Axiom's End

The aliens actually arrived decades ago, but the government kept that a secret. Now, they are warring with each other and the public is aware that something is amiss because of a whistleblower. That is the subject of Axiom’s End, but Lindsay Ellis.

Set in 2007, protagonist Cora is the daughter of the whistleblower, living in the LA area. She gets reluctantly involved, not only in the CIA’s dealings with these aliens but also personally involved as a helper to one of the aliens, nicknamed Ampersand. The pace of the nearly four hundred page novel is fast at first. In the first few chapters, instead of itching for the plot to move forward, things happen quickly. Cora is believable, smart, and likable, and the action is clearly written.

The book slows down quite a bit about two-thirds of the way in. The infighting, cultural, linguistical, and physical attributes of the aliens are quite complex, including complexities between types of aliens. Their social hierarchy and relationships between each other are also quite complex. Cora’s relationship with Ampersand left me feeling a little uncomfortable. There is a genre of writing devoted to stories between humans (usually women) and aliens or mythical creatures, and I became concerned that Ellis dips her toe a little too far into this genre. But others might love that aspect of the book. I really enjoyed the opening few chapters, but the last part of the book left me wanting something different.


The Hour of Fate: Theodore Roosevelt, J.P. Morgan, and the Battle to Transform American Capitalism

LOCAL AUTHOR

In September 1901, President William McKinley is attending the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, NY. Vice President Theodore Roosevelt is hiking in the mountains of the Northeast. JP Morgan is in Manhattan, awaiting news regarding further consolidation of his business empire. The bullet fired by castoff Leon Czolgosz muddles the world. McKinley succumbs to his wounds within a few weeks, and a stunned Roosevelt becomes the new President. Roosevelt was born into wealth, yet never took it for granted. He possessed an unquenchable work ethic along with a strong moral compass. His various positions in municipal and federal government witnessed his efforts at reform.

JP Morgan was the beneficiary of his father’s wealth, but Morgan possessed an even greater eye for business. He was a titan, buying competitors or pricing them out of business. Viewing Morgan and his confederates with skepticism, Roosevelt desired transparency in their deals and operations. A progressive movement led by Roosevelt and others would usher in lawsuits attempting to dismantle behemoth railroad concerns attempting to push out competition.

The Hour of Fate is a masterful work of nonfiction. Events occurring more than a century ago come alive in an almost prescient sense of current affairs. Susan Berfield profiles her two subjects adeptly, conveying their value to the world, yet contrasting that with their foibles that made them just as human as the rest of the populace. This is A+ work.


Swamp Creatures

Swamp Creatures is a funny political satire on the Trump administration. Remember when Trump said during his election campaign that he would drain the swamp in Washington? Well, this book reminds us that not only did Trump not fulfill his election promise. Instead, Trump infested Washington by filling his administration with right-wing zealots and some of his most corrupt and greedy cronies. This book lists just some of Trump's most notorious swamp friends and family members. Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are mentioned in the book as Miss Complicit and Swamp Leech. My favorite is Mitch McConnell as a swamp slug! Most cartoon depictions of McConnell is him as a turtle because frankly, he looks like a turtle. You don't usually think of slugs as evil, but I liked the slimy chin and neck jowls of McConnell as a slug. Daily saved the best for last with Trump as the swamp turd. Pee-ew! The artwork there was lacking though. Trump didn't look gross enough as a piece of turd overflowing the toilet.

The past four years, the Trump administration has been filled with so much lying and chaos and dysfunction that I had forgotten about some of the things that have happened under the current administration. This book is a funny read of all the crazy, corrupt, greedy, deceitful, illegal messes Trump has put America through. For me, this book is a clear reminder of all the lies he's told America and all the shady back door dealings he's done to enrich his own pockets while America suffers. There were some swamp creatures I had completely forgotten about. There has been such a high turnover rate in the current administration that it was difficult to keep track of all those coming and going. I had forgotten about the swamp slob (who's supposed to be Matthew Whitaker), and the cartoon depiction of him is pretty gnarly and grotesque. Though I think he looks more like a blob than a slob. I forgot Matthew Whitaker was AG before William Barr since he only held the position for four months.

I don't really like politics, and I generally don't like reading about politics because a lot of it can be boring. However, I enjoyed this book and found it entertaining. Especially during this time of unrest and uncertainty, I wanted to read something that would make me laugh a little. The book was a fast and easy read, and it was incredibly funny seeing some of our elected officials depicted as slugs, snakes, and zombies. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes politics and dislikes Trump. And if you don't like politics, but enjoy some lighthearted satire, definitely give this book a try.


Passions: Love Poems and Other Writings

Passions: Love Poems and Other Writings is a wonderful collection of beautiful poetry about love, desire, memories, fear, etc. The collection of poems is broken up into three sections. The first part consists of eighty-four love poems. The second part consists of poems that are translated into Italian. Finally, the third part consists of prose poems. Milton writes with such succinct beauty. Her use of luscious words and brilliant imagery can paint such a vivid picture in your mind with just a few simple sentences. It is a difficult task to do as a writer, and Milton does it masterfully. Her poetry is evocative; it transports me to that place under the glistening moon with cicadas chirping and the scent of lilacs blossoming.

My favorite poems are the love poems that have floral notes and sweet images. I can just picture the beautiful roses and oleanders blooming, and I can smell the sweet scents of these flowers while reading the poems. I enjoyed Milton's love poems more than the prose poems. Some of the prose poems read more like short blurbs or thoughts written on a page. For example, the prose titled “Replied” reads, “If I could suck the very image of you from each word you say and stick it in the clouds, I would do it.’ I replied. ‘Oh, how mesmerizing and desecrated the sky will look then. Yet, who could stop you?’” That prose poem seemed lacking and unfinished compared to her more illustrious love poems.

There were a number of references in the love poems that I didn't understand, like the ghost of Maja and Goya and messianic Nazareth, just to name a few. A number of them are religious references, so if the reader is not religious or isn't well versed in religion, it makes it difficult to understand the poem. I'm not religious and don't understand a lot of the religious references, so the meaning was completely lost on me. I also noticed a number of the poems take place in Spain and Greece and there are a number of Spanish and Greek references. I've been to Spain and other parts of Europe, but I can't say I know much about Spain or Greece, so I didn't understand all the references. It's obvious Milton has spent a great deal of time in Spain and Greece.

I think poetry fans will enjoy reading and savoring Milton's collection of poems. While I enjoyed the love poems the most, I wish there were more poems without the religious references. For a good number of the poems, I feel readers need to have a deep understanding of religion, Spain, and Greek in order to fully understand Milton's poems. I recommend this collection of poems to poetry lovers.


Passions: Love Poems and Other Writings

Gabriela Marie Milton’s new collection of short poems and flash fiction offers a series of contemplative and intimate writings about the shifting landscape of love.

In the foreword, editor Brian Geiger describes Milton as a poet of condition versus one of profession. Her poems are unleashed as if she has exorcised them. As Milton describes in the poem “Before you came: the day of the fallen saints,” the poet becomes a traveler “into gestating dreams of no constraints.” She writes of love in all its many facets. For example, in the first poem, “The Miracle of You,” there is the exquisite transformation love can have on its subjects: “within the loneliness of you / my heart / rotates five equinoxes on a wooden spindle / your eyes pour flesh into my soul / my body germinates the sounds of growing leaves”. In the poem, “With this ring I promise you,” the poet describes love as a healing balm: “I will erase the shadows of the slave trade / locked in the heat of samba in the nights of carnival / coins put on the eyes of dead at funerals.” Then there are the poems that describe love with resentment. “What I want” describes the pain that love brings as much as it does pleasure: “what have you done to them to fall in love with you? / I rip my pain / I throw it to the waves / I raise my head / and speak to you / what do I want?” But better to be with love than without it. The poem “Lovers without love” describes them thus: “empty hearts expecting to be slaughtered.”

The poet’s dazzling images dance across the globe. There is “Love in Venice,” and from the poem, “Self-sacrifice” there are bodies “flaming mightily in the Aztec sky.” There is a “Nordic Play,” where there are the glaciers within the soul and without in the Nordic Sea. Milton imaginatively describes the space between Samos and Crete and their melting shores, and the violet sunsets lamenting the city of Granada. Readers will also get lost in love through Milton’s writings. For example, in the poem “Did you say you love me?” “The pendulum of the earth goes astray. / The North Pole disappears.”

The series transports us on a journey of love as much as it delivers us a thematically diverse set of emotions. This is a superb collection.


The Aqua Human

"A wonderful fable about a young girl who finds her calling both on land and in the sea. Young Amaya is a superhero in her own right. A quick read that is both inspiring and adventurous." — Kristi Elizabeth, San Francisco Book Review


The Scam List

The son of a con man currently in jail, Boone worries he’s becoming just like his dad.  When he loses fifteen thousand dollars from his mom’s flea market business, he knows the only way to get that kind of cash quick is to open his dad’s book full of the best scams.  He brings in friends from the flea market and his ex-girlfriend, Darby, to help.  Darby, however, has rules. They can only con those who deserve it, like the owners of the competing karate studio, those who take advantage of kids online, and other equally offensive people.  When Boone finds out that his mom has decided to sell Garbage Mountain, he knows he has to set up his biggest con yet...but he’s gonna need some help.

Sarcastic and unapologetically irreverent, Boone is every guy: a little rude, a little self-centered, but deep down he believes he’s a good guy.  His views on life are brutally honest and his self-examination and enlightenment are to be applauded. The banter is quick and witty and his final con is one of utter genius. Fans of Jeff Strand will enjoy this and should pick up the The Con Artist Dates for more tales of Boone’s genius.


