Welfare for the Rich

Brace yourself for depression. Not the economic variety, but the emotional downswing that comes from analyzing what you already know about the gross waste of our federal government when it comes to doling out your hard-earned tax money. The key points of this book are certainly nothing new.

The problem with this book and others like it has nothing to do with what the authors advocate. In fact, what they advocate is something that every American taxpayer should consider. But a book such as this becomes dated far too quickly for lasting impact. Indeed, all the facts referenced by Phil Harvey and Lisa Conyers are well researched and valid for the time being. However, in less than five years an array of new facts will render them obsolete.

Up until the turn of the last century, long before there was such a thing as income tax or an Internal Revenue Service, America generated its revenue from tariffs. Robber barons such as J. P. Morgan, Dale Carnegie, J. D. Rockefeller, Andrew E. Mellon, and others lobbied Congress to shift the burden of financing the government to the general public through taxation. Thus, when the topic of reform is seriously discussed, one must consider how far back into the century of entangled lobbying we must go and what the net consequences and repercussions will ensue.

The taxpaying American public desperately needs an easy-to-understand lesson in the totality of the breakdown if real grassroots reform is to take hold, but someone must educate the public more thoroughly than this book delves. Harvey and Conyers may just be the authors to write such a book. This one makes a good starting place.


Watermark: A Novel

The Kennedy swim team is made of Sports Stars, at least that what coach CJ calls his players, and his biggest star is Angel Ferente. At eighteen, she is the strongest swimmer on the team with interest from colleges, and she is a natural leader. When she disappears, the swim team and Angel’s family are put under a microscope to determine what happened to her.

Elise Schiller’s novel Watermark, book one in the Broken Bell series, captures the rhythms and realities of teen life. From Angel to her younger sister Jeannine, a reclusive bookworm, to Angel’s best friend Alex who isn’t as strong a swimmer but who loves the team and the chance to compete with her friend, Schiller’s young female characters are pitch-perfect. There is, perhaps, more detail about swim teams and competitions than are ultimately necessary to tell Angel’s story, but for those with a background in swim, those details will most likely add authenticity to the book.

The true standout of the book is Angel, a rebellious and sexually empowered young woman who tries to hold her broken family together in the face of her mother’s addiction and stepfather’s violence. Schiller's Watermark is a perfect start to what will surely be a compelling series.


Sugar and Vice

“The reasons people come here haven’t changed in 400 years”  Kate McGuire, part-owner of The Cookie House bakery, has found herself in the middle of another murder mystery. A skeleton was found in the yard of her friend, could it be a long lost pirate? Or something more sinister?  Kate and her friend Maxi investigate, plus run their businesses and research the history of the famous pirate Gentleman George, Just another interesting day in Coral Cay.

Multiple mysteries unfold in this wonderful Summer read. Smartly written, funny, and full of baked goods, make this the perfect book to read on vacation. Even though this is part of a series it made for a pretty good stand-alone novel, there were only a few references that I felt weren’t fully explained but nothing integral to the plot or characters. I really enjoyed the characters and the vivid descriptions of Coral Cay. The story kept me guessing, but I do feel that the resolution unfolded a bit too quickly. Overall this was very enjoyable and I would recommend it to anyone who likes Cozy’s.


Dispersion

Dispersion is heavily filled with scientific data references. Alice is a young woman hoping to save everyone from the dispersion (a disease). Alice lives in a world where individuals come from factions associated with different scientific properties. The dispersion is infecting the population of each faction and has created a sense of blame and hostility between them. In her attempt, Alice encounters tragedy and makes drastic decisions for the sake of the greater good. For individuals who like to consider alternative scientific theories for various life forms and/or theoretical life, this book would likely be in their wheelhouse. However, I personally was left feeling bogged down by the “theory” presented in the story. Furthermore, my personal preference is to read a story start-to-finish and have closure once finished. Dispersion was not able to offer that to me personally. Individuals who love all things in the hard science fiction genre, this book might be for you. Individuals who love well-known science fiction may have a difficult time settling in to this book. I would recommend this book for those who like to explore alternative ways of thinking.


Dead Air: A Novel of Suspense

A tension-filled chiller about someone’s blood-thirsty revenge for Kaitlyn Ashe. Kaitlyn Ashe strives to bury her past and let no one know about what she did at the Shallows, but when she receives the letters she realizes someone must have found out. Through the switching narratives and points of view, Michael Bradley is able to craft a story that leaves you guessing and in the unknown. Only until the last page is turned will the reader be able to fully grasp and understand the contents of the story.

Through the dialogue, the reader is able to fully grasp the severity of the stress caused by Kaitlyn’s past as she tries to desperately keep those she loves and cares for away from her past as best she can. The language flows from the thoughts of Kaitlyn to her speech to other vital characters. All of this conveys the well-hidden moral of the story: The past is there for us to learn from, not run away from or hide. This lesson is one that needs to be taught to everyone. Throughout all of this, the plot shines through. Original, entertaining, and intriguing, it holds you until the last sentence. This story confounds and twists the reader throughout; it is a great story. However, it is a chiller and can be too intense due to its graphic descriptions.


Mapping Humanity: How Modern Genetics is Changing Criminal Justice, Personalized Medicine, and our Identities

To fully appreciate Mapping Humanity, one must invest time and substantial concentration. The book promotes advanced science accompanied by "everyone" analogies in an attempt to simplify complexity.

Some 20,000 genes make up the genome of the human body. From this starting point, Joshua Rappoport explores the intricacies of science, showing how the distribution of genes impacts genealogy, criminology, health, and other areas. The book is a challenge, gathering, organizing, and sharing information beyond popular knowledge.

The author's technique of relating what is easily recognized to advanced science concepts is not wholly satisfactory. The gulf between beginners and those with an advanced scientific background is too deep to reconcile.

The book is exciting but demanding, the details not readily absorbed. Without at least two years of college, most of the pages present a challenge. But the challenge is worthwhile for those eager to learn and to become familiar with significant information concerning different specializations.

Terms and acronyms such as aneuploidy, GWAS (genome-wide association studies), and CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) do not make for leisurely reading. But then, that is likely not the author’s intent. Instead, he offers a well-considered opportunity to become more familiar with the concept of mapping humanity.


The Beginning or The End: How Hollywood Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Soon after atomic bombs exploded over Japan, thereby ending World War Two in 1945, America entered the atomic age. Like most fascinations in popular culture, the movie industry was ready to capitalize on it. MGM set out to produce a big-budget dramatization of the Manhattan Project, as did Paramount Pictures. What followed was a power struggle between the chief symbols of power in 1940s America: the ever-expanding post-war federal government and the public's favorite utility, motion pictures.

It was to be Hollywood's most expensive miscalculation and one of humanity's most tragic experiments. With careful research, important names, and colorful events, this book covers a fantastic forgotten chapter in American entertainment.

Greg Mitchell's writing is nuanced and breezy. The book's visuals are compelling and revealing. The defining conflict is presented with haunting clarity. Many of the long-deceased characters are presented as detailed and fully formed human beings.Perhaps the greatest honor that can be given to this book is that it is a nonfiction book that places you so deep in the action, that you forget it is a tale of the past. It all feels so real and so current.

This book is a literary experience that any fan of American history should undertake with great speed, an experience that I didn’t want to end.


Under Pressure: Living Life and Avoiding Death on a Nuclear Submarine

Being extremely claustrophobic, I have often wondered how others overcome the dread of enclosed spaces, which is why I selected this book for review. Enduring confinement within a metal-encased, cigar-shaped submarine further embedded within the bowels of the sea is a nightmarish sensation for some, yet Richard Humphreys aptly describes his recollections of his years in the submarine service during the 1980s.

As part of the crew on a nuclear submarine armed with ballistic missiles, the young submariner learned the operation of the extremely compact and complex vessel. Along with details about the ship's mechanics, he describes the mental and physical challenges faced due to being isolated in confined areas devoid of natural light, where the oxygen concentration is electrically regulated, water desalinated and rationed, carbon dioxide carefully controlled, and waste accumulated until the stench becomes overwhelming. Add to that the awareness that any mishap is likely to prove fatal. Mentally, each crew member must learn how to gain emotional control, and this last feat led to the young, cocky adventurer turning to books and pursuing his more adult vocation as a bookseller.

Although there is much repetition, the details he describes of life during secret Cold War submarine maneuvers are revelatory and the reader can observe the slow maturation of this youth during his training period. The writing is straightforward, the text is filled with information about submarines, and the book provides insights into the frustrations and challenges that face servicemen.


Soul Riders: Jorvik Calling

Lisa relocates to Jorvik City with her dad when he gets a job transfer.  She is heartbroken because her mom died in a horse-riding accident.  Lisa used to love horses—they were her whole world.  Now, she can’t stand to be near them. Fate intervenes when she meets Alex and her horse, Tin-Can.  That meeting leads to Lisa going to the stables, becoming reacquainted with horses, and eventually making new friends. A meeting with Starshine, the horse from her dreams, changes her life forever. Lisa realizes her bond with Starshine gives her magical powers. Along with her other Soul Rider friends and their horses, Lisa goes on a quest to reclaim Starshine from the powers of evil.

I liked the overall storyline of this book, but I feel like it could have been expanded in a better way. In my opinion, there was a bit too much character development and not enough action or adventure to the story.  Their quest is limited to approximately the last thirty pages of the book. I understand there is a sequel to this story, but I feel the first book could have been better paced.


