The Unkindness of Ravens: A Greer Hogan Mystery (Greer Hogan Mysteries)

Mystery Roundup

There’s nothing like a good murder mystery to help you while away the hours and perhaps even cause you to question the characters and motivations of those nearest and dearest to you. Whether you’re in the mood for a gentle mystery, an action-packed thriller, or a shocking example of real-life crime, the following new releases have got you covered:

The Unkindness of Ravens: A Greer Hogan Mystery by M.E. Hilliard

Greer Hogan might be a librarian with a fondness for murder mysteries, but she has no desire to become embroiled in anything death-related herself. Unfortunately for Greer, both murder and mystery seem to be taking center stage in her life. First, her husband was murdered, which prompted Greer to start afresh in the idyllic community of Raven Hill, where for a time she was happily employed in the town’s library. Things take yet another turn for the worse, however, when she finds her best friend dead in the library. There have been two other suspicious deaths in Raven Hill in recent times, although the police deem them to be accidental, but Greer is starting to think that there is something seriously amiss in the seemingly tranquil community. Could there be a serial killer on the prowl in Raven Hill? How are the recent deaths related to a murder from decades ago? And perhaps more importantly, how is any of it related to the death of Greer’s husband? The Unkindness of Ravens is an intriguing murder mystery packed with plenty of red herrings and loads of fun references to crime fiction from the golden age.

A Lonely Man by Chris Power

A chance encounter in a bookshop––two strangers reaching for the same book at the same time––should be a minor incident at most, but in Chris Power’s A Lonely Man, it changes the course of a writer’s life. Struggling to write that difficult second book, currently eighteen months overdue, Robert Prowe spends his time wallowing, avoiding writing, and occasionally attending readings at bookshops near his Berlin home. During one such event, he meets a drunk and belligerent fellow named Patrick, another Brit adrift in Berlin, who he later has to save from a beating. The two end up going for a drink and, to Robert’s surprise, Patrick ends up being good company. They actually find a lot to talk about, and that’s before Patrick mentions that he was working as the ghostwriter for a Russian oligarch who has recently been found hanged. Patrick claims that he is being followed and maintains that his own life is in danger due to his association with the oligarch. It all seems a bit unbelievable to Robert, but since he has been struggling for months to come up with a storyline for his new book, he decides to use Patrick and his story to get his own writing started. This kick-starts a thrilling game of cat and mouse in which Patrick can never be sure what is real, what is fiction, and whether the distinction really matters.

The Eagle and the Viper by Loren D. Estleman

On Christmas Eve in 1880, an attempt was made to assassinate Napoleon Bonaparte, who had recently been appointed First Consul of the French Republic. It wasn’t the first such attempt, although it did cause more devastation than more, resulting in buildings in