Vampires of Portlandia

Portland, Oregon is a place harboring many myths: hipsters, Sasquatch, absurdity, and weirdness converge in a city where rain is abundant, and monsters lurk. It is the perfect setting for the family of aswangs in Jason Tanamor’s Vampires in Portlandia. Were-beasts, ghouls, viscera-suckers, and witches of Filipino lore make sense of their identities not only as young Filipinos, they are also managing internal conflicts within the pantheon.

Tanamor’s infatuation with Portland is obvious, as he incorporates prominent places in the city’s inner core. Quirky Portlandia, proud of its unique vibe, is alive and well in places like Hobo’s, the Shanghai Tunnels, and the Lovecraft Bar where the cool aswang hang out, but in an ironic way.

As diverse authors locate and leverage the richness of their heritage and culture, readers expand their knowledge of mythology beyond the Eurocentric and/or Westernized worldview that often produces familiar characters and predictable plotlines. Tanamor’s attempt to bring mythology from his ancestral Philippines to a mainstream audience is laudable. Percival, his siblings, and the other aswang are hyphenated Americans who bring their culture to the already complicated scenario of surviving as creatures masquerading as humans in the wet and cold streets of Portland.

Anyone with an interest in how fear and fright manifest in different cultures would enjoy this book. It also holds a special appeal among young people in the global Filipino diaspora: eager for representation, shape-shifting notwithstanding.


Creating Equality at Home: How 25 Couples around the World Share Housework and Childcare

Creating Equality at Home was a very interesting read. I always enjoy the opportunity to be a fly on the wall in people’s daily lives. Case studies about family life are an excellent way to indulge this desire, and Creating Equality at Home has 25 of them. The book takes the reader to Switzerland, Indonesia, Croatia, Honduras, and the USA. It breaks the reader from the dangerous perception that equal gender parenting roles can only be achieved in first world western countries. This collection of case studies makes it clear that equal gender parenting roles are a concern and struggle the world over.

This book is primarily written for an academic audience; however, it is very readable, with each chapter describing a family in a different country and how the adult couple divides household management, professional work, and caring for children. A “day in the life” description comes first, followed by each adult’s perspective on their roles, what’s important to them and why. Each chapter also contains some information about the country and their policies toward women, men, and family life. It was really fascinating to see how national policies varied, but how across cultures it was the norm for men to do less housework and less care for children. I also found the perspectives and background that the couples brought to make home equality a priority really interesting. Most often both members of the couple had to agree it was a priority and frequent communication was important. Usually both adults also had influence or perspective from their background that made quality important as well. There was something about reading the daily life description, recorded first without interpretation, that made me think about how my family life is divided without judgment.


Feeding the People: The Politics of the Potato

Feeding the People the Politics of the Potato by Rebecca Earle is about the development, history, and spread of the potato. From its beginnings in the Andes to a worldwide food source, this is a dynamic story. The author does a scholarly exploration of how the fortunes of the potato have risen and fallen with the fortunes of enlightened, despotic, subversive, or desperate nations. Potatoes are easy to grow, therefore it sneaked into gardens of common people, unnoticed by the seeking eyes of the tax collectors. Until they noticed it. Nations saw how strong enemy armies, who subsisted on potatoes, had become. Needing strong well nourished soldiers, whether to fight Napoleon, the Kaiser, or Hitler, the British government was motivated to push the cultivation and eating of potatoes as a patriotic duty. Starvation and poverty motivated the Irish to plant potatoes in every plot. Concern for the benighted masses energized enlightened thinkers to push for societal utopia by extolling the virtues of potato eating. Opposite those positives are the historical famines of counting too much on even the potato, the perception that only poor would eat them, and the general distrust of doing anything any government propagandized as good.

This is a well documented work with several old prints emphasizing the authors points. It even has historical to modern recipes of potato dishes. At the end we are left with the uncomfortable thought that governments are still pushing potatoes, nutritionists are out of favor with the potato, for whatever reason, and most people still eat potatoes because they like them, regardless of government, popularity, or history.


The Nothing Man

Eve Black was the only survivor after her family was attacked and killed by the Nothing Man when she was twelve. Her family was the last of his victims, but he was never caught. Now, eighteen years later, in an attempt to move on with her life and find closure, she decides to write a book about him. Her hope is that the book will generate new interest in a case long gone cold and also in a way to provoke him because they have no way of catching him without a confession since he never left any evidence. The Nothing Man knows he’ll have to stop her and should never have let her live in the first place, a mistake he plans on rectifying soon.

This is probably one of the best books I ever read. I really enjoyed the fact that they tell you who the killer is from the first page and you are reading Eve’s book with him as he tries to discover how much she actually knows. You get to see him unravel with each new revelation as well as hear the story of each of his victims from Eve’s point of view. I don’t know why, but I absolutely loved the book within a book format and that you only ever hear from Eve when it’s written in her book. The author did a fantastic job, and if you are a fan of Meg Gardiner, which I am, you will love this book.


The Final Child

Erin thinks she was The Final Child to be abducted by the Father, a serial killer who abducted pairs of siblings. She is the only one who ever got away, with her brother Alex never seen again and only some of the previous children’s bodies being found. She can’t remember any of what happened to her eighteen years ago, but then she meets Harriet, whose cousins were the first victims, and who is writing a book about all the children. Erin and Harriet begin to work through the abductions and Erin’s memory begins to come back. As Erin begins to feel like she is being followed and gifts are being left for her, she wonders if the Father is really dead as she had always believed. Will her nightmare ever stop or will she finally get answers to all her questions?

Having two small boys who share a room, I definitely was somewhat freaked out while reading this story. The author’s ability to create suspense and make you question everything you know was spot on. I don’t know if it was on purpose, but I felt like this book dealt with the topic of nature vs. nurture. How different would things have been if a child was raised in a different environment? The author also wrote in such a way that you could understand why the Father was doing what they were, as twisted as it was. Overall, a thriller that you should read after carefully checking the locks.


The Book of Malachi

The Book of Malachi opens with Malachi, a thirty-year-old mute man, being recruited to work at an off-shore oil rig. This rig, however, isn’t for oil, but is owned by Frasier Pharmaceuticals and is where they are farming organs from criminals. Malachi is promised a new tongue in exchange for a six-month stint of cutting the nails of the prisoners. At first, he assumes all the people there deserve their fate, growing organs for others to then be sent back to prison. As he hears their stories, he begins to question the morality of it all. He also discovers how far Frasier will go to keep their project a secret and questions everything they’ve told him. Now he will have to decide what kind of man he will be and whether the ability to speak is worth not being able to tell what he’s seen.

I am more used to a linear type of writing style, so I struggled to sift through and separate the present, the past, and Malachi’s imagination. The plot is captivating, but is more about the human-interest side than the actual science fiction part of it. There were a lot of parts I wish I could unread, graphic descriptions of masturbation and prevalent strong language. The best part of this book was hearing everyone’s stories and how trauma shapes us as people. I’m sure this will be a hit, but it wasn’t for me.


Dark Skies

Lydia is a pawn in her father’s political career. To achieve his political goals, he organizes her betrothal to Lucius Cassius, which will grant her a comfortable future but little love. When Lucius no longer needs her to achieve his own political goals, he arranges for her murder. She escapes using the Xenthier, a set of pathways to other places, some of which are unknown. She ends up far from home and meets Killian. Killian is Marked with the favor of the war god, but has recently lost a battle against the Corrupted. As punishment, he is sworn to protect Princess Malahi, a nursemaid role at best. When Lydia is Marked, Killian must protect her from those who would abuse her power and save his land from invasion by the Corrupted.

Dark Skies, the second book in the Dark Shores series, follows the same timeline as the first book. While Killian is a new character, Lydia returns. She is a caring girl who gives without thinking. Most of the action takes place during the last third of the book, although the world building at the beginning sets up the action that runs until the last page. Unfortunately, the next book in the series won’t be available until March 2021.


The Burning

Moving hundreds of miles away was her mother’s idea. Anna is starting at a new school to try to become a new girl, far away from the pain and humiliation of what happened before. As things are going great and Anna is making new friends, the rumors startup, the pictures show up, and the insults ramp up. Thankfully, a school project about a local historical figure helps Anna pass the time researching the life of Maggie, a local girl accused and tried of witchcraft centuries before. However, even distractions are just that, and Anna must find her voice in order to avoid following in Maggie’s footsteps, though centuries separate them.

The parallels of the witch burnings and Anna’s ruined social life provide a backdrop for social commentary on the misogyny that is still alive and well today. Unfortunately, it is all too familiar to girls everywhere but never discussed. This story helps to expose this attack on girls using Anna’s journey as she comes to understand her role and responsibility, or lack thereof, in the assassination of her character. This is an excellent statement that shows that girls are more than the sum of their parts, or what others think of them.


Killer, Come Back to Me: The Crime Stories of Ray Bradbury

Most people know Ray Bradbury either for his bestselling novels, like Fahrenheit 451 or the Martian Chronicles, or his numerous short story collections such as I Sing the Body Electric or the October Country, but did you know the prolific author also penned a number of mystery and crime stories? Yeah, I didn’t either. Thankfully, the great people at Hard Case Crime have brought all these stories together in Killer Come Back to Me.

The collection opens with a man on a train who confronts his future, older self, only to learn that at some point he will murder his wife, and his future self has come back to attempt to right this wrong. But can you change the events of the past, or are they set in stone, forever to play out as they have? In another story, a kid hears the screams of a woman trapped and buried beneath the ground, but none of the adults are able to hear her, the question is whether the boy will be able to find the killer before it’s too late.

Twenty stories show a new side of Ray Bradbury, in his mastery of the crime genre. Fans will be caught up in these gripping stories.