A Door Between Us

The wedding of Sarah and Ali is a joining of two hearts and two families; it should be a joyous occasion, but the families are feuding and the unrest in Iran 2009 keeps the couple apart just as they are beginning their lives together. Their story is at the heart of Ehsaneh Sadr’s beautiful novel A Door Between Us. As Sarah and Ali are separated, the backstories of their two families begin to take shape. Sarah’s cousin Sadegh, a loyal government supporter is as direct odds with Ali’s sister Azar, a lawyer whose loyalties lie more to the truth and the people than to the cover-ups and lies of the Iranian estate. The split loyalties to the Iranian regime aren’t the only secrets and intrigues of these two families. Sadegh, the adopted son of matriarch Mrs. Mehri, is also torn between loyalty to the family he has always known the birth mother and sister, Mrs. Tabibian and Leila, who enter his life just as the political situation in Iran becomes even more complicated. And, connecting these two families is the terrifying General Heydari, a man who will stop at nothing to get what he wants.

A Door Between Us is an intriguing and detailed read that explores the culture and a pivotal political moment with which many Americans are not familiar. The book tells a tale of truth, family, and justice with a beautiful love story at its heart.


Flying Free: My Victory Over Fear to Become the First Latina Pilot on the US Aerobatic Team

The poet Mary Oliver once asked, “are you breathing just a little, and calling it a life?”

Cecilia Aragon’s memoir, Flying Free, is a story that begins with such a life. The daughter of a Chilean father and a Filipina mother, Cecilia is taunted and bullied throughout her childhood in a small Indiana town during the 1960s. Her teachers dismiss her because of her ethnicity, even though she excels academically and shows a strong aptitude for math. Not surprisingly, Cecilia grows into an insecure and frightened young woman. She is afraid of heights and can barely ride an elevator, and by her mid-twenties, has dropped out of her Ph.D. program for fear of not being good enough. Until she discovers how to fly.

Flying Free reads like a true underdog story in the little-known and dangerous sport of aerobatic flying. From her first flying lessons, to purchasing a plane and performing at air shows, flying becomes like breathing to Cecilia. Her ability to overcome her fears is inspiring as she struggles with finances, her marriage, self-doubt, and being one of the few female pilots—and only Latinx pilot—to attain a place on the US Aerobatic Team. Her story is an inspiration for all of us to take that full breath of life.


A Field Guide to Getting Lost

Ten-year-old Sutton is a nerd who loves working with her bot. Her parents are divorced, and Sutton lives with her musician dad, Martin. Her mother has an apartment in the same building, but she spends most of her time in Antarctica studying penguins. Luis, who lost his father to cancer when he was two, lives with his mother, Elizabeth. He’s creative and suffers from severe allergies. Sutton and Luis meet when Martin and Elizabeth are seriously dating and clearly thinking about a future together. Sutton and Luis couldn’t be more different from each other, but how they find ways to appreciate and respect their differences and ways to work together is a great story.

Joy McCullough tells this wonderful story in first-person, alternating chapters between Sutton and Luis. This is no easy task, but McCullough handles it deftly with pitch-perfect middle-grade voices of these two very different children. This is a story so many kids will relate to — having to meet and get along with step-siblings and step-parents — and is a welcome addition to any library or classroom. Strong writing, well-rounded, credible characters, and a compelling story add up to a winner of a book.


Dead West: A Novel

Beverly Mayer asks Nils Shapiro of Stone Arch Investigations to find out if her grandson, Ebben Mayer, is throwing away his inheritance from his father on a questionable show-business venture. This seemingly simple task takes Minnesotan Nils to Los Angeles. There, he attends the funeral of Juliana Marquez, Ebben’s fiancée, and quickly learns that Ebben is indeed investing in the movie business, just as Beverly feared.

His task accomplished, Nils is free to return to Minnesota…except for his gut feeling that Juliana was murdered. His investigation obliges Nils, a film-industry innocent, to sort his way through the glamor, the snobbery, and the skullduggery of Hollywood’s screenwriters, producers, and agents, several of whom find their way onto his list of suspects. With the help of a six-foot, seven-inch former football player, Nils follows a money trail to the murderer, relying occasionally on hunches but mostly on clever detecting.

The story’s ending is the least satisfying part of the book, but the witty dialogue and the lively descriptions of the locations, action, and characters along the way more than compensate for it and make Dead West>/em> a highly enjoyable read.


The Oddmire, Book 2: The Unready Queen

The Unready Queen is an amazing book about a group of friends trying to protect the Wild Wood. It is the second book in a series, and although I haven't read the first book, I really enjoyed this one. Fable is the daughter of Reina, the Queen of the Deep Dark. Her mother wants her to prepare for life as a queen, but she would rather spend time with her friends in the human town of Endsborough. Her friends, the human and goblin brothers Cole and Tinn, are trying to return to their normal lives. However, a newcomer disturbs the peace between the people of Endsborough and the creatures of the Wild Wood. The friends must stop the fighting before it becomes an all-out war. One of my favorite things about this book was that it seemed to be set in the 1800s, but it is also a fantasy story, with many mythical creatures. It was a fun read that made me laugh, and also kept my interest. I would recommend this book to kids in middle school, and to kids who like fantasy stories.


Escaping Dreamland: A Novel

A compelling story that jumps the gap between generations. After many happy months with his girlfriend and recent success with his debut book, Robert Parrish’s life takes an unexpected turn. This turn leaves his relationship on thin ice and reaching into the past to fulfill a childhood promise. This promise takes him on a journey through the history of the twelve books that changed his life. In turn, his odyssey takes him back to 1906 Manhattan, but every discovery leads to more questions. Robert’s quest is intertwined with the stories of three young people trying to define and create their own place in the world at the start of a new century. The parallelity between their journies creates a story that is crafted with expertise and an ode to children’s series books.

The back and forth nature of the book allows the reader to put the pieces in the puzzle themselves and solve the mystery along with Robert. It also allows the audience to relate the three young authors to the young Robert Parrish. Throughout the novel, the audience can see Robert blossoming and getting out of the shell that he had put himself in because of his past. Robert is able to break free and face his past and conquer it. I highly recommend this book as it is good-natured and can be enjoyable for many.


Searching for Family and Traditions at the French Table, Book Two (Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Normandy, Brittany, Loire, Auvergne)

Inspired to learn more about French cooking and traditions, Carole's friend Josiane agrees to be her tour guide as they try to uncover French home cooking secrets and recipes. They are both inspired by the tales told by Josiane's mother, Marcelle, of growing up in Brittany. With a sense of adventure and the hope of uncovering more of Marcelle's family history, they travel through Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Normandy, Brittany, Loire, and Auvergne. Along the way, they stay in farmhouses, hotels, and family-owned Chateaux where Carole, welding her trusty notepad and recorder, is keen to investigate the lifestyle and history of those they encounter as well as indulge in the region's cuisine.

There are some wonderful descriptions throughout about food, markets, and local celebrations. Plus, readers will be happy to know that some of the recipes mentioned and collected along the journey are included at the end of the book. This warm and inviting memoir will appeal to food lovers and history buffs alike. The two women examine how it was to live during a time of war, especially the Second World War, and how families managed to keep traditions alive even during tough times. As this book points out, family traditions help keep French home cooking entwined in everyday life.


Slowing Down to Run Faster: A Sense-able Approach to Movement

Slowing Down to Run Faster: Sense-able Approach to Movement is a part self-help guide to life and part lessons about the act of running. Too many people around the world run to get to the next activity or beat their bodies down because of daily stress, but Edward Yu tells us, through science and experience, that this is not necessary. While running fast is what every runner strives to do on the running course, when you are running through life, slowing down can get you places much quicker than speeding through. Yu breaks his book up into three sections, about life, practical matters, and more of life; then lessons at the end to help those who have picked up this book to learn about the physical aspect of running.

Yu packs a lot of helpful information in his book. I like how the text doesn't just pertain to physical running (which is still informative), but it includes mental aspects of our run through life, such as dealing with anxiety and fear; I believe that both coincide and are needed to be together. Readers who enjoy self-help and actual running will enjoy this book.


The Socrates Express: In Search of Life Lessons from Dead Philosophers

There are so many reasons to love this book; the author takes us along on his train travels; he speaks to us simply about complicated life issues; he introduces us to philosophical thinkers without being pedantic, and he unwinds the academic pomposity that often surrounds introductions to philosophy. This is a delightful book. The chapter headings alone are a worthwhile read, including “How to Get Out of Bed like Marcus Aurelius” and “How to Have No Regrets like Nietzsche.” Also, the author has a great way of discovering along with us new insights about philosophical thought.

The only discordant note was in Chapter Six when the setting suddenly jumps from a train from a Portland-bound train leaving Chicago to Athens. That being said, most of the travel and settings add depth and interest to the narrative. The rest of the book is remarkably balanced and even. We learn interesting and peculiar things about the chapter subjects, not just the honorifics. If you are planning summer travel or a staycation, this book will take you places intellectually and humorously.


Up All Night: Ted Turner, CNN, and the Birth of 24-Hour News

In the space race which morphed into the Information Age, a quiet war raged over the flow of news that ultimately reached TV screens. If not for Lisa Napoli's fantastic sense of humor and remarkable skills as a writer, this peek into high-tech history might be a yawner for the average reader; or worse, a story only industry insiders could appreciate. Graciously, Napoli rescued this documentary of the wrecking-ball fashion in which Ted Turner and company forever shifted the spoon-feeding that the Mega Media doled out in continuous, flowing, fire-hose style reporting.

Napoli writes from an insider's perspective as a teenage intern at CNN's New York bureau. Since then her career as a journalist bloomed with experience at The New York Times, Marketplace, MSNBC, and KCRW. She has also written two other books: Radio Shangri-La and Ray and Joan: The Man Who Made the McDonald's Fortune and the Woman Who Gave It All Away. Napoli, displaying a rare genius by capsulizing human interest stories with the dramatic event of a little girl falling into a well, invoked sweeping changes in reporting that evolved over half a century. Whether you are old enough to recall the antics of America's Cup defender, Captain Outrageous a.k.a. Ted Turner, or grew up with a phone in your hand, you will laugh out loud at the comedy of errors that got us hooked on the news.


