-one, he’d seen a lot of evil on the war front...

Paper Wishes, The Magical Girl Series Volume 1 is a young adult romantic fantasy centered on a grieving young woman named Vilvian. She is mourning the loss of her mother, who left her with a Japanese fable that for every origami star you fold, it...

In Love and Mercy: Up On Roan Mountain by Martha Arrowood Pelc, Ollie, the first character introduced, faces more in her short life than most adults face in a lifetime. There is a mix of love and major tragedy in each family that’s compelling and...

Mysteries Beyond the Grave by Amy Louise Hill is a collection of two short stories that will keep you on the edge of your seat with excitement. They are suspenseful, exciting, and scary. The first story in the book — Letters — is about someone...

Bethany Lopez's 7 Months (Time for Love) is the seventh in a series. Ming is a hard worker. All she wants to be is a great lawyer, daughter and friend, but, as she turns 35, her focus must move away from her career. All her...

Glimpse, a superbly crafted speculative short story by Daniel P. Douglas, offers the reader a provocative future mystery on which to ponder: What happens when an older couple finally decides to leave their well-outfitted bomb shelter? First, the story must deal out a series of...

A Day That God Made by Mike Masi is a true story, although the author refers to himself throughout as “the pilot.” The opening is a dramatic air crash in the frozen wastes of Alaska. Following that, the book reverts to detailing the pilot’s early...

Earnest Hemingway once said: “All my life I've looked at words as though I were seeing them for the first time.” Perhaps Basant Raj, author of When Love Calls, feels likewise. It is obvious this is an author who loves the power of words: he...

The Austrian: A War Criminal’s Story by Ellie Midwood opens with a short prologue entitled “Nuremberg prison, October 1946.” Ernst Kaltenbrunner, a former leader of the Austrian SS, has been tried by the International Military Tribunal and sentenced to hang. He is preparing to meet...

The Ghost with the Green Thumb (True Girls) (Volume 2) by Maggie M Larche is a short preteen story, second in the True Girls series. Beth lost her beloved grandmother six months ago and, although she has learned to accept it and move on, her...

Stepping Up (True Girls) (Volume 3) by Maggie M Larche is the third in a series of preteen novels. Jenna has what seems to be the perfect life. One day something happens to change everything; her father loses his job. That means there is no...

Mystic Tides is a romance novel written by C.J. Godwin. Seventeen-year-old Aden Wilder had just finished celebrating his birthday with friends on the beach. With a bonfire ablaze, Aden bids farewell to his friends. He was also leaving Alaska to live with his Aunt Tess...

Young Jacob is enthralled with the walking stick that he finds. His grandfather tells him to look closer and explains that it's called a praying mantis because its front legs are bent as if it's praying. Only Grandfather notices that there's only one front leg....

After two well-deserved years on death row for the inexcusable murder of a family of four, Tobias Butler only scoffed at the Pen Pal mails that adorned his prison cell. The anger dripping from the ink of multiple avengers of the death penalty was quite...

Ranger and Keys by Danielle A. Vann is the story of Ranger, the Great Pyrenees, whom Miss Keys, the Skunk, meets on Miss Darlene Doppler Darcy's unique farm. Miss Keys' momma has been around humans for a while and knows how to do a few...

Fireworks in the Night by Sherry Miller is a wonderfully illustrated and engaging flight of fantasy that will most certainly appeal to younger children and their parents alike. This is aimed at primary school readers, as the story develops nicely to help young children connect...