Our World is Whole

Our World is Whole is a story about a little girl who is part of her family and of the whole world. The little girl's uncle sends her a late birthday card on a turtle's back, which seems silly. Her neighbor, Mrs. Turner, likes to go grocery shopping so that she can chitchat. And then there's her cousin Jerry, who doesn't think you can cook too many tamales. Jerry must really like tamales. There's never enough tamales. Jerry has a cat named ObiCat, and ObiCat likes to nap on books. The little girl's dad likes to play baseball, while her mom thinks that families spin together like the whole world. The little girl likes how everyone is together.

The story is okay, but I don't really get it. I think it's silly that ObiCat naps on books. Books are for reading, not for napping on. The drawings of some of the animals look interesting because I don't know if they are bunnies, or hedgehogs, or hedgehogs with bunny ears. I recommend this book to kids who like to read stories about family.


Kindness Grows

In Kindness Grows, author and illustrator Britta Teckentrup highlights how human actions and reactions color the world. Through her pictures and words, she illuminates the stark contrast that lies between planting seeds of anger and hostility and those of kindness and encouragement. The former often leads to hurt and division; while the latter produces healing and growth. Hate is all-consuming; while love is life-giving. Even a simple smile or a kind gesture, she says, has the power to kindle a new friendship or touch the heart of another. So, children spread your positivity to the world and watch it grow.

The uplifting message Teckentrup weaves through the pages of this book is poignant and timely. When so much negativity and hurt are pervasive in society, much of which young children are sadly not immune and optimism and guidance for fostering it are sorely needed. If youth learn to treat one another with tenderness and care, their lives and the lives of those around them will shine brighter. Seeds of kindness do indeed have the potential to spread their goodwill. The author beautifully demonstrates this with a creative collage of cut-outs, the first one taking on the resemblance of a tiny crack or stem, and nearly the last, evolving into a solid trunk of a well-nourished tree.


Along Came a Fox

Bramble the fox and Hazel the hedgehog are friends in search of a night adventure of looking for fireflies. Twig the owls suggests that they try the lake. They go along, and fox thinks he sees another fox in the water. The fox scares Bramble. He calls him a very rude fox and begins getting very loud. He goes back to tell Twig about the rude fox. Twig tells Bramble they should ask the fox why he’s upset. He comes back, and the fox in the water has disappeared. Bramble is so upset until the moon peeks out and he sees the fox again. He tells the fox, “Let’s be friends.” What do you think the other fox is going to say?

The writing was average in this book. I enjoyed it, but it did not wow me. I would have liked to see a little more depth of words and attention to the flow. I did not love the plot; it was too predictable, even for kids.

The illustrations were okay. It seemed like each panel pretty much had the same background. I would have liked to see more variety in the pictures. However, the animal characters were well done.

My kids, three and six, liked the book okay, but it was not one they wished to read again. I would recommend this book for ages five to seven.


It's Only One!

It's Only One! is the story of some animals who live happily in a town together being nice to each other. One day, Rhinoceros throws a wrapper onto the ground without putting it in the trash can. He doesn't think it's a bad thing because it's only one wrapper. But when everyone else also thinks that they can throw one piece of trash on the ground, it begins to pile up. Neighbor Giraffe doesn't like seeing all the garbage outside his house, so he goes and picks just one flower from the park to put in his window. After that, the animals forget how to be nice to each other and do whatever they want. Can anyone help them become nice again?

It's Only One! is a fun book to read because it teaches about being nice to each other and the earth. When we make our home dirty or any place that we enjoy, then it can make us grumpy. I like that there are some helpful tips on ways to be nice to other people and our parks at the end of the book. The story has colorful pages and will be a fun read for any age of kids.


Boyfriend Material

Boyfriend Material by Alex Hall is a light-hearted rom-com of a novel. Set in England, Luc and Oliver couldn’t be more different. Luc is the son of famous rockstar parents, used to being in the spotlight at what seems to be his worst moments. Oliver is a reserved lawyer who is also a vegetarian, doesn’t use Uber, and tries to make the most ethical decisions possible at all times. When do Luc and Oliver realize that faking a relationship with one another would solve some of their own personal issues, what could go wrong?

Hall’s Boyfriend Material is a fresh take on a will-they, won’t-they love story. Two unlikely people meet, strike a deal, and start falling for one another. But falling in love is the easy part. When two people and their two lives vary so differently, is it possible to overcome such differences? Not only do readers root for Luc and Oliver throughout the story, Boyfriend Material is sprinkled with a hilarious cast of characters that will keep you turning the page until the very end.


From Arsenic to Zirconium: Poems and Surprising Facts about the Elements

How appropriate that Peter Davern, a chemistry lecturer at the University of Limerick in Ireland, has composed a poetic treatise featuring the basic ninety-two elements of the periodic table along with a condensed glance at the ephemeral transuranic constituents. Each of the elements is gifted with a six-line rhyming poem that exposes basic features of that component. Hydrogen starts the series labeled as ‘rocket man’ and its relevance is exposed as the bonds that sustain the genetic code and its connections in allowing water to flow. Check out element number twenty-two, titanium which helps mend our buckled bodies It is found implanted in the knee and hip joints, making up your eyeglass frames, and even contributes the whiteness to toothpaste and cosmetics. Try some Pepto Bismol for gastric discomfort, the bismuth might help. Find those elements that serve as therapeutics or as a poison depending on the dose. This elegantly constructed poetic version of the periodic table and the attributes of its elements serves as a numeric alphabet guide to the basic makeup of our world. It should be a required text from grade school to the home library. Kudos to the author for presenting the elements as the legos, the building blocks of nature in such an entertaining and fascinating manner.  Some color pencils could enhance the radiance of the verses and a spiral binder would help to flip the pages.


The Last Flight: A Novel

The Last Flight is a riveting tale of two women desperate to escape their lives. For different reasons with underlying similarities, Claire and Eva make a plan and set the course to change their lives drastically. Claire’s need to escape her abusive husband and Eva’s need to escape a dangerous lifestyle leads to an encounter in which the two women intertwine their lives forever. Clark finds the perfect balance between vulnerability and resiliency for her female characters. During the #metoo era, where women are standing up against mistreatment and abuse, Clark is able to subtlety address the barriers faced by women while telling an enthralling story of escape. In addition, the author smoothly moves from each woman’s experiences and lives to create a cohesive presentation of the characters. From the prologue, I became engrossed in the lives of Claire and Eva. Fearing for them, cheering for them, and hoping they finally get the lives they deserve. I felt both emotion and fear of each character. It was easy to pick up The Last Flight and get lost in the story. It ready easy enough to not consume me. This book is well worth the read for any reader who likes suspense and not being bogged down with irrelevant and overly descriptive details.


Bunnies on the Bus

It is a summer's day in Sunny Town, but the elephant bus driver is too busy giving directions to notice a group of bunnies boarding his bus. With Little Bunny behind the wheel, they take off and leave the elephant behind. The bunnies are on the bus! They are racing through Sunny Town causing such a fuss. They whizz by a turtle with no sign of stopping. They swerve around corners and fly through the air as they pass pandas at the crossing and lambs swinging by the library. The bunnies on the bus are happily reading or piling in the aisles. They’re even on top of the bus. Will the bunnies get caught before they embark on another bunny journey? Naughty bunnies beware!

Bunnies on the Bus, written by Philip Ardagh and illustrated by Ben Mantle, is a crazy romp through Sunny Town with some mischievous bunnies. Ardagh’s fun rhymes and lyrical refrain stick with you long after you close the book. Mantle’s illustrations are hilarious, and details like the bumper sticker on the back of the bus are a fun discovery: “Am I driving well?”


Art Young's Inferno

Fans of Dante's time when he visited Hell will enjoy Art Young's Inferno. Slightly different from Dante, but on the same topic, Young created a book with text and cartoon pictures to lead the reader with him on a once-in-a-lifetime experience through Hell. Young was an established cartoonist in the early 1900s, mainly political and socialist; his Inferno showcases his thoughts on the inhabitants of Hell, its atmosphere, and the inner workings of this mysterious place. Inferno was written in a time when people were starting to become skeptical that Hell was a real place. Art Young's work is a unique experience that will stick with you.

I like that Inferno isn't just a sequential art book, but that it also contains a story to accompany the cartoons. In my opinion, there are only a few mildly disturbing cartoons, but the majority of the pictures do include naked people, though not anatomically correct. I am impressed at the detail that Young put into imagining Hell's atmosphere; exercise, marital issues, banking, disease, politics, schooling, and amusement parks are a few of the many topics in this book.


A Book for Escargot

There's a snail named Escargot, and he thinks he's very beautiful. He wants to find a French cookbook because he doesn't want to eat salad, and he also wants you to kiss him because he wants to try something new.

Escargot is sad because books never have any daring snails in them, so he's going to make his own book about a very beautiful snail. He goes on a journey to find a French cookbook, and he has to jump down and he thinks he can fly. I think Escargot is really cute with his little flight mask. He eventually finds the cookbook and figures out that people eat him, so he eats the cookbook instead.

I think Escargot is really cute with his giant eyes and his French beret. It is hard to make a snail look cute, but the illustrator did a good job of making this one look so cute. It's also cool how Escargot can draw and write in the story, and I like his glittery slime trail. He is so silly and funny! I recommend this book to kids who like cute stories and characters.


Someone Like You: A Novel (The Baxter Family)

Although I was very excited to read this book because of its simple yet sweet plot, I found that Someone Like You really just fell through the cracks for me. Maddie West is approached by a stranger named Dawson Gage only to find out that her embryo had been adopted by the people she calls Mom and Dad. Somewhere out there are her biological parents and her biological sister, London, who is Dawson’s best friend. Within the first few chapters of the book, London is tragically killed. Somehow, Dawson does the research after London says on her death bed that she thinks she has a sister and Brooke, London’s mom, is overheard saying that she never should have given up the embryos.