Humankind: A Hopeful History

The Danish author and internationally renowned historian, Rutger Bergman, reverses some of his own previously held beliefs in his latest contribution to the pool of knowledge. In what is sure to be a best-seller, Bergman makes himself vulnerable to a host of naysayers as he boldly proclaims that, contrary to popular consensus, most people are basically good and trustworthy--even our worst enemies.

Pitting the work of Hobbs against that of Rousseau, Bergman theorizes that if only we gave strangers the benefit of the doubt instead of robbing us blind, we might discover new friendships or at the very least better relationships. Some will quickly point out that one of the by-products of Rousseau's work was the French Revolution and the bloody aftermath of the Reign of Terror that stained the streets of Paris red. Lest we forgot the lessons of history and end up echoing them afresh, let the reader be forewarned that Bergman is not advocating we all drop our weapons, join hands and sing "Kum-by-ya", but almost. If we are to take seriously his proposals, workers don't really need managers, students don't really need conventional schools, and governments could do without politicians.

If the author were some crackpot the entirety of Bergman's theory would be dismissed by the whole publishing industry. It would have never made its' way into print or electronic media. But here is the author of the best seller Utopia For Realists, a book translated into thirty-two languages, advising us that we will be happier, more productive, and better citizens of the planet if we learn to trust one another enough to treat each other as humans and that our inhumanity is based on a false perception. It is the kind of book you hope someone else will read before they judge you for some embarrassing trace left floating in the ether of social media.


People of the Canyons

Kathleen O'Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear

People of the Canyons is number twenty-six (!) in the Gears' sweeping forays into North America's epic deep past. Canyons visits the American Southwest, whose tribes dwell amidst cave and canyon. As always, the trademark spirituality of the series shines through.

Blessed Sun Leather Hand- a Powerful witch cursed by an even more Powerful shaman- is approaching the end of his long life. If he cannot break the curse, he will not be able to Travel to his Ancestors once he dies. Leather Hand forces and coerces two Powerful people- Tocho and Maicoh- to seek out an artifact charged with the energy of the one who cursed him in order to break it.

I love this series! The Gears' are both archaeologists, and their love and respect for the cultures they bring to vibrant life show in the attention to detail. The continuity of ancestral memory and the blurred lines between the mundane world and the spiritual world tugs this poet's heart, this philosopher's soul.

Highly recommended, especially if you enjoy historical fiction, speculative fiction, or enjoy archaeology, anthropology, or philosophy.


What I Like About You

Halle never has the right words to say. Kels, her online persona, is a popular book blogger who pairs cupcakes with books. Halle has trouble making friends; Kels has supportive online friends, but none more than Nash. When she moves in with her grandfather to stay in one place for senior year, she ends up in the same high school as Nash. She knows, as Halle, she cannot compete with cool, collected Kels, so she hides her identity, until she finds out that she will be presenting on a panel with other book bloggers and cannot stay hidden. Just as she is prepared to tell Nash who she is, especially as he has given up on Kels and started liking Halle, Nash figures it out. How will she ever make it up to him and put their relationship back together?

Halle needs a boost of confidence, which grows throughout the book, but some readers may find her annoying, especially as the author really doesn’t provide a good reason for this. Even still, it is a cute romantic story, featuring good friends and bookish notes. Her Jewish background helps build the relationship with her family and with Nash, which provides a hint of diversity to the story.


Runaway Blues

Runaway Blues is a beautiful book that deals with a difficult subject, Alzheimer's. We follow Caleb and his grandfather (referred to as Papa) on their journey to Arkansas. Caleb lives in Virginia with his mom and visits Papa often in a nursing home.

When we first meet Papa we learn that he loves to play blues, rather grumpy, and suffers from memory loss. Caleb is rather shy, has a strict mom, and would like to learn guitar. One day Papa won’t stop talking about an old family heirloom, Robert Johnson’s harmonica. Johnson was a blues player and taught someone in the family music. It was then passed down, but a different part of the family has it. Papa has a wicked idea and plans to escape with Caleb wanting to find it. They wind up catching a bus to Arkansas. Their journey is full of adventure and sometimes danger, they end up in new places, panhandle, and discovering amazing things.

I enjoyed reading this book, the creative characters, and a large amount of musical influence. The novel was sad at times when Papa forgets Caleb for a few minutes due to his memory loss. Otherwise, it was an exciting, richly embellished story that made a beautiful connection between family and music. I would recommend this novel to kids who love music and who are eleven and older.


Along Came a Soldier

In early nineteenth century Cornwall, two young people find themselves in love. Charity Perrow and Jethro Ennor could be the protagonists of any historical romance were it not for one thing: Jethro’s father is suspected of having killed Charity’s mother years ago. Despite this, Charity still finds herself drawn to the young man she meets in the forest, even after she learns his name. It would be easy to turn this story into a standard rehash of Romeo and Juliet, but Brenda Davies goes a step further by including a killer lurking in the background. Even as Charity and Jethro find themselves drawn closer together, someone is out in the nearby woods, killing villagers one by one. Together with the town bonesetter, Charity and Jethro must unmask the killer before it is too late.

On the whole, the book was fascinating. It struck an excellent balance between romance and suspense, and the central trio of Charity, Jethro, and Henry were very well portrayed. Charity has an excellent combination of sweetness and fierceness. Jethro, our tortured hero, has a shadowy backstory that is spun out with precision. Henry is a mysterious young man who toes a fine line between terrifying and sympathetic. The secondary characters all had their own defining characteristics, though they didn’t have quite as much depth. I thought some of them could have benefited from a little more subtlety in their characterization, but not one was forgettable.

The plot is likewise a mixed bag. While I enjoyed the way the separate plotlines of love and murder gradually drew together rather than being entangled right from the start, it was occasionally difficult to tell what was going on. What exactly was the supposed accident that killed Charity’s mother? What is Henry’s connection to the town? Over time, those questions are answered, but I would have preferred the answers to come a little sooner, and some of my questions partway through remained unanswered even at the end. It wasn’t quite frustrating, but it did mar my enjoyment of the book.

Overall, Along Came a Soldier was an enjoyable read. It did have its downfalls, but for those who love historical suspense with a strong element of romance, it will be a worthwhile read. I’m certainly glad I came across it, and I’m curious to see what Brenda Davies will write next.


Daddy's Fishing Buddy

Melondy Roberson and James Ural, with illustrations by Ambadi Kumar

It’s time for James to wake up and go fishing with his Daddy. James is so excited as he helps his Dad pack all the gear for their special day together. When James gets to the tackle box he finds slimy stinky worms inside and decides to be helpful and dump them out. Will James’ helpfulness ruin the trip or will he learn the patience and love of his father after his mistake?

The writing in this book is very well done. I love the whimsical heartfelt story of a son and father going fishing. I also appreciated the author’s solution to the problem of the bait being allowed to crawl away to freedom.

The illustrations in this book were well done for the most part. The background was great, and the son’s facial expressions were well done. I noticed the father never changes his expressions. He had the same smiling face on every single- page. This was a turn off for me because it doesn’t show me quality artwork making the character relatable. For me if the father’s expression were changed this would be a four-star book.

My three-year-old wanted to read this book over and over. She liked the story and colorful illustrations.


The Road to Gesualdo

Leonora d’Este is preparing to marry Prince Carlo Gesualdo, but it is not entirely the happy occasion it might be. Her lady-in-waiting, Livia Prevera, is worried for her mistress because of rumors spreading about the prince. People say he murdered his first wife. People say she was a witch. People say he is mad, or perhaps cursed. Leonora has no choice, however. Until she has a husband, she belongs to her family, and her brother has decided she will marry the prince.

Even though Leonora’s marriage is what launches the plot, the book is not just her story. In fact, most of it is told through the eyes of Livia or Livia’s would-be lover, Pietro Paci, and the story of their shattered romance has just as much focus as the story of Leonora’s marriage and her growing worry about her husband.

Even that is not the whole story. The book features murder, deceit, popes (well, one pope), and witchcraft: in short, everything you could ask for in sixteenth-century Italy. I was swept up in the action and intrigue, fascinated by each storyline and in love with the setting. Rummel is widely traveled and has taught history at two universities, all of which informs the rich detail she provides. Italy of ages past comes to life in her hands, showing just how strange and fascinating its culture was.

The only complaints I have about the book are that it sometimes took me a while to catch up to the action when the narrative switched points of view and that at times the descriptions made it feel like a costume drama, with so much attention paid to making sure readers can see everything about the characters that we miss out on what they’re doing. I could always follow the story, but at times, it seemed drab compared to the various folk beliefs presented.

On the whole, though, I enjoyed the book. The Road to Gesualdo is at times too understated, but at its best, it is subtle and real. The characters never descend into operatic melodrama; the stakes are real enough without that. This is a wonderful example of historical fiction, and I would love to find more books like it.


The Llamacorn Cookbook

This fun and colorful cookbook will have you feeling like you’re in Candyland! With beautiful illustrations of deliciously sweet confections on each page, you’ll want to give all of your favorites a try. What I liked most about these recipes was that they were fairly easy to make. There wasn’t a crazy number of steps to follow. I also really liked the author’s tips on things like how to make your own self-rising flour. Another nice feature of this book is that even though most people will buy it simply for the sweets and the fun illustrations, it also has savory and salty recipes to try. I especially loved the bitsy bacon and cheese rolls (the winner amongst the kids!) and the rainbow cupcakes (because doesn’t rainbow always taste better than plain?). I can’t wait to try more recipes out of this book. I recommend this cookbook to anyone who has small children and/or has birthday parties to either throw or attend. Your baked goods will be the talk of the party! Cute and fun!