Also, nowhere does it mention that this book should be shelved under Christian fiction, but it really should be as there is a lot, and I mean a lot, of reference to God and Jesus because both families are very religious. I didn’t mind this, however it would have been nice to know that this was an underlying theme throughout the book. Overall, the story was nice but it really was summed up in the summary on the book jacket. Don’t expect any surprises.


Smug Seagull

Smug likes to swipe snacks from people on the beach all day long. He’s one of the best swipers around and he lets everyone know it. But when a crab swipes something from Smug will he lose his swiping abilities forever or find new ways to get food from people?

The writing style is wonderful in this book. I like all the onomatopoeia words when Smug swipes something. The humor is so well done that he had my children laughing and wanting to read it over and over again. I do like that Smug found a new way to get food.

The illustrations are perfect for a book set at the beach. I liked how some illustrations were lots of small panels and others were a large spread. I could feel the ocean breeze and imaging myself sitting on the beach with seagulls coming after my snacks, which has happened to me in real life.

My six-year-old liked the book because it was funny and my three-year-old thought the seagull swiping things was great.

I would recommend this book for ages three to eight.


The Truth According to Blue

The Truth According to Blue is about a 13-year-old diabetic girl named Blue Broen, her diabetic alert dog Otis, and a rich girl named Jules, a child of a movie star.

It's summer vacation and one of Blue’s biggest wishes is to find buried treasure, an adventure she started with her grandfather long ago. But after he died last year Blue decided to find it in his honor. Blue wants to find the treasure by herself, but her mother asks her to hang out with Jules, a bratty-know-it-all rich kid. Blue's parents don’t know about the treasure hunt and sure wouldn’t let her search for it if they knew. Blue finds that she will have to take Jules along in her adventure, but they learn to work together, especially when professional treasure hunters come to compete. Blue gets to know Jules better and learns that she has had some hardships herself; her parents divorced, her dad is remarrying, and she hates the woman that he's marrying. Eventually, Blue and Jules end up being great friends who help each other get through hard times.

Join Blue, Otis, and Jules on their adventure to find a sunken treasure, and you’ll find yourself sinking into their story! I liked this book because it was adventurous, it was funny, and most of all it was engaging. I recommend this book to ages 9 and up, or any kid who loves adventure and sunken treasure.


Once Upon a Space-Time!

Petra and Jide, two human kids living in the future, are headed into space with Tobey, an alien whose world is full of Tobey clones, and Commander G, an advanced astronaut who is known to do cool things. Petra and Jide’s friends, Narleen, Spencer, and Jens, work in mission control. As Petra and Jide explore through space, they meet other alien kids, float in zero gravity, and try to stop some annoying adult astronauts from trying to replace the child astronauts. Will Petra, Jide, and their friends succeed in stopping the selfish adults from boarding the spaceship?

This book is a good read and a funny read! Tobey is silly, and I like how silly it is to have a spaceship called the POTATO, even though its an acronym. I like how this book has humor and is educational about science. My favorite character is Petra, even though she hates vegetables. But otherwise, I like all the good characters. I recommend this book to anyone who likes space, science fiction, and humor.


It can be tough at times to live in today's world. For Noelle Stevenson, there is no exception. For fans who are aware of her literary work, such as her book Nimona, as well as her fan art, they may not be aware of her internal struggles. The Fire Never Goes Out: A Memoir in Pictures is Noelle's way of explaining and helping others like her. Her memoir is different from others because she stays true to her talent by making the majority of the book a comic. Because of this, her story can be a quick read for some, but for others, they can internalize her struggle to help themselves.

Some life lessons happen, and the reader is allowed into a deeper part of Stevenson's life than what they see through her drawings. Noelle's life has looked perfect on the outside, with a great career and accomplishments to show—but inside, her pain was fierce. I appreciate the spotlight on mental health, as it's a hot topic right now and one that needs to be more familiar to the public. Overall, this is a fun and quick book (because of the pictures), but still holds seriousness and life lessons for us all.


Seven Endless Forests

In one night, Torvi loses almost everything to a plague. It’s only the beginning. When Torvi’s sister is kidnapped, there’s only one thing for her to do--set out on a quest with a group of bards to rescue her sister, find vengeance, and pull a sword from a silver tree. Their quest takes them to night markets and villages built with trees. With danger lurking around every corner, can Trovi do what she has to do before it’s too late?

The vast world is wonderful and full of intriguing places that I’d love to visit. Other than that, Seven Endless Forests was rather hard to get into. The plot itself was good but boring. If anything can go wrong, it goes right. The bards spend most of the time traveling and drinking. The characters are flat and all best friends within a page. None had very distinct voices. Information is repeated often, making sure you don’t forget what happened two pages ago. The world really is quite good, though, it has many different cultures, everywhere Torvi goes to is unique and fascinating.


All Boys Aren't Blue

George M. Johnson’s Young Adult memoir All Boys Aren’t Blue is an honest and authentic depiction of a young man growing up the intersection of his race and sexuality. As a gay, black man, Johnson illustrates how those two identities shaped him in this fresh book.

 As he writes, Johnson grew up in an accepting family, unlike many of his peers. While he did not come out until later in life, the signs of his homosexuality were present early. He references coining the term “honeychild” in grade school and using mannerisms, like “switching” when he walked and a “sassiness” in his physical presence that he recognizes as performances derived from his friendships with girls. Though later in life he displayed an appetite and talent for sports—a traditionally masculine endeavor—in his younger years, he describes himself in more feminine terms. It is these descriptions that make the case for the title, “all boys aren’t blue;” Johnson clearly and directly recounts a life that cannot be defined by one binary idea—in this case, the traditional connection of the color blue to boys. For Johnson, his own life is a study in how a boy can be anything, defined by anything, and determined by the specific boy in question and his experiences.

The book includes stories of several important people and moments in Johnson’s life. His sexual abuse at a young age, as well as the loss of his virginity, is rendered honestly, though readers under the age of fourteen may be too young for this content. In any event, All Boys Aren’t Blue is an emotional and true portrayal of one young man’s life; the writer’s bravery to tell this story cannot be lauded enough.


Lucy Crisp and the Vanishing House

This book is probably intended for kids in high school or maybe older. I’m twelve, but I really enjoyed it. With this coronavirus, I’m not even sure what I’ll be doing next year, so I liked reading a story about somebody who doesn’t have her life all planned. In school, we have to make a six-year-plan (as if we were factories in the Soviet bloc), but I don’t know what I’ll be doing in six years! Instead of going to college, Lucy Crisp has taken two gap years, working odd jobs and living with her dad in New York City. After she is hired by a florist, she is encouraged to apply to Ladywyck Lodge. She is accepted into the floral artistry program, and her dad is so happy he drives with her upstate to look at the town. Since Lucy will need a place to live, they visit a realtor, who sells them a beautiful, spacious, and surprisingly affordable house. That house turns out to be the vanishing house in the title, but the story is so good, and so fun to read, that I won’t ruin your fun by telling you any more. If you like magic, but maybe found Harry Potter to be too precious, try this book. It’s really charming! Every illustration by the author is a beautiful painting that gives you a feeling instead of a cartoon. Lucy is the kind of character you wish you knew in real life!


All Together Now

Bina and her friend Darcy start a band, but they need a drummer. When Darcy recruits classmate Enzo, Bina still isn’t too sure their band needs a drummer. They were doing just fine on their own, weren’t they? But when Enzo officially joins the band, things start going downhill for Bina. First, Enzo changes the band name from Fast Fashion to The Candids. What was wrong with the original name?! Second, Darcy and Enzo start dating, leaving Bina in the dust. Darcy says she has room in her heart for an evil twin and a boyfriend, but Bina isn’t so sure.

Life has even more surprises for Bina. For some reason, her best friend Austin has started acting weird, and on top of all that, she seems to be drifting away from Darcy. As Bina’s life starts to spin out of control, she must figure out how to keep it together, when everything is falling apart. I really liked this book because it was dramatic without being over the top, and perfectly real. I readily await the next book about Bina and her friends!


The Mysterious Messenger

The Mysterious Messenger by Gilbert Ford is a highly entertaining story. Maria Russo lives with her supposedly psychic mother. They make a living by scamming widows out of their jewelry, money, etc, by saying it's what their deceased significant other would have wanted. However, Maria has a secret. She can actually communicate with the dearly departed, at least with a ghost named Edward. Then one day, a widow comes to communicate with her dead husband. Edward sends Maria clues about a treasure that is hidden in the widow's home, and soon Maria finds herself in a mystery that has everything to do with Beat poets, jazz, and art.

I really enjoyed the writing style of this story and how it progressed. It wasn't boring, and it didn't fit into a mold like some other stories. The protagonists were likable, and the antagonists were realistically evil while at the same time exciting. I liked that the mystery was heavily influenced by the Beat poets, art, and music, as it was both informative and entertaining.


The Daughters of Ys

Queen Malgven of Ys has just died. In his grief, King Gradlon recounts a grisly tale to his two daughters, Dahut and Rozenn, that ends with murder and marriage. It is the story of how he first met Lady Malgven and made her his wife and how she used sorcery to push back the sea and build the city of Ys. Dahut and Rozenn have inherited their mother’s legacy of taming the monsters under the sea. Rozenn is the oldest, a dark-haired beauty, who rebels against it. She spends most of her time in the moors, preferring to “lie out in a field, watching the stars turn in the sky.” Dahut is beautiful, too, with red hair. Her anger at her father’s lust takes her down a darker path, using powerful spells to maintain the wealth and privilege of Ys. But that kind of power comes with a price.

M.T. Anderson’s graphic novel, The Daughters of Ys, is a modern retelling of an ancient Breton folktale. It is the story of love, loss, and intrigue. Both sisters are powerful characters and follow their clashing destinies to its tragic end. Jo Rioux’s art is Celtic in design, with images as ghostly and haunting as the tale.


A Ritchie Boy

Eli Stoff, a Jew, escapes from Vienna and finds sanctuary in the United States of America. To help his new country, he later joins the United States military to fight the Naizs who forced him to leave his home. He becomes part of an undercover intelligence unit known as the Ritchie Boys. This book explains how Eli got involved in the military and his time during it. This story has personal triumph and the power of family and friends. The author made the book very interesting by making every chapter a different point of view from each character. This definitely helped the book move along and changed things up. It also was very detailed and described very well, so it was very easy to imagine the story and characters. It also was intriguing because it helped me learn more about World War II and how the United States was involved. Eli is a very relatable character, he has to deal with moving to a whole new country and not knowing anyone. Which people can relate to having to move around so much and making new friends. This book does consist of 224 pages, so it did not take long to read. All in all, I do recommend reading A Ritchie Boy.


Even More Fantastic Failures: True Stories of People Who Changed the World by Falling Down First

Even More Fantastic Failures showcases an important lesson: Try, Try Again. It portrays famous figures that failed majorly and then got up and kept trying, after some failures they wind up succeeding. For instance, Teflon stated as a scientific mistake, that created a material that is 4 TIMES stronger than STEEL. With Yelp, a small, last-minute ADD ON became the focus of a profitable company that Google offered to buy. In Even More Fantastic Failures, Luke Reynolds expertly shows that the road to succeeding requires failures.

 Even More Fantastic Failures is a reference book. It has lots of different types of people each that fell down and recovered. I would recommend this book to second through sixth graders. I believe that schools should buy it and it is a really good first source for when you are researching. This book is fantastic. It briefly summarizes many stories of failure; from stories of actors to politicians and precedents to engineers. This book shows that failure is no big problem; just get up and Try, Try Again.


The Mountains of Mumbai

When Doma goes to visit her dear friend in Mumbai, India’s largest metropolitan city, she yearns for the mountains of Ladakh. She’s bewildered when Veda offers to show her the mountains of Mumbai. Though they might be different in color and shape than the ones Doma is used to seeing, she assures her that they’re tall indeed. As the girls navigate their way through the booming city, they approach a skyscraper of magnificent height. Together, they scale the spiral staircase inside all the way to the very top and walk out onto the rooftop. Doma is mesmerized by the visual and how the breeze blows cool air against her soft skin, just as it does from the mountains of Ladakh.

The Mountains of Mumbai is a unique picture book full of beautiful colors and a poignant message --- that beauty can be found anywhere if only one dares to search for it and allow for alternate and imaginative perspectives. It captures friendship at its best and shows young children a glimpse of daily life in this fascinating city. Though many featured in the story have little resemblance to those with Indian heritage, the overall quality of the watercolor illustrations is amazing. Additional facts about Mumbai are included at the end of the story, making it a perfect pick for early elementary school teachers in the United States and elsewhere.


Sion's Misfortune

Chen Jiafei, with illustrations by Wang Ran

This book takes place in an ancient kingdom along the Great Wall of China. In that kingdom lives a man named Sion, and he is a very widely-known fortune teller. He is widely known because he is never wrong about his predictions. One day when his horse crosses the kingdom's border and gets lost, he says that losing his horse may not have been such a bad thing. His friends think that he is crazy because they think losing the horse was a very bad thing, but when the horse comes back with other horses, the people see that Sion was right. While at the moment something may not seem like a good thing, sometimes if you wait you can understand why something bad happened, maybe for something better to happen. This book teaches us that sometimes our outlook and perspective on the world around us can be completely different. Sometimes things happen for a reason, just like in this book. Sion has faith that even though bad things happen, that everything will work out for the best. I really love the muted colors in the illustrations of this book. I especially like the pictures of the horses.


Sadiq Wants to Stitch

A young Indian boy watches as his mother stitches a gorgeous multicolored rug. He’s just returned from milking and grazing the sheep, a job he inherited soon after his Abba’s passing. To his delight, sometimes Ammi lets him thread the needle and sew a few stitches into the corner of her rug. However, when he offers to help her with an order she has little time to produce, she tells him, “in our community, it is the women who stitch.” Inspired by a dream, Sadiq begins his own masterpiece, despite his mother’s resistance. Each night, after Ammi falls asleep, he works feverishly on it. Once Ammi discovers his remarkable talent, she relents and allows him to pursue his dream.

Sadiq Wants to Stitch is a tale rich with cultural content, from the gorgeous, exquisitely detailed, watercolor illustrations through to the warm noon-cha Sadiq sips before heading off into the vast hills of Kashmir with his sheep. The text is laced with truths about the Bakarwals, the nomadic community to which Sadiq and his mother belong. Its message of love, passion, responsibility, and cultural norms is clear, and while the reading level is approximately third to fourth grade, children aged seven to eleven will likely feel fondness for it. Further, it’s ideal for classrooms across the globe in which culture is illuminated.


Highway 101: The History of El Camino Real

Full disclosure: I grew up a mile north of the 101, just west of Santa Barbara, and have traveled it over many years. Those years included a couple when I drove long-distance buses ranging from Los Angeles to San Francisco and Oakland. Also, the Marine Corps years when I hitchhiked or even walked long stretches between San Diego and Santa Barbara. I thought I knew the highway. I have now been comprehensively disabused in that regard.

This is a work of serious historical and geographical research. Sites I only remember passing in childhood, such as the streetcar diner north of Buellton, others I spent entranced days roaming, such as Jungleland in Thousand Oaks, have taken on depth and luster I would never have suspected. Development, investment, and the personalities and financial quirks of the founders are all meticulously explored. Communities and businesses, roads and realignments, are all laid out superbly well. The sheer detail, revealing painstaking and even loving research, is awe-inspiring. Everything from the old red line trolleys to the plethora of service stations is covered, with their evolution clearly laid out.

The illustrations are crisp black and white photos, with the exception of a more modern “California in Color” segment. The book is professionally and entertainingly written, and it took me two days of concentrated reading; a bargain!


Details of exotic locales, antisemitism, gay rights and sensibilities, and poignant, sometimes explicit, intimate encounters are meshed together in Foreign Affairs: Male Tales of Lust & Love, a collection of eleven short stories by Daniel M. Jaffe.

“The Importance of Being Jurassic” is set in Dublin and examines the public vote on gay marriage as well as the influence the Catholic Church had on suppressing the rights of this community.

A trip to discover one’s roots expands into a history of part of the Holocaust, as experienced by Jews in Terezin. This underpins “The Cobblestone Elegy,” a story set in Prague.

In “Gift Wrapped,” an exploration of prejudice, the author peels back layers to conclude that what you believe has a lot to do with where you came from and who your influences were.

The desperation of a sophisticated woman to escape the economic, political, and spiritual repression of authoritarian Russia is the heartbreaking theme of “Innocence Abroad.”

Other stories in the collection present a history of antisemitism in Spain, a compassionate look at transgender people and the process of sexual reassignment, the economic realities behind prostitution, and even a glimpse into the mind of a pedophile. They are all challenging as well as entertaining.

As a travel writer, Jaffe introduces his destinations as one would a friend, with intimacies known only to a close acquaintance. He suffuses the location with personality by including local history, architecture, and frequently, regional delicacies.

His characters are imbued with wit, warmth, and whimsy, and despite some of their sexual proclivities, they are all human and relatable. Empathy is created through the author’s use of self-deprecating humor and insightful reflection.

A fine writer, Jaffe has a command of language and the difficult medium of the short story. His use of magic realism in some of the work allows for a broader exploration of characters, settings, and themes. Though some might consider the stories bold in subject matter, Foreign Affairs: Male Tales of Lust & Love is an insightful collection of finely crafted stories. One has to wonder why the author chose a cover image and title that depict the book as gay porn.


Meet Me at Midnight

Sidney and Asher have known each other for years. Their mothers are best friends from college who still go away with their families to neighboring beach houses each summer. The two months on the lake should be spent lazily relaxing, but Sidney and Asher do not like each other at all. They are civil enough around their parents, but their pranks keep getting bigger and bigger.  When the latest prank causes damage to one of the bedrooms, Nadine, the house owner, kicks them out. Sidney and Asher end up sharing the same house and bathroom. When a truce is called to avenge their misfortune against Nadine, something sweet begins to grow between them as they spend time together. But is it enough to get past years of dislike and spite?

Asher is a self-assured kid while Sidney lacks confidence in herself; these characterizations sometimes make the story repetitive. Detailed and dense, this story builds not on action, but rather the development of the main characters. Unfortunately the secondary characters are not as well developed. While not as good as Jessica Pennington's other novel, Love Songs and Other Lies, this is a good read for those who are waiting for the next Sarah Dessen or Kasie West book.


The Remarkable Life of the Skin: An Intimate Journey Across our Largest Organ

Weighing in at twenty pounds, more or less, our skin is the largest organ in our bodies. It is responsible for our appearance, but its importance has often been overlooked. In this remarkable book reminding us of the significance of this integumentary body, English dermatologist Monty Lyman takes the reader on a revelatory inspection of this structure.

While the skin envelops the body, it is also host to multitudes of microbes and insects that live symbiotically on the substrate, and some can become overly annoying, such as mites causing the horrid itch of scabies. Think of the senses provided by your skin, the sexy feel of touch, the pressure of pain, the warning of heat, and more.

Your identity is found in your fingerprints, although a very few individuals lack this defining imprint. The difference between a blush and a flush is clearly described, while wrinkles take some discussion, with the advice being that they reflect part of our character. Pigments in skin are natural, but the lack of them can be dangerous in parts of Africa, while too much melanin may be associated with negative feelings.