The Lincoln Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill America's 16th President and Why It Failed

The Presidential election of 1860 was fraught with uncertainty for the direction of the United States. The polarizing issue of slavery, whether it would expand or be abolished loomed. The violence contained with the arguments played out even on the Congressional floor. The Republican party nominated Abraham Lincoln to challenge the Democratic party. Lincoln would run against Senator Stephen Douglas, a worthy adversary whom Lincoln ran against for a Senate seat in 1858. Lincoln’s upset win set in motion a chain of events where the South began secession from the Union. As the months elapsed to Lincoln’s inauguration, some unsettled Southerners hatched plans to insure Lincoln would never sit in the White House. Men of a secret order clung tight to the institution of slavery and would kill to defend it. The plot would need to be defeated, and an intrepid investigator named Pinkerton with an eclectic group of investigators would shield Lincoln from mortal peril in 1861.

The Lincoln Conspiracy springs forth with lightning-quick speed. The life of Abraham Lincoln has been exhaustively chronicled, yet this early plot has mostly been a mere footnote. Authors Meltzer and Mensch bring the compelling past for a wide audience to view and be intrigued by the real-life heroes and villains. This is a must-read, a worthy addition to the Lincoln and Civil War library.


Miss Austen: A Novel

In Miss Austen: A Novel we experience the life of Cassandra Austen as imagined by Gil Hornby. Cass is unconditionally devoted to her family and, most importantly, to her sister, Jane Austen. Cass and Jane have an unbreakable bond that spans their lifetimes, even after the passing of one sister.

Miss Austen: A Novel leads us through Cass’s quest to forever protect the legacy of her sister. Hornby transitions us from 1840, when Cass is seeking out her sister’s letters in order to hide any controversy they may contain, to her earlier life and experiences that the letters reference. Hornby’s imagined story of Cassandra Austen is a powerful representation of loyalty.

After reading Miss Austen: A Novel I was left wanting to read more about the Austen family. Although this book is a work of fiction, it is very much intertwined with what is known about the life of Jane Austen. Hornby portrays Cass as having so much affection toward her sister and her work that the reader is left loving Jane Austen's novels even if they have not read them yet.

From beginning to end, I was charmed by Cassandra Austen. This is a wonderful and heartwarming story that will allow your imagination to fill in the gaps in Jane Austen’s life with intriguing detail. However, I would caution readers to remember it is a work of fiction.


Poems to See By: A Comic Artist Interprets Great Poetry

These poems are illustrated as if they were comic strips. One artist illustrates the whole book, but he uses different styles for each poem. The poems are written in the frames, just like comic strips, but can be hard to read, so they are also printed normally after each comic strip. Illustrating poems seems like a really good idea, but other people may imagine different characters and scenes. All the different drawing styles are interesting, but the drawings don’t always fit the poems. Maybe some poems don’t make pictures. I didn’t like all the pictures—some are really annoying and cartoony (and I love cartoons!). I didn’t like all the poems, either. My favorite is the last poem, “Concientious Objector” by Edna St. Vincent Millay. All the military men are drawn as skeletons, and that is very creepy. I think this book is probably best for kids older than I am. These poems are maybe more interesting for older people—maybe grown-ups. Some of the cartoon interpretations are about how boring and dull grown-up life is, and I’m not worried about that yet!


How to Bee

In this book, Peony lives with her grandfather and her sister Magpie. Her dream is to become a bee. There are no more bees at the farm, so humans have to do the pollinating. Her mother lives in the city. She thinks it would be a really good idea to take Peony with her to make more money. She tries to take them against their will multiple times and finally manages to grab them. Peony is stuck at the Pasquales mansion as a maid. Her friend Ez and her come up with a plan to help her escape. Will they succeed? Read this book to find out. My favorite characters are Peony and her best friend AJ. I like them because of how loyal they are to each other. Even when Peony is upset about not being a bee, she tries to hide that so AJ will not be upset. AJ and Peony would do anything to help each other. This friendship is really a friendship I want to be part of. I think ages nine to twelve would enjoy this book. I would definitely recommend this book because it kept me entertained every minute I was reading it.


It Sounded Better in My Head

Natalie finds out, on Christmas Day, no less, that her parents decided ten months ago that they are separating. While it is a friendly divorce, Natalie can’t help but feel hurt and forgotten. This is on top of the fact that her two best friends, Zach and Lucy, have decided they are a couple, making Natalie the third wheel. Growing up with extreme acne has dropped her self-esteem so she has zero confidence in herself when she and Alex, Zach’s brother, start dating. There is so much to dating that involves exposing the real self, but there is so much to Natalie that she would prefer to keep hidden, even as she begins to trust Alex. However, friends and ex-girlfriends and parents complicate things, as if a low body image and self-hatred wasn’t enough.

Natalie is an original character, dealing with extreme acne coupled with introversion, whose internal monologues and astute observations makes the debilitating experience, both physically and emotionally, real. Her frank conversations with Alex about sex and her body are refreshingly honest, bypassing the usual lack of communication that leads to typical stories of angst. Set in Australia during their summer season, this not-so-light-hearted romance will pull on the heartstrings.


The Inner Child: A Book for Kids About What It's Like to Be an Adult

The Inner Child is a page-turner about adults and how they release their inner child. With each word I realized the story's truth, and I couldn't help but fall deeper into the story. The moral was the best part; I loved how they described how each thing an adult did released their inner child. Instead of straight harsh lines, the drawings are very blobby and colorful. This is one of the many things I like about the book. It should be read by all ages. It has a funny family feeling to it. The Inner Child is an awesome, fun read-aloud book as well. This book would make a great series because kids have an inner adult, and cats have inner dogs. This book is great for anytime like when you're relaxing, reading in school, or even traveling. If you like to read funny books, then this book is for you.


The Dubrow Keto Fusion Diet

There’s an earlier book by this husband and wife team, The Dubrow Diet: Interval Eating to Lose Weight and Feel Ageless. They have a line of products that are derivative of that work, which get some promotion in this one.

They mention a motivating revelation from Google that their diet concept was scoring behind only Keto diets for classes of sales on Amazon. Here, they have attempted a fusion of ketogenic dieting and their own interval/intermittent fasting. The good Dr. does eat some low-carb crow regarding his earlier put-downs of ketogenic methodologies; admirably, he consumes the entire bird. But he reneges repeatedly, pointing out how difficult ketogenic regimens are, how they involve ingesting spoonfuls of oil, etc.

There is a bald statement that fasting is many times more efficacious in attaining a ketotic state than simple carbohydrate restriction. So what is offered appears to be something very like the induction Atkins diet, though with more focus on good fats, and a schedule of eating and fasting that purports to facilitate entering ketosis sufficiently for rapid weight loss and other benefits.

The recipes read like a Beverley Hills high-end market…tempting. They are presented for four persons. Exercise plans and some mindfulness advice are also offered. The exposition is chatty and short on references. It's an easy read.


The Plastic Problem: 60 Small Ways to Reduce Waste and Save the Earth

The Plastic Problem tackles a very important problem; what plastic is doing to the planet and how to help. This book introduces the concept of microplastics and explains the different kinds of plastics. It is colorful and explains all sorts of good concepts. It has good tips on how to make a household environment-friendly. However, it is a list-like book. It is a LIST of ways you can help the environment and reduce plastic. It is not well written but has good content. It is dry and boring. If you want a reference it is okay, but it is NOT a book for a family to buy. It might be okay for a library, but it is WAY too dry for home use. It is written like notes and it is not fluid. The graphic design of the book is fun. The illustrations have personality and are cute. I like the colors and style of this book’s illustrations. It seems homier and is less glossy then most books. I like the fact that the illustrations are all over, and I like how it is short and sweet. This is a good library book, but it is not great for the home.


The Living Presidency: An Originalist Argument Against Its Ever-Expanding Powers

Many conservative lawyers have been writing about the expansion of federal powers, and the role of the presidency and how it has changed, especially post-1933. This book follows that similar path and tries to provide responses and ways to constrain those powers back to more of an original reading of the Constitution. Professor Prakash’s best part of the book is when he is examining how the powers of the President have expanded over the decades, while those of Congress has seemed to regress, and the courts playing a larger role than envisioned. He kind of cherry-picks from the Framers, focusing those that more agree with his arguments. Though at times he ignores when people like Thomas Jefferson expand their powers, even though they might have written against the expansion of powers. Mr. Prakash believes that we are living in a very monarchical style presidency and that unless things change, the President will become more and more powerful. His solutions are doubtful about if and how they will work. Often they read like solutions that were put forth years ago by every President since Reagan. His heart might be in the right place, but his solutions are not.


When You Look Up

Little Lorenzo seems lost as he moves to a new house while clutching his cell phone as his link to the past. Argentine cartoonist, Decur, captures the desolation that children feel when separated from their homes. Fortunately, forlorn and bug-eyed Lorenzo discovers a hidden notebook in a huge old desk in his new room.

The drawings and stories in this notebook transport him into a dreamlike environment where he wanders and wonders. The surrealistic scenes are dramatically caricatured in intense color on craft paper, with bizarre chimeric figures representing the characters. The various stories that Lorenzo hungrily consumes so totally absorb him that he makes a parallel notebook of his own. Later, he discovers that the original journal was authored by a senior living in a retirement home and that it related events from his life. Lorenzo shyly gives his own version of this history to the original author.

This colorfully illustrated story attempts to capture the sorrowful state of a transplanted child who dreams of finding a companionable dog, or of saving a beautiful girl whom he can love, along with other fantastic scenes that befuddle the mind in times of distress. The vibrant colors capture the eye, while the reader roots for this strange, lonely, little boy. Young readers might dare to enter this mystical world with Lorenzo and share some of their fantastical dreams.


The Little Book of Living Small

“After years of a ‘bigger is better’ mentality toward homes, people are realizing that extra square footage does not equal greater happiness.” This line from the introduction of this fine book really sets the stage for what is to come and exposes the mindset of author Laura Fenton. The rich introduction includes a definition of what it means to live small, reasons to do it, and small space commandments. This is followed by twelve case studies — the smallest is 312 square feet and the largest is 1200 square feet —  with gorgeous photographs by Weston Wells and excellent notes by Fenton that fully illustrate how small space living doesn’t have to mean denying oneself beauty and luxury. Most of the case studies are in or near New York City, but several are other places. Beyond the case studies is a "Solutions" section that has answers to many questions of how to maximize spaces for different needs and how to downsize and declutter. Resources and further readings finish things off. The writing is fun and not the least bit didactic. For anyone considering small space living, this is a great place to start for ideas and information.


Sparrow: A novel

Sparrow has a promising life ahead of her as a ballerina, but that changes when she starts going out with Tristan King. Her friends worry about her. They know something’s wrong, but they don’t know how to help before it’s too late. After being assaulted by her boyfriend, Sparrow has to find a way to piece herself back together and face what happened, not only with Tristan, but with her mother as well.

At first I really got into Sparrow, but before long I started to get bored. It picked up some in the third part of the book. The characters are flat, and I didn’t care what happened to them in the end which, for this kind of story, made it loose some of its meaning. Sparrow’s abusive relationship was well done in how she reacts and feels. The pace is very fast. The narrative skips months at a time and events are told much later in the book from another point-of-view. Sparrow’s mother was abusive as well, but I was left wondering what she had to do with the story till the end and why characters in the story seemed to know except for me.


What is the Grass: Walt Whitman in My Life

In 1856, Walt Whitman asked, “We understand then, do we not?” in his poem "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry." In his latest book, What is the Grass, celebrated poet Mark Doty expands on that understanding in his own life. Part memoir, part celebration, and part poetic study, this new book is a revelation for fans of Whitman and Doty alike.

Separated into five sections, which Doty labels “Sources,” the book moves through Whitman’s poetic style and his personal entanglements (romantic and professional), and it didactically deconstructs the masterworks and lesser-known poems of the great Walt Whitman. A clear inspiration to Doty, the book documents the relationship he feels with Whitman on the poetic and personal levels—a distinction that is nearly imperceptible as one is part of the other. As gay men, Whitman and Doty both navigated worlds that attempted to close them in. But their art and will and pure need to live authentically rendered them free. Doty draws the lines of that freedom with clarity and grace in What is the Grass.

As a teacher who has taught Whitman for nearly twenty years, and as a poet who loves both him and Doty, this book is a pure joy. But even those who have not read either writer can find something of themselves in Doty’s latest. It articulates the understanding we all share, the clear and direct connection between each of us that Whitman lived and breathed, and of which Doty now reminds us.


The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power

The Address Book includes references to history and the present day to help us to understand the reasoning behind street names. Deidre Mask researches this topic through locations around the world to explain the power that a proper street address will provide to people. Based on historical events, a "legal" street address (one that is observed by the government) will allow a person many privileges that a person living in the slums will not receive. Mask breaks the book down into the categories of development, origins, politics, race, and class and status. Under each heading, the author explores the topic through a different city around the world.

The information that Mask presents is informative and worthwhile. If you have any interest in history throughout the years, you will enjoy this book. For many people, merely reading a street sign may come across as a simple task that should receive no further attention. But when you read about the suffering, turmoil, and all-around discomfort that street names have caused an unknown amount of people, the act of reading a street sign might become more significant. Whether you're in the business of buying, selling, or researching homes, understanding the origins of street names will be of tremendous help.


Megabat Is a Fraidybat: Megabat #3

Anna Humphrey, with illustrations by Kass Reich

Megabat has a best friend that is a human, Daniel! Megabat and Daniel are off to camp for the summer. Everyone thinks camp will be fun but Daniel. Megabat slips away in Daniel's pocket, and on the bus to camp they make a new human friend who just happens to like the exact same comic book as they do. After they get to camp, Megabat meets a new bat friend! Maybe camp won't be so bad after all, even if the woods are scary! Megabat is ready for all the adventures that summer camp holds and tries to encourage Daniel to join in on the fun. Daniel just might be able to tell the bus driver ten fun things he did during camp.

This book has funny black-and-white illustrations that show how zany Megabat can be! I really enjoy the story, however it is hard to read the text when Megabat speaks because he talks in a very weird way, and sometimes says words or sentences out of order which can make it very confusing. I look forward to see what other adventure Megabat and his new friends go on in the series!


Otaku

Ditchtown. A city of skyscrapers, built atop the drowned bones of old Miami. A prison of steel, filled with unbelievers. A dumping ground for strays, runaways, and malcontents. Within these towering monoliths, Ashley Akachi is a young woman trying her best to cope with a brother who is slipping away, a mother who is already gone, and angry young men who want her put in her place.

Ditchtown, however, is not the only world Ash inhabits. Within the Infinite Game, a virtual world requiring physical perfection, Ash is Ashura the Terrible, leader of the SunJewel Warriors, loved, feared, and watched by millions across the globe. But Ash is about to stumble on a deadly conspiracy that will set her worlds crashing together, and in the real world, you only die once.

Right from the start, I fell in love with the world building in Otaku, from the washed out Miami, where the sea levels are always rising, with whatever land remaining being split into spaces for the rich and the poor, to the ever-present technology, especially with regard to the Infinite Game. Even the action scenes within Otaku were wonderful, tying in nicely with the pacing of the story. However, the one thing I couldn't help but dislike was how some characters felt as if they were a little… flat, due in part to the lack of character development throughout.


My Panda Sweater

Gilles Baum, with illustrations by Barroux

This book is about sharing clothes and being kind to others. The little girl's panda sweater doesn't fit her anymore, so her Mom tells her she should give it to someone who needs it. Another little girl in her school ends up with the panda sweater. The little girl makes a new friend. It's funny that the girl wears her favorite panda sweater in the summer. The little panda hood is so cute. I liked how she doesn’t mind when other kids laugh at her. The little girl wonders about things a lot. She wonders about other people's stories. The little girl's new friend who wears the panda sweater is cute. I think this is a nice book. At the back of the book, it tells you you can donate clothes or toys that you don't use anymore. I think it is nice to reuse clothes and toys because it helps our planet and it helps other people who can't buy clothes or toys. I recommend this book to people who like sharing, and I also recommend it to people who like pandas.


What a Masterpiece!

What a Masterpiece! is about the title: it's a book filled with masterpieces from artists in the past. The book is a story about a little boy who wakes up in the morning, and it follows him until the end of the story. The whole story has zero words in it. There is one "word" shown in the story, but it isn't a real word, but more like a sound the boy makes when he wakes up. Depending on the person reading the book, or in this case, looking, they will either like the story because they can add their own words to what is happening or not like it because there are no words to read.

I think I am more like the reader who wishes there were words on the pages so that I can know the story better. My mom told me that on each page of the book there is a famous painting made by an artist put in the book. The pictures don't make a lot of sense to me now, but I think that maybe when I get a little older they will. However, I like the colors in the book and how the pictures are fun to see.


The Weaver's Surprise

The story The Weaver’s Surprise is so sweet that we just loved it. There are mice who secretly make a home in a weaver’s beautiful rug. If you want to learn about how weaving is done and about the big looms, you will learn about all that in this book. The story is really long and there are also a lot of pictures.

Kids who have gotten to see weaving done in real life will especially like this story because they will understand how big the looms are and how many strands of yarn it takes to make a big rug or something.

The pictures in this book are really nice. They have lots of detail so you can find lots of things in the pictures. The story is mostly for older kids who can pay attention to the whole book.


Daddy Loves You!

Helen Foster James, with illustrations by Petra Brown

Daddy bunny and little bunny are going on an adventure together. Daddy bunny teaches, protects, and plays with his child. They see ducks and birds. They swing and play games. The daddy shows and tells his child how much he enjoys and loves him.

The writing flowed well. It was beautiful rhythm and rhyme. I loved the fun and active text. It gave a since of love and encouragement for the child. I love that this is a book about dads because so often dads are overlooked in their importance in a child’s life.

The illustrations are breathtaking. I love the beautiful paintings of the bunny, father, and scenery. The landscape gives you a sense of joy and happiness. The whole book reminds me of a perfect day with your child. This would be the perfect gift for Father’s Day or a dad’s birthday.

My three-year-old daughter loved the bunnies eating carrots, the colors of the pictures, and the words. My six-year-old son liked that it is a book about a daddy and child.

This is a perfect story for three- to eight-year-olds.


Where'd My Jo Go?

I really enjoyed this book. The illustrations were really cool and I loved the relationship that Big Al has with his human. He is traveling the road with her and the worst thing that could happen happened, they were separated at a rest stop. Big Al was determined to not let anything get in his way of staying put because he knew that Jo would come back for him. It wouldn't be easy with so many distractions. This is such and fun and joyful book with a little sadness to it. Very well done.


The Heart of a Whale

I like the pictures in this book more than the pictures in pretty much all of the other books I've read. They are so nice. You see the ocean in so many colors and get to see different things the whale might be doing. The story makes you happy.

The Heart of a Whale is a book that everybody should read because everybody will like it. You will want to find more books by the same person who wrote the book and did the pictures because it is very beautiful. All ages of kids from babies to big kids and also adults will really enjoy the book. There are not very many words because the pictures are so nice that the story is simple.

You will be glad you read this book and you will want to read it over and over again.


The art of sharing boards has now been elevated to sophisticated finery. Theo A. Michaels exposes readers to the world of sharing and displaying food for the ultimate visual and social dining experience. He opens the door to a new dining experience while explaining how tapping into the primal human instinct to hunt and gather food allows diners to create new experiences and to try new cuisines.