The skin works with the immune system and also reflects our mental states. For instance, psoriasis has been shown to be effectively treated by recent medical advances, but it can also be cured by hypnosis and meditation.

The reader is exposed to the wondrous world of the skin through the delightful stories, descriptions, and explanatory diagrams presented in this book.


Alphamaniacs: Builders of 26 Wonders of the World

I would liken Alphamaniacs: Builders of 26 Wonders of the Word to Guinness World Records as well as to Ripley's Believe it or Not. Fleischman includes twenty-six "word enthusiasts" who have had an impact on our language for decades. Examples include a man who has rewritten famous works of art (Shakespeare, the Bible) using only vanity license plates registered in the state of California. Another is the man who invented Star Trek's Klingon language. While most of the individuals are men, there are a few women included as well. One is a woman who restored an extinct language from only a vision and perseverance. One could say that the individuals had a drive for competition, knowledge, and creativity, and an overall drive to improve the human race.

Alphamaniacs was an informative read, as I had never heard of the people included in this book. Honestly, I first thought I was getting a book about twenty-six wonders of the "world" because of not reading clearly, but I'm thankful for that mistake and find it amusing that my reading error fell in line with the point of the book. Those who enjoy history are sure to like this book, but really, everyone should know the facts given in it.


The Age of Witches: A Novel

Annis Allington doesn’t live up to her stepmother’s expectations. She loves horses and is a blunt, independent spirit. Frances Allington wants her stepdaughter to be demure, socially situated, and married to a man with a title so that Frances can have the access to the New York high society she has always coveted. Frances is willing to do anything, including using dark magic, to make her dream come true, even if it means hurting Annis in the process. Louisa Morgan’s latest novel, The Age of Witches, is as much a family drama as it is a fantastical tale of witchcraft. Tracing her history back to the legendary Bridget Bishop—one of the first witches hanged during the Salem Witch Trials—Frances comes from a long line of powerful women. So does her cousin, Harriet, who vows to protect Annis at all costs from Frances’s evil intentions. The Age of Witches is also a masterful love story that spans generations. Morgan illustrates the importance of loving someone for who they truly are as well as the dangers of manipulating love for your own personal gain. The novel is fun, intriguing, and a perfect fit for fans of Deborah Harkness or Alice Hoffman.


The Book of Koli (Rampart Trilogy, 1)

Graphic novel writer turned novelist M.R. Carey, following the success of his previous novels The Girl with All the Gifts and The Boy on the Bridge, returns with The Book of Koli, the first book in a proposed trilogy.

The story begins in a post-apocalyptic world where everything has changed and appears to be not too bad, but as more details are revealed, it is clear there is something much greater going on here. Koli has lived in Mythen Rood all his life and spends the first few chapters explaining how things are and how they came to be as such. He also talks about what is beyond Mythen Rood: great forests filled with choker trees and deadly seeds, and those known as shunned men. It is a place you do not want to go, but it is also a place Koli must go.

Carey has a knack for creating a unique world that immediately grabs the reader’s interest, and he also tells the story in language that feels as if it were penned by someone from a distant, broken future. Fans will be thrilled with The Book of Koli.


Matylda, Bright and Tender

Fourth graders Sussy and Guy are best friends. They do everything together and tell each other everything. One day, they decide they need a pet. But what to get? There are so many options. A guinea pig? A bird? When Guy suggests a leopard gecko, Sussy reluctantly agrees. They decide to name her Matylda and give her a cool origin story. In the story, Matylda was a warrior lizard held in captivity by an evil king who made the lizards fight to the death for his entertainment. When Matylda won her fiftieth duel, she was allowed to go free and have a wish granted!

A few weeks later, tragedy strikes. Sussy must find a way to go on with Matylda while coping with the hole in her heart that Guy left behind. For Sussy, life will never be the same. Sussy starts stealing treats and toys for Matylda in order to make the gecko happy. Maybe if she keeps Matylda happy and makes Matylda love her, she can hold on to Guy.

This book was a sweet and beautiful story about going forward despite tragic losses.


Jasmine Green Rescues: A Piglet Called Truffle is the story of a little girl named Jasmine Green who lives on a farm with her mother and father. Her mother is a veterinarian and her father is a farmer; this means that Jasmine has to help take care of animals a lot. Jasmine and her mother travel to another farm so that her mother can help with the birth of a calf. While there, Jasmine discovers a tiny piglet that is barely alive. She secretly takes it back home to her farm and nurses it back to health. She keeps the tiny piglet hidden in her room as she cares for it. What will happen to Jasmine and the tiny piglet if her parents find out?

As a lover of all animals, this story made me smile. I enjoyed reading about Jasmine Green and her love for animals. Maybe I can convince my mom to let me get a pet pig while you grab a copy of this sweet tale!


Dumpster Dogs

Dumpster Dogs is about a pack of neglected, mistreated dogs who have vowed to never, ever get close to a human again. Riley, the leader of the pack who calls themselves the "Dumpster Dogs" teaches them everything he knows about surviving on his own. Then he breaks the pack's most sacred rule and becomes friends with Emily, a human, and her dog Sophie. Despite this, his pack still allowed Riley to be their leader and agree that he should learn more about this human. When Riley's pack needs him, he has to make a choice. Does he leave Emily and Sophie? Should he reveal his pack to them in the hopes that they may be able to help?

Dumpster Dogs is the story of how neglect and mistreatment do not have to shape your life in a negative way. There is always hope for redemption and you can determine your own future if you are just willing to try. This story is a wonderful read for anyone who has ever felt like they were down and out but refused to give up and chose to find a brighter future!


Gallimaufry: A Collection of Essays, Reviews, Bits

Gallimaufry. For readers like me who haven’t encountered the term, it means “a confused jumble or medley of things.” The noun does capture the style of Joseph Epstein’s anthology, but it misses its social significance. Gallimaufry: A Collection of Essays, Reviews, and Bits showcases the essayist’s finest pieces, many of which analyze our nation’s current crises. These essays are subversive, witty, occasionally offensive – and more relevant now than when Epstein penned the final few. His “Bits” are entirely the opposite. In them we discover an elderly Jewish gentleman enamored with cats, Chinese food, and Chicago, a man who isn’t afraid to analyze racial prejudice but who still takes himself with a grain of (kosher) salt.

If Epstein’s decades as literature professor and critic have taught him anything, it’s that discussions blending “critical” and “controversial” should begin by establishing common ground. He explains that his nonpartisan stance stems from his childhood as a member of a stigmatized minority in 1950’s Chicago. Unlike news reports, magazine articles, and political campaigns, his analysis isn’t masking either a liberal or conservative agenda.

Epstein’s “Bits” would have softened the book if he’d interspersed them with his essays, and the sanest way to tackle the anthology may be to mix and match the pieces ourselves. Gallimaufry was not penned by a faint-hearted author. But we aren’t reading in faint-hearted times.


Frankie and the Gift of Fantasy

Frankie and the Gift of Fantasy by Ruthy Ballard is a fun story about a kid who goes on amazing adventures.

Frankie is a kid with a big imagination. The plot was original and it made sense. The story is about survival in the wild, and I like survival books. I did not feel like I got to know the characters very well, but I did enjoy reading this book. The language flowed pretty well and the story was very well written. The book has some pictures in it that went well with the story, although it could probably use more pictures.

I think kids ten years old and older who enjoy a good sci-fi story would enjoy this book. It might even make a good series because you can have more imagination adventures. I think this is a great book to read because there is so much imagination in it and I love it!


Optics: A Novel About Women and Work and Midlife Muddles

Kris is tired of working for Roger. He’s just the worst. He can’t seem to see her contributions to the eyewear business he recently bought, or envision the suggestions many of the smartest employees offer for updating their web offerings. Roger is seemingly dead set on sinking the company, clearly lacking the vision needed to run an eyewear company. He’s also mean-spirited, as evidenced by his snide remarks to Diana, one of Kris’s closest friends, about her weight, size, and meals.

However, Kris loves her job at Klassik Eyewear, so she wants to stick to her retirement plan and keep the company rolling. While representing Klassik at an eyewear convention, she receives a call from Sandy in HR about the reorganization of the company...a reorganization that means she no longer has a job. Faced with unemployment in her mid-fifties, Kris is desperate to find another job. When an unexpected windfall comes her way, the timing couldn’t be more perfect, as Roger is looking for a buyer. With the help of her husband, daughter, and friends, she just might pull off the coup of a lifetime.

This debut novel features a strong-willed woman who pushes through hardships created by others’ views of both age and gender. There is a tendency for society to overlook women who have passed middle age, but this tale illustrates how they should not be taken lightly.  Setting this contemporary story in the eyewear industry is a stroke of genius, as the characters must all take a closer look at their strengths and goals to determine what they want from life.

Readers can envision Kris and her group of similarly aged girlfriends as their favorite actresses, such as Diane Keaton or Meryl Streep, enjoying a bottle of wine as they catch up on each other's families and jobs while doing their best to keep their work lives intact. Their monthly get-togethers serve as a great platform for Kris to work through her woes with the support of those who understand her best. While the book is told mostly from Kris’s perspective, Diana’s point of view, though infrequent, adds more background to the story, especially as readers find out what Roger has been up to.

This book is a solid effort and a perfect beach read. I hope it will not be the last title I read from this author.


All the Broken People

Woodstock, New York seems to be where All the Broken People end up. It’s where Lucy finds herself while trying to outrun her past. While there, she meets Vera and John who have their own problems. They have a plan to make John disappear: fake his death. They ask Lucy for her help, but everything goes wrong when John turns up actually dead. All the evidence points to Lucy and in this small town where she’s a stranger, she doesn’t know whom to trust. Was someone after John or has Lucy’s past come back to haunt her? Everyone has secrets and no one is really whom you think they are.