These boards can be prepared for a romantic picnic for two, an intimate gathering of a few couples, or set along a banquet table for hundreds. No matter what the occasion, the concept behind sharing boards is all the same: beautifully crafted and prepared artisan cuisines, intricately set up for maximum visual appeal and interaction.

Breaking a meal down to a rudimentary concept and building it back up into the elegant, Share: Delicious Boards for Social Dining brings the idea of “edible treasure”  to life.  From the very start of building a board with big items and clusters of foods, and then filling in colors and small items, to arranging meats and cheeses, every avenue is carefully explored.

Broken up into simple chapters such as Brunch, Garden, Picnic, Ocean, Harvest, and Sweets, after reading this book anyone will be able to create a show-stopping, culinary masterpiece.


Traitor

Elivya, the only heir to the House of Lazerin, should have been born a boy. She wants strength, respect, and the right to wield a blade, something girls don’t get. It’s her duty is to go to court and find a husband, but she will do so in her own terms. Elivya spends her childhood roughhousing with the boys, stealing horses to ride as far as she can before getting caught and learning every art of secrecy from her mother, but all of this can only prepare her so much for the impossible task set out before her. One that, if she should fail, means the fall of her house and even her country.

With a strong heroine who learns and grows throughout the story, Traitor has a lot of promise, yet I found myself getting bored as the middle dragged on and on, but there really isn’t much that can be taken out that isn’t important to the plot. The characters have their own voices, even the ones that have minor parts and only show up for a page. If you can get through the boring parts, it really is a good read. There is heavy cussing throughout.


The Nosferatu Conspiracy, Book One: The Sleepwalker is the first book in a new series by author Brian James Gage. Set mostly in Russia’s St. Petersburg, and in the days leading up to the Bolshevik uprising, December of 1916, readers are introduced to a new mythology surrounding the family of Tsar Nicholas II, the last monarch of Russia.

Grigori Rasputin, a self-proclaimed mystic, has arrived in St. Petersburg to offer assistance to the tsar and tsaritsa’s sickly son, Alexei, who suffers from hemophilia. Nicholas II and his wife, Alexandra, trust Rasputin and bring him into their royal inner circle. But Rasputin is planning the rise of something dark and evil. Something foretold in the vampire bible: the Bloodchild.

Fortunately, there are other characters working against Rasputin, some of whom have fought him once before and a few who do not yet understand their role in the grander scheme of things. Felix, Alexei’s godfather, is unwittingly drawn into Rasputin’s gruesome plan after his fiancé is killed under strange circumstances and Felix is accused of her murder. Rurik, a coroner, is working with a telepathic seer and knows that the worst is yet to come. He has been preparing for this battle, and he teams up with Felix to clear his name and save the royal family. But can they prevent the Sleepwalker from awakening the Bloodchild before it is too late?

Gage takes readers on a journey through the cold and beautiful landscape of the Carpathian Mountains, crossing borders into Bucharest, Romania, and even into the magical realm of Vlad Draculea’s haunting citadel. The story is told through a large cast of characters. There are seers as well as vampires, witches and warlocks. Rurik and Felix are our unlikely heroes, humorous and bumbling at first, but also very likable. They are characters who readers want to root for as they fight scary vampires and very large bats.

The book also includes several different sources that run parallel to historic record: newspaper clippings and Alexandra’s diary entries, to name a few. There are even mysteriously suppressed documents from a vampire bible that provide us with an insight into the history of Vlad Draculea and the Black Hundred, a mystical group in service to the prophecy.

A well-researched work and a thrilling read, The Nosferatu Conspiracy is a gruesome retelling of Grigori Rasputin’s influence over the family of Tsar Nicholas II. It is a fascinating tale that offers gothic horror fans a new vampire story with a classic feel.


The Future of Leadership in the Age of AI: Preparing Your Leadership Skills for the AI-Shaped Future of Work

Humanity is currently living through the Fourth Industrial Revolution, a time characterized by the widespread implementation of artificial intelligence (AI). Although, in many ways, it still seems like a concept to be found in a science fiction novel, AI is already here, although it’s often so well integrated into the processes in question that people don’t realize its role. In The Future of Leadership in the Age of AI, Marin Ivezic and Luka Ivezic briefly take readers through the massive changes that resulted from the first three industrial revolutions before introducing the multifarious applications of AI in the modern world and explaining the three main perspectives on its future impact: the dystopian (AI will doom us all), utopian (AI will bring about a golden age of peace and prosperity), and organic (AI will be just another step in humanity’s evolution) perspectives.

After providing this valuable background and theoretical information, the authors dedicate the greater part of the book to discussing the likely impacts—both positive and negative—of AI on the economy in general as well as on businesses at the organizational and individual levels. There is no doubt that AI, and the various technologies it is able to connect (the Internet of Things, cryptocurrencies, robotics, augmented reality, etc.), will have staggering effects on the business environment and, as such, the authors explain how managers will need to serve as the instigators and drivers of change. They elucidate how managers can address the impacts of AI by acting as motivators, initiators, facilitators, assimilators, and risk managers. In relation to each of these roles, the authors provide concrete examples and behavioral suggestions intended to help managers function to the best of their abilities.

Despite the clear challenges associated with the encroachment of AI into an ever-increasing number of facets of daily life, and into innumerable aspects of business in particular, The Future of Leadership in the Age of AI offers a decidedly positive evaluation of the situation. The authors clearly set out the potential pitfalls of overreliance on, or blind adherence to, AI and make recommendations for how best to adapt to the changing business environment, but they also highlight the many beneficial impacts of AI as well as the ways in which human ingenuity and creativity will always be required. Change is definitely going to be required, but it can be change for the better, so long as it is planned and managed correctly.

Given the latter half of the book’s focus on the skills that business leaders will need to develop if they are to keep pace with the growth of AI, as well as the skill sets that they will have to encourage in their employees, it should prove an invaluable resource for organizations and professionals looking for a roadmap to follow throughout the change process as businesses move toward the increasing integration of AI. Additionally, as the book is written in a very clear and accessible way, it should also appeal to laypeople with a general interest in the current roles and future uses of AI both in the world of business and more generally.


A Reasonable Doubt

Robin Lockwood, a former MMA fighter and a gifted attorney, finds herself embroiled in a murder case full of twists and turns. Her client, a renowned magician who was trying to restart his career, was found dead and only she can put the pieces together to solve the mystery.

For the most part, this book was an easy read. I liked the characters; most were well rounded and well developed. Although the story bounced around the timeline and I found that to be a bit confusing at times. Also, the author referred to people by their first names, and then by their last names which were also confusing and lacked continuity. It would have been better to pick one when referring to the characters. The mystery itself was multifaceted and definitely had me guessing until the end, but I found the big reveal to be a bit anticlimactic. A few of the characters lacked some detail and the storylines surrounding them were a bit choppy.  Since the main character was touted as an MMA fighter in the description I was expected more fight scenes, so I was a bit disappointed. Overall it was good, and I would not be opposed to reading the rest of this series.


Gudetama: Love for the Lazy

Gudetama, a lazy egg, is helping people look for love and giving good advice with his buddy, Nisetama. However, Gudetama just wants to sleep and be lazy. But he does it anyway. He encounters a loud woman who can’t make any friends, a guy who can’t decide what to wear for his blind date, and many more. I really enjoy reading this book, and it’s a good and very funny book. The ideas were funny and clever and the drawings are unique and unusual but good. However, some of the pictures look a little weird, like how they cry or how they sweat. Gudetama is funny but doesn’t really help all that much. Nisetama looks weird, but he’s determined to help. Gudetama, however, is pretty much too lazy. I like how Gudetama rests on the egg white while he’s the lazy egg yolk. My favorite part is when a guy who loves video games got a wrong, bad date. I recommend this book to anyone who appreciates humorous cartoons.


Welcome to Buttermilk Kitchen

Suzanne Vizethann, photography by Angie Mosier

Farm-to-table is all the rage in cooking these days. This gorgeous cookbook takes a fresh look at comfort food and traditional breakfast, brunch, and lunch dishes by using healthier, fresher ingredients. After a nice introduction, there are two sections: one for what you should have in your pantry as basics, and one for all the equipment that a modern cook should have. Then, because what is life without music, you may ask, there is a page with three recommended kitchen playlists. You won’t find that in any other cookbook. Ten sections of recipes follow: “Staples,” “Biscuits,” “The Chicken Biscuit,” “Pimento Cheese,” “From the Griddle,” “Classics,” “Sides and Snacks,” “Pastries and Desserts,” “Leftovers,” and “Drinks.” Each recipe has a little story about the recipe as well as the usual ingredients list and cooking instructions. Many of the one hundred recipes also have beautiful close-up, full-color, mouth-watering photographs of the finished product. Author and chef Suzanne Vizethann has a nice, breezy style to her writing and has done a great job choosing dishes for this. Don’t miss the truffled potatoes or the blueberry-basil jam. Great stuff!


Beatrix Bakes

Beatrix Bakes is the elevated cookbook of every baker’s dreams. Each elaborate and scrumptious recipe highlights the beauty that can come from following the basic principles of a well-crafted skill. This book breaks down the principles of baking basics along with the philosophies of a woman who was born to bake. With chapter titles that include doughs and crusts, cakes, tarts, pies, yeasted bakes, fruit, creams, custards, and cookies, no baker is left behind. Every classic recipe is explored, discussed, and elevated including mascarpone roulades with cocoa meringue, Calamity Janes coated in chocolate, cheesecakes that will make you stop everything, and the buttercreams and custards that will set any cake apart.

Natalie Paull highlights her cooking philosophy, where baking is a celebration, a gift, and a pleasure. The full-color photo’s accompanying each recipe speak volumes all on their own, showcasing not just a portrait but also a lifestyle.  Beatrix Bakes is not your typical cookbook; it is filled with recipes that are reminiscent of childhood memories, family time, sitting in your grandmother’s kitchen, or the times eating a frozen dessert while binge-watching your favorite television series.