It wasn’t the worst book I’ve ever read, but I didn’t super enjoy it either. I had a hard time liking Lucy and I thought her relationship with John and Vera was fairly odd. Don’t even get me started on Rachel or Davis. I think the moral of the story was don’t ever agree to help someone fake their death on the off chance that they actually die and you look pretty suspicious. I’m sure there is a very specific group of people who will enjoy this book, but I don’t include myself in it. You would have to like murder mysteries with lots of broken people, multiple suspects, but no suspense. If you don’t have anything else to read right now, then have at it, but you might want to wait for something better.


The Orphan's Daughter

The Orphan's Daughter is a story set in the Depression-era and is about a young and impressionable seven-year-old boy named Clyde whose father gives no notice of his upcoming departure nor exhibits warning signs. He just leaves, never to return to his wife and young children. Clyde’s mother is left with only one option—to take him and his little brother, Harry, to the nearby orphanage to live until she can save up enough money to care for the two them on her own. She promises the boys their stay will be brief. The years trickle by one after another, and though she sometimes attends Visiting Sundays, she fails to take them home. The two endure countless episodes of beatings with the Colonel’s cane and swats across their heads and backsides. Demerits are tallied for all manner of things the higher-ups deem unacceptable for young Hebrew boys. The harshness of the environment festers brooding fights and essential friendships. Though the pair desperately long for home, Clyde and Harry both fall prey to institutionalization by the time they finally find freedom from the Hebrew National Orphanage Home, ten long years after their mother left them.

In her youth, Joanna never feels fully accepted by her father, Clyde. He’s never hidden the fact he always wanted a boy, though he adores her older sister Susan. As a budding teenager, Joanna, Susan, Clyde, and one of Susan’s friends go on a camping trip that results in an even deeper divide between Joanna and her father. She says that after it “the castle gate slammed shut and that was it for him.” By crossing the unsavory boundaries he did, her trust in and respect for her father is shattered. Time passes, and they both go their own disparaging ways until her father suddenly becomes deathly ill. Joanna is living in California at the time, miles away from his home in Baltimore. Despite her stepmother’s volatile disposition, let alone her father’s ungrateful nature, she discards her own responsibilities in order to be there for him until his dying day. Once that day comes to pass, Joanna yearns to uncover her father’s past. She knows much of it is detailed in an old book he started before he left the Hebrew orphanage as a 17-year-old. She finds it as well as some of his old letters and battles her stepmother over her rights to what she knows are key to unlocking the secrets of the past that will allow her the closure she needs to move toward a future of hope.

Debut Author, Jan Cherubin, intricately weaves the stories of Clyde and his daughter, Joanna, together in The Orphan’s Daughter. She alternates between the two in her descriptions of their lives, which appear as two separate tales that gradually come together as one. Their existences are linked by blood and common experience, yet their paths are so divergent. However, when their journeys intersect later in adulthood, at a time when desperation calls, what unfolds is both noteworthy and heartwarming. The twists and turns that take shape make the novel more indelible, urging the reader to continue on through the last page. The events that present themselves spark an array of emotions. Frustration and angst accompany sadness and disillusionment. Joy and healing coexist with relief and resolution. Foresight and hope coupled with understanding and faith. All-in-all, The Orphan’s Daughter is a worthy read, and those who have experienced difficult and unsettling relationships with their fathers, in particular, will likely be drawn to this text. Additionally, readers who have longed for acceptance from a parent of either gender or any other significant role model in their lives will likely find this story relatable.


Life in the Chastity Zone

Chastity is a drama queen, but there’s no wonder why. Her perfect fiancé has called off their perfect wedding, her doctoral degree is in jeopardy of never being completed, and she’s suffered a loss like none other. All she really wants is a job in earthquake engineering and design, a hot and romantic husband, and a home of her own, maybe eventually filled with children. When her parents tire of her laying around on the couch, watching daytime TV, and mourning her lost reality, they push her to finish her degree by seeing her doctoral advisor. Her best friend and cousin pushes her to date again with abandon. Her new neighbor’s daughter Daphne has some suggestions for her as well, seemingly from a psychic perspective. Her grandmother, even, has suggestions for dating that she shares from her own TMI experiences. It won’t be easy at all—Chastity is thirty years old, still a virgin, and unable to find a man worthy of her and a long life together. When she finally realizes what defines her dream life, she has a laundry list of things to do to achieve it. She must face the faculty member who controls the fate of her degree, daringly date again at thirty from New York to Paris with a brief trip to Idaho, and realize what she wants in order to get her life back on track.

Chastity is overly dramatic. There are so many phrases in capital letters and so many exclamation points that they start to lose their emphasis because Chastity is having trouble focusing her life. Her many romantic daydreams contrast sharply with her frustrated desires to have sex and love together, adding to her confusion and building up to her realization of her own personal dreams. The story reads as a stream of consciousness, more like an extremely long diary entry than a cohesive story, but there are many instances of quick wit and funny dialogue or experiences that help to move it along. Even so, the characters are great—everyone wants a cousin like Roxie or an all-knowing psychic like Daphne—and readers will be swept up in the drama quickly. While the ending doesn’t provide resolution for most of what ails poor Chastity, it is worthy of a beach or bedtime read. Hopefully, many of the questions that linger at the end of this one will be addressed in the sequel.


The Pursuit of the Personal Renaissance Experience: Finding Opportunities for Happiness in the Ever-Present Now

For Peter Justus, the first step on the path to lasting happiness was a mortifying visit to the dentist. He had long been aware that, despite otherwise having teeth that would be ranked as above average, he had a tendency toward excessive plaque formation. As a result, he invested in a top-of-the-line sonic toothbrush and always took pains to clean his teeth thoroughly at least twice per day. However, trips to the dentist still involved lengthy tooth cleaning sessions and, during the fateful visit, a new dental hygienist implied that his teeth were in such a bad state that he must not care for them at all.

Thoroughly embarrassed by the suggestion of poor dental hygiene and perplexed by the state of his teeth despite the care he took, Justus examined his teeth-cleaning routine and even finally read the manual for his fancy toothbrush. The next time he cleaned his teeth, he gave the process his full attention and ensured that he was being as efficient as possible. To his surprise, Justus found that knowing he had done a good job with his teeth brought him a degree of happiness that he had not associated with a mundane task before. He speculated that this revelation (i.e., the satisfaction derived from a job well done) could be applied to other areas of life and so started to apply the same level of thoughtfulness to all facets of his daily activities.

This idea of thoughtfulness (or, as it might more commonly be termed, mindfulness) represents the core of the thesis that Justus sets out in The Pursuit of the Personal Renaissance Experience. He believes that living in the moment and fully committing to any task that one engages in represents the key to achieving happiness in daily life. It’s not a unique insight, but it is a convincing one. The process begins with an examination of the individual’s roles in life and then the appropriate proportioning of time/effort to each role. Aside from the teeth-cleaning example, Justus highlights how mindfulness helped him to improve his game in his role as a golfer and to improve his communication with patients in his role as a physician. He uses these examples from his own life to explain how readers can apply his ideas in their daily lives.

The book’s thesis becomes less convincing when Justus considers biologic imperatives and suggests that people are inherently driven by the pursuit of both physical immortality and spiritual immortality. The ideas seem sound, but they’re not developed enough. As the book is fairly short, it would have benefited from the inclusion of either more scientific data and examples from other authors (making it more of a general self-help book) or more personal reflections and anecdotes from Justus’s life (making it more of a personal account of the benefits of mindfulness). Given the interesting asides that Justus offers, particularly concerning his family history, the latter approach might have worked best.

Justus has a friendly and engaging writing style, and the ideas he presents in The Pursuit of the Personal Renaissance Experience are likely to spur readers on to discover more about the benefits of living in the moment.


In The Pursuit of the Personal Renaissance Experience, author Peter Justus sets out to examine how we can live more in the moment, rather than just living through time. After making a discovery in his personal life, he realized that one could find meaning and fulfillment in everyday activities. In his case, it was dental hygiene that set the ball rolling. As he explains, due to our biological makeup our purpose is to seek immortality in the physical and spiritual areas of our lives. He suggests that by examining the leading roles in our lives and dividing them into useful categories, we can find areas where we can focus attention and improve our capabilities. Once we have made some changes and improvements in our physical activities or social interactions, we will acquire new skills or simply experience more enjoyment or a sense of accomplishment. And from this, we will be able to create more meaning, fulfillment, and by extension, happiness in our lives. We will be spending less of our time in mindless motion, merely passing the time.

I found this to be a thought-provoking work that was actually a lot more in-depth than I had anticipated. I think anyone who reads this is likely to think differently about the meaning of happiness and how to go about achieving it. I have to admit the author provided me with a new framework for examining things I do daily. The examples he showed about how he applied his principles to his game of golf and his efforts to improve communication with his patients were interesting and useful. Before reading this, I hadn't stopped to think about how much we do in our lives every day that could be improved or done more mindfully to make it more meaningful.

I like that the author provides a good opening to the book, and I thought the summary was excellent. Throughout, he uses humor where appropriate and presents his ideas clearly and thoughtfully. I especially enjoyed the chapter on spirituality, where he discusses his thoughts about the transcendent consciousness and how having a link to this should be a positive experience. Basically, I think he provides useful and helpful advice for those who want to find more ways to improve and experience their own personal renaissance. By giving the reader tools to accomplish this, those who do so will likely find they are able to spend more time living in the present and enjoying it much more.


Can the process for overcoming an unsatisfactory experience with dental hygiene provide opportunities for happiness in more significant areas of your life?