My Pinewood Kitchen, A Southern Culinary Cure

My Pinewood Kitchen is part memoir, part recipe book. The first section is Mee McCormick’s story, the second is her guidelines for preparing beans, grains, and sea vegetables, and the third section offers recipes.

Due to hereditary health conditions, McCormick suffered digestive and inflammation issues most of her life. After the birth of her daughters, her health got so bad, she was advised to undergo a substantial intestinal surgery, but she wasn’t sure she would make it. Instead, she went back to the basics of food and figured out what she could tolerate. From there, she joined the Culinary Institute of America to take classic cooking training and turn it into good food for people suffering from food allergies as well as digestive and autoimmune diseases like herself.

McCormick’s husband’s family had roots in the Pinewood area, a small village, about an hour outside of Nashville. When they bought property there, her husband bought the restaurant next to the ranch, and as they say, the rest is history.

I appreciated how McCormick’s story breaks the stereotype that food allergies and digestive disease are merely upper class invention and preoccupation. McCormick grew up very poor, and her own mother suffered much from many of the same conditions McCormick did, eventually passing away when McCormick was eighteen.

I appreciated McCormick’s rules about cooking beans and how they have always wanted to eat more beans, but struggled with digesting them. Her guidelines have really helped. I can’t wait to try the raspberry lemonade muffins, buckwheat pancakes, and key lime avocado pie.


A Feel Better Book for Little Poopers

Leah Bowen and Holly Brochmann, with illustrations by Shirley Ng-Benitez

Let’s get stinky, literally! I love the illustrations and writing in this book. The writing develops and maintains a great rhythm and rhyme and also tells a great story about helping kids learn it is okay to go when they need to poop. I really appreciate the page that discusses how everyone from superheroes to princesses to presidents have to go potty. I think it really relates to kids well to know this is a normal thing that everyone does.

I love that the illustrations include boys and girls of many races. I like that they chose to show a variety of kids needing to go potty. My favorite illustration is the page where they show scenes of home, a friend’s house, and school by painting on a roll of toilet paper. I think the illustrator was very clever.

As a mother in the midst of potty training, I think this is a spectacular book that I love to have to help my daughter know going potty, specifically going poop, is a part of life and it’s not scary. Both of my children, three and six, paid attention to the entire book. They first thought it was funny because of the title being about poop, but soon realized the book was about learning how to go potty.

My Kids’ Favorite Part: the title.


Ani's Light

Ani misses his mom terribly and wants more than anything to have her home again. Since she left, his world has been filled with nothing but darkness, even when the moon illuminates the sky and the early morning sunlight glistens through his bedroom window. No one seems to be able to penetrate his sadness, not even cheerful Nani or his gracious friends. Then, one night, his world begins to change. The headlights approach, and his anticipation builds. As Mama steps into the light, he embraces her with every fiber of his being. Never mind that her hair is gone, or her days may sadly be numbered. All Ani cares about is that right now, in this very minute in time, she is there with him.

With brevity and richness, Tanu Shree Singh beautifully describes a young boy’s journey throughout his mom’s battle with cancer in Ani’s Light. Through thoughtful words and eye-catching illustrations, readers can feel Ani’s pain and the darkness that fills his heart while Mama undergoes treatment for cancer. She conveys to him the importance of always accepting others’ love in his life whether she is present or not, due to it being paramount for happiness. That message is one of incredible value for a child of any age, and it’s one that is likely to touch many of those who read this unique and heartfelt picture book.


Hike

Hike is a wordless picture book that follows a father and child on a day they decided to go on a hike. You see them getting ready, going for a drive, getting their gear, and walking through the forest. They look for animals, overcome fear, and plant a tree to give back to the earth.

My six and three-year-old really enjoyed this book. They liked to see the adventure the father went on with the child. My son thought the child was a boy and my daughter thought it was a girl, which was clever making both see themselves in the illustration. They really enjoyed seeing the different animals the duo found.

This is a beautiful book Pete Oswald did—and excellent job with the illustrations. I love the variety he used, from small panels in the spreads to one big spread to one or two panels. The color scheme seems perfect for a calm and peaceful time of exploration. I appreciate that both my kids can see themselves in the pictures even though they are boy and girl. The book made me think of the hikes and exploration I went on with my own family as a child when we camped or rented a cabin in the woods.


I seldom start a review with the book’s title, but here is the delicious exception. Amish Family Recipes: A Cookbook Across the Generations is indeed a familial collection of recipes and personal recounting that spans generations of cooks, includes ingredients known to all Americans, and does not preach any kind of dietary regimen. That alone makes it a relief to read.

Recipe originators or modifiers are identified not only by name, but also by generation and relationship. There are endearing tales, like the nine year old girl who, seeing her first cake’s recipe calling for a whole egg, asked if that included the shell.

Good photographic illustrations are not only of appealing foods, but also of Amish homes, country, and environment, both indoors and out. The book would be worth reading just for those glimpses. Recipe feedback is usually from husbands, which one would expect from a culture where womenfolk typically maintain the home. These recipes are generally for family dining. However, on arriving at the section titled "Family Reunion Meals," we encounter recipes like the one for Baked Beans that begins with “4 gallons of Pork ‘n Beans” and ends with “Serves 100.”

Not for the dieting inclined, this is nicely and kindly done and showcases fine writing.


On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness: The Wingfeather Saga, Book 1 is the story of a magical land which was once peaceful and beautiful until ghastly creatures and serpent-like humans known as Fangs took over. In a small, cozy cottage a small family made up of a grandfather, a mother, and three children, live peacefully. These children do not know their importance as they are the jewels of Anniera and when they get unknowingly dragged into a confrontation with the Fang, it begins an adventure that they never imagined they would go on. Will this family be strong enough to survive the leader of the Fang, Gnag the Nameless? Will they survive long enough to help restore the beauty and splendor of their once magical world?

On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness: The Wingfeather Saga, Book 1 is wonderful story to help spark the imagination of readers who love magical, mythical adventures. Filled with quirky creatures and never-before-heard of games, each page will capture and keep your attention. It was an interesting read and I can't wait to grab the next book in this series. You should get yours too!


Raphael: Painter in Rome, a Novel

Fans of world-renowned artists like Michelangelo and Leonardo are sure to enjoy Storey's historical fiction story of Raphael: Painter in Rome set in the early 1500s, when many famous artists were working and competing against each other. Told from the voice of Raphael, the story recounts his life from being orphaned at a young age to striving for artistic perfection as an adult. His goal in life is to be called a master at his craft; he feels he may be close, but then he's pitted against the new man in town, Michelangelo. Seeing Michelangelo's David sets Raphael all aquiver and causes him to work harder than ever to prove himself. Not just a "pretty boy," Raphael struggles with internal demons to be the best artist ever.

Storey has written her story with beauty and grace; she makes her characters realistic with their struggles and temptations and has included references to the beautiful work created by these characters. I enjoyed reading Raphael's commentary on his life while discovering the source of the internal fire for his craft. Who knows, Storey might have hit it on the head on accuracy for these characters—the story is worth the read!


Mastering the Process: From Idea to Novel

Elizabeth George writes books that are loved by her readers. She has written twenty-four novels and two short story collections. This is her very worthwhile book on how to write. Unlike books on writing such as Brenda Ueland’s If You Want to Write, which emphasizes the creative and unique spirit of each individual and their outpouring as original, George takes a more realistic approach. In this valuable book, she talks about the process of writing as a craft and discipline. She likens it to a sculptor who must be trained in order to carve a masterpiece. She emphasizes exhaustive research, background study, and exhaustive character development. The best part of this book is at each chapter’s end, George gives us writing exercises which are right on point. In short, this book emphasizes perspiration over inspiration, and who can argue with such a successful and masterful writer.

In this book, she uses her novel as a blueprint for her process. One does not have to be familiar with this book in order to profit from the lessons. A very good book.


Broken

Broken consists of five original short stories from the inventive mind of Don Winslow. The first entry, appropriately named Broken, centers around the McNabb family of New Orleans. The McNabbs have served the city in law enforcement for decades, but fate alters their lives when Detective Jimmy McNabb raids a drug shipment and humiliates a burgeoning drug lord. The drug dealer exacts grisly retribution and Jimmy must respond in kind. In Crime 101, Davis has robbed a trail up and down the coast, getting away clean and without resorting to violence. A final score to set him up for retirement tempts him, but a hardened and clever Detective may be onto him. A couple of characters in Crime 101 set up the next story Sunset where a surfing legend has withered to a drugged-out bail jumper and his retrieval is a must for Bail Bondsman Duke. The final two stories Paradise and The Last Ride are stand out stories making powerful statements in their own right.

Broken is a pleasant deviation from the previous works from Don Winslow as there is more to enjoy in each entry of this new release. The appearance of familiar faces from previous novels is a gift for fans of Winslow’s previous work. The newcomers to his work will find a path to Winslow’s excellent oeuvre. A pleasurable and rollicking joy ride.


The Ancestor

When Bert Monte receives a packet of mysterious legal documents all written in Italian, she’s shocked to discover that she’s the sole heir of an enormous fortune in northern Italy. The catch: she must travel immediately to Italy to learn the terms of the inheritance, and to claim it. Accompanied reluctantly by her soon-to-be-ex-husband Luca, she travels by private plane to exquisite accommodations in Turin, which offers more luxury than she has ever before experienced. But a falling out with Luca leads Bert to make the next part of her journey alone: to the Montebianco family castle deep in the Alps. What she finds there will forever change her understanding of her family and herself. She finds the most basic question of her life suddenly unanswerable: not who am I, but what?

The book jacket reveals little about Bert’s journey, and this review, too, will stay clear of spoilers. Part of the fun of this novel is the surprising turns it takes and the expectations that are and are not fulfilled. The setting here is a highlight: the remote, mountainous terrain holds great mystery and darkness, and the extreme and endless freeze gives the Montebianco family secrets the kind of dread that keeps the pages turning. This is an entertaining read that will leave a lasting impression.


The Acadia Files: Book Four, Spring Science

The Acadia Files: Spring Science by Katie Coppens is about Acadia’s experiments. This is the fourth book in the series. Acadia has done experiments in summer, autumn, winter, and now spring! Watch as her, her mom, and her friends grow and explore as they learn about meteors, mass extinctions, Rachel Carson, bugs, and signs of seasons changing. I learned new things and was very interested and wanted to keep reading. Another part of the book I really liked was the illustrations. All of them were so bright and colorful. They really helped me understand her experiments and what she was thinking. Some of the pages with lots of pictures taught me loads of new things! I would recommend this book because I learned many new things, and it got me thinking about other experiments I can do. I think ages 7-10 should read this book. If you are looking for an educational fun book, this is the book for you.


I Got This: New and Expanded Edition: To Gold and Beyond

I Got This is a story of hard work and dedication. It tells how Laurie Hernandez stayed strong to achieve her goal of becoming an Olympic gymnast and accomplish so much more beyond that.

In 2013, Laurie was practicing handsprings on the beam when she slipped and landed on her wrist. After having her injury x-rayed, Laurie and her family were told that she had a distal radius fracture. As a result, she could not use her hand while she recovered and had to go to physical therapy. Rather than let this injury stop her, Laurie continued her leg exercises and refused to give up hope. About six months later, Laurie sustained another injury: this time she landed incorrectly while doing her vault and twisted her knee. When she tried to stand up, her leg fell out from underneath her. Laurie had to have surgery and physical therapy, but she did not give up. In 2016, Laurie competed in the Rio Olympics as a member of the Final Five. The team won gold, and Laurie even won silver on beam individually! She did not let injuries or disappointments stop her from recognizing her dream, and she has gone on to accomplish so much more since Rio.

As a competitive gymnast myself, this story reminds me that hard work and a positive attitude can yield great results. Doing something you love is not always easy, but it is always worth it. This is a great read for all the dreamers and to those who have been tempted to give up. This book tells us to stay strong through thick and thin, follow our dreams, and remember to be fully committed to achieving our goals. Your dreams are only as distant as your doubts make them.


Enemy of All Mankind: A True Story of Piracy, Power, and History's First Global Manhunt

Everyone likes a good swashbuckler, but Steven Johnson goes well beyond the mere action on the high seas. With artful narration the historian who brought us The Ghost Map does it again, turning the subject on its' axis to view every facet before shifting the whole mystery in a whiplash twist at the end.

This story of the seventeenth-century pirate, Henry Every, brings together a body of scholarship typically reserved for the experts and lays it out in a fast-paced page-turner for the rest of us armchair historians. Johnson shows how a single event--the ransacking of a Mughal ship with women aboard--came with the unexpected timing of sensitive trade negotiations between two countries, sparking the very first global manhunt.

The sidebars of Johnson's main thrust hold just as much interest as the central thread. His Emmy winning PBS/BBC series "How We Got to Now", foreshadows his penchant for little details seemingly unrelated. For example, the word "strike" came to be applied to working men in solidarity; or when and how did cotton fabric originate. Johnson's writing is peppered with these side notes without ever dwelling long enough to lose focus on the primary target: a mutiny, a race in the fastest ship on the high seas, an Indian princess who escapes with a pirate, the most wanted man in the whole world, the round-up of pirates, and the trial and shocking verdict amid a nation of pirates.

Johnson does not declare Every a hero or a scoundrel. This pirate pushes the edges of both ideals to their limits. Instead, he leaves us conflicting evidence to sort through for our own verdict just in time to watch the pirate disappear.


Weird Pig

Weird Pig by Robert Long Foreman is a book about a pig who talks and has interests and desires like that of a human; it's anthropomorphic to the extreme. The story is humorous, yet ironic. Readers follow Weird Pig from being adopted and living with a family, to New York City, the Army, Las Vegas, and more. He worries about things like the neighbor sheep being turned into a condom. There are lots of references to Melville and Libertarianism, which are interesting at times. There are funny one-liners about driving a Prius and people staring at their phones. Death is looming throughout the book, and it has a sad end.
I see how Weird Pig is clever; however, I felt that the book was a long inside joke, and one that I didn’t get. It has very dry humor, but I didn’t find it funny. Lines about how Captain America gave Weird Pig a hand job at a movie theatre are shocking, but not interesting or funny. There’s little context throughout the humor, which is why it felt like there was an inside joke that I wasn’t privy to. The tone is flat and odd throughout. I have a hard time recommending this book, but perhaps the right reader would love it.

Southeast Missouri State University Press


An Heiress to Remember: The Gilded Age Girls Club

An Heiress to Remember is like no other historical romance I’ve ever read. The prologue shows us Beatrice Goodwin, American heiress, leaving the assistant manager of her father’s department store for a duke who will sweep her off to London. Sixteen years later, she’s back, divorced, and ready to take New York City by storm. First, though, she’ll have to save the store; after her father’s death, it passed to her brother, whose mismanagement has just about run it into the ground. To make matters worse, across the street is a new department store, run by the very man she left all those years ago: Wes Dalton.

I’ve read plenty of historical romances where the hero and heroine start off disliking one another, a trope that is difficult to pull off, as there must be a balance between dislike and attraction. In making an enemies-to-lovers plot, Maya Rodale skips that for something altogether more exciting: sizzling loathing. For a good part of the novel, Bea and Wes aren’t caught up in a question of "will I or won’t I?" It’s more a question of "how can I?" Namely, “how can I win this competition and prove my store is the best?” The tension between them makes their inevitable liaisons all the more satisfying, because we’ve already seen the fire stoked between the two of them. Those liaisons are worth the wait, for the characters and the readers.

The other thing which surprised and delighted me was how unabashedly feminist the book is. Romance has always been female-led and female-centred, but one chapter begins with “Nevertheless, she persisted.” Bea doesn’t just improve her store to make money or to show Wes up; Goodwin’s becomes a haven for women, a place that even today is hard to find. Unfortunately, then as now, a woman working for herself and others faces stiff opposition. Not only are there people who outwardly say what she wants cannot be done, but someone begins to sabotage her store.

Nevertheless, to paraphrase chapter ten, she persists. Reading about Bea was the sort of cathartic thrill I love to find in books. I’ve enjoyed Maya Rodale’s books for years, and An Heiress to Remember is no exception. I was blown away by the freshness of her voice, and especially the freshness of Bea’s voice. The series as a whole is excellent, and I can’t wait to see what she does next.


The Earl Takes a Fancy A Sins for All Seasons Novel

Matthew Sommersby, Earl of Rosemont, has disguised himself as an ordinary man to avoid remarriage. Fancy Trewlove, though born out of wedlock, was raised with the expectation that she would marry well. After so many of her siblings have, she surely has no excuse. The two meet at her bookshop and are instantly drawn to one another. One chance encounter leads to another, and soon the two are making excuses to find each other again and again.

I jumped into this book without having read any others in the series, and it only made me eager to read more about the Trewlove siblings. So many historical romances are about those already rich and wealthy, and it’s refreshing to find a book which comes closer to showing how the other half lives. Fancy herself has not struggled overmuch, but she works with those who have, which gives delightful depth to her romantic nature. Matthew’s cynicism about love makes him the perfect complement, and the interactions between the two are downright delicious.

I will say the attraction between the two at times seems forced, and I would have preferred to see it grow more naturally over time, but that’s a matter of personal taste. Overall, this was a wonderful book to sink into, and it left me eager for more.


The Fabulous Exphrastic Fantastic: Essays

Miah Jeffra’s collection is notable not only for its style but also for its range. It is about the nature of memories, gender, truth, and place. The essays come together as something of a self-exploration, something like art-criticism, and something like a family saga. Jeffra traces their life back to a difficult youth, leads the reader through relationships, break-ups, and a marriage, and details several moves around the U.S.

Though we learn much about Jeffra’s personal life, the book isn’t simply an autobiography. It pushes the essay form in a way that calls to mind David Lazar’s “Queering the Essay” in which Lazar writes, “Queer and essay are both problematic, escapable, changeable terms. Both imply resistance and transgression, definitional defiance.”

In a similar vein Jeffra writes, “And what about this book? Memoir. A book of memories. And, also, subsequently, a book about false memories.” What one can say about the book is that the memories it contains, whether false or true, rose-colored or traumatic, are all written with stunning honesty. Throughout, pictures of Jeffra at various ages track their progress through time and self-understanding. We see the essayist as a child, an adolescent, and even get a glimpse of them with their wedding party.

Reminiscent of Michelle Tea in subject and humor, and of T. Fleischmann’s poeticism in style, this collection continues the work of modern queer essayists. It is irreverent at times and reflective at others, but throughout should keep the reader’s interest as they reflect alongside Jeffra on what memories mean.


Hoot and Howl Across the Desert

Hoot and Howl Across the Desert is a colorful and fun book. There are over fifty pages of information on animals that live in the deserts around the world. First, you learn the definition of a desert. Next, you learn about animals and plants that live in the deserts and about the environment. Some deserts are hot, while some are cold, so the animals and plants will be different in each desert. The information about everything is found beside, under, or above each picture on the pages. The illustrations of the animals and plants are pretty, colorful, and usually have a pattern on them.

I feel like I learned a lot from being read this book because it has a lot of information given in it. It did take me a couple of sittings to get through the book, mainly because there is a lot to read in it. I enjoyed looking at the pictures because of their patterns and designs. I knew about some of them already, but not about them all. I think kids a little older than me (maybe at least aged eight) will enjoy it more because it doesn't have much of a story, but mainly facts.