For Peter Justus, it did. In this book, he defines this experience and illustrates how it can be applied to your career, your personal life, even your golf game.

Despite cleaning his teeth regularly, he was always disappointed and embarrassed when he visited the dental hygienist:

“… The two minutes spent twice daily [cleaning his teet] had lost their meaning because the ultimate goal was not being achieved ... the time spent in the activity felt prolonged and unpleasant ... it became a state of suffering.”

Eventually, after yet another humiliation with the hygienist, Justus came home and read the directions on how to properly use his sonic care toothbrush. He diligently began to apply the new-found knowledge resulting in better oral hygiene and high praise from the dental professionals. As a result, he “was experiencing happiness,” and although this wasn’t the first time in his life that he felt happy, it was “the first time I thought I knew why.”

His conclusion was that if one focused on perfecting a technique, they would master a procedure while at the same time finding it enjoyable, and achieve a positive outcome, all of which would result in happiness.

I think.

I write “I think” because Justus complicates his theorems with the use of philosophical references and pseudo-scientific language, perhaps to convey profundity for basic truths. I was looking forward to seeing how the author applied this happiness technique expounded in the first few chapters to his career, marriage and as a parent, areas he identified as consuming the majority of his time. However, he provides no evidence, even anecdotally, as to how successful this was in his personal life. He seemed to fare better professionally when he used it to listen to his patients and socially engage with his colleagues. Apparently, his golf game improved as well.

With chapters entitled “The Biological Imperatives” and “The Evolution of Biologic and Social Organisms,” the author shifts away from the promise of the book to the speculative theorizing of biological data and personal views on money, possessions, citizenship, morality, and spirituality.

Despite a lot of high-minded rhetoric, The Pursuit of the Personal Renaissance Experience is little more than the old adage that a job worth doing is worth doing well. The presented corollary is that you’ll derive pleasure in a job well done, an understanding that is self-evident for most people.


Bohemians West : Free Love, Family, and Radicals in Twentieth Century America

Love can surpass boundaries of time, age, and even reason. Three decades separated their age, however, a spark lit when Charles Erskine Wood met Sara Bard Field. A relationship commenced enduring thirty years. Yet, there was nothing simple in this pairing. Both were married, both had children. Wood was involved in other extramarital relationships. Sara Field married young, yet Wood’s passion and open-mindedness made her smitten with the older gentleman. The background of the two seemed to have destined them for escapism. Wood was the son of a military man who desired Wood to follow in his footsteps. Wood chafed at military life, eventually going into law and excelling. He was a budding poet. Sara originated from a strict religious background, married a pastor, yet had misgivings about her path. Wood and Field started working together. An affair soon began, both Wood’s and Field’s spouses feeling aggrieved. Sara longed for Wood, but would enthusiastically lobby for Women’s right to vote as her other passion when Wood was off on his own ventures.

Bohemians West is not your typical biography, reading comparable to a romantic dual history of two extraordinary individuals. The author captures the spirit of the atypical romance, reflecting on the times in which they played out. The protagonist pair are seen as free-spirited, but also human in their prejudices and hypocrisies. But their downsides don’t detract from their contributions. Superb work.


Read or Alive (Bookmobile Mystery 3)

Cleo Watkins is back and more excited than ever thanks to a fair by the Georgian Antiquarian Book Society. Her excitement is quickly threatened by a smooth-talking snake-oil salesman making his way around the fair and conning good book-loving folk out of rare editions. When the con man is found dead, those closest to Cleo are at the top of the suspect list, her cousin Dot having been conned out of a first edition and her gentleman friend Henry being eyed as guilty by the sheriff. She knows both are innocent, but can she prove it before either gets arrested?

Nora Page delights yet again with Read or Alive, which blends the love of books with an intriguing murder mystery and a sassy sleuth. Cleo is a delight in every way, with her vocal personality, caring nature, her dedication to books, and the way she speaks her mind. This mystery is a book lover’s dream, with literary references all throughout. This latest mystery has two of her loved ones at the top of the suspect list which drives her more than ever to solve the case. The community is at the center of the story with its town gossip but also its heart as they rally together in defense of those closest to them. Page delivers another addicting mystery with Read or Alive which is humorous, charming, and a complete joy to read. Each new mystery in the series is even better than the last as Cleo Watkins continues to shine.


A Study in Murder

The place is Bath, England and the year is 1890 where you encounter the fiery and independent Lady Amy Lovell who has a surprising secret: she writes murder mysteries. She never wished to marry in the first place, but when she receives a surprising note that her fiancé has been dabbling in the opium trade, she sees an opportunity to break the engagement. She doesn’t expect him to show up a few nights later unannounced only to be found quite dead. To top it off, the authorities seem to think she’s the guilty party. She knows more than they do about how to solve a murder and with the help of her good friend Lord Wethington, she stirs up the high society of Bath to uncover her ex-fiancé’s shady dealings which catches the attention of the killer and puts their lives on the line.

Historical cozy mystery lovers are in luck! A Study in Murder is a breath of fresh air with a heroine that is smart, clever, and brazen. Callie Hutton excels at capturing the finer details of this era through their mannerisms, dialogue, and the setting which brings the time period to life. Amy will be one of your favorite cozy sleuths from the moment you meet her thanks to her strong-willed personality that breaks the mold of Victorian women. She’s a delightful lady that has a dual identity as an author of murder mysteries which comes in handy when she takes up the case of solving her ex-fiance's murder. Amy and William are the ultimate duo with banter, a respectful partnership, and dazzling chemistry that brings humor, sparks, and fun every time they’re together. The story is humorous with their dynamic and her strong personality pushing back against the society around them. Hutton breathes new life into the era and into historical mysteries with a cozy read that has heart, charm, and a dazzling female sleuth that redefines what it means to be a Lady of the 1800s.


A Spell For Trouble

Alex is heading to Bellamy Bay to get some good ole family therapy by helping her aunt and cousins at their herbal apothecary. As she gets to know her estranged family, she’s shocked when a customer turns up dead and her aunt tops the suspect list. When she digs deeper into the dark secrets of the town, she uncovers a shocking revelation about her family. Settling into the town isn’t easy as she butts heads with a handsome cop and ends up in the middle of a rivalry with another family after she reunites with an old friend. Alex is determined to find the truth, but when she gets a little too close to finding the killer, her life may be in danger.

This is a magical cozy mystery that puts a unique spin on the supernatural while blending in the complications of a reporter and a rival family. Alex’s life has been turned upside down after quitting her job and losing her father, so she heads to her parents’ hometown. The mystery offers her a chance to explore a different side of herself by learning more about her mother’s heritage and discovering the magical world available to her. Relationships are complicated as Alex has friction with a handsome cop and also reunites with an old friend from a rival family. This sets the scene for a potential love triangle.

A Spell For Trouble is a smashing start to an enchanting new series that has humor, heart, and magic in a tale of self-discovery, new beginnings, and family.


Dust

Claire is living a life of sadness and survival as she cares for herself and searches for her brother, Conner, who disappeared six years ago. Claire also has a secret. When she feels emotions, dust comes streaming out of her hands. She feels like her dust is a curse.

Peter Pan is stuck in London away from Neverland along with the Lost Boys, Tiger Lily, and Captain Hook. He is desperate to get back and knows Claire is the key to unlocking the way back. When Claire finally gets some information on where Conner was last seen, she travels to London to search for more clues. She goes to the police and gets a name from Officer Darling. She looks for a man named James Hocken, who may know about her brother. She finds more clues leading her to a pub the Siren’s Song, which takes her to Officer Darling, aka the Guardian, who guides her to find someone who can help her in Kingston Gardens.

In Kingston Garden, Claire finds a very handsome boy by the Peter Pan statue. They talk a bit, but she tells him she hates Peter Pan because he took her brother. The boy, Peter Pan, figures out that she’s the one he’s been looking for and decides to tell her his name is Ben and that he is a lost boy to get her to trust him so he can get back to Neverland. As the lies Peter tells begin to unravel, Claire begins to see a choice between the boy that lied and never grew up or Captain Hook, who has, so far, told her the truth. The question is which one will she help get back to Neverland?

Characters: I loved Peter and Claire was okay. I think Claire was a hard character for me to like because she was so depressed at the beginning and very introverted. It made her not super likable, but it gave her great character growth. Peter was very beautifully written. I liked the play on what a teenage boy Peter, who still shirked responsibility, would look like. I hated that he lied, but I also understood it was necessary for the plot.
Writing Style: I liked the premise. The beginning was a bit slow—especially the Claire chapters. The descriptions were absolutely stunning.
I loved the scenes where Claire is out of control and her dust is dark and acidic. I think it is a great show of what mental struggles can do to a person and those closest to you until you can come back to see the good in yourself. It truly reminded me of how fragile our self-worth can be. I really loved the ending!

Age recommendation: 14 and up.


In Dr. Murphy's original book, The Power of Your Subconscious Mind, published in 1963, he set out to explain how the subconscious sphere of the mind could help one achieve goals and dreams or change behavior. In this current book, Expand the Power of Your Subconscious Mind, Jensen has decided to include the original manuscript and expand on it with his commentary and ideas.

The main idea presented in both versions is that your mind's thoughts help create your outer world. I found that the book explained much about the subconscious mind and how it can improve your life with the aid of affirmations and visualization. One important thing that I took away from reading this is the importance of stopping negative thoughts mid-sentence and replacing them with something positive.

I'm quite pleased to have found this work because I had heard that the best time to meditate or practice visualization is before sleep, but I wasn't sure why. Murphy and Jensen explain that this is when the conscious mind has less influence on the subconscious mind. And they include many affirmations and tips to help control this part of the mind. If you are interested in improving your meditation or the effectiveness of visualization or affirmations, this book should prove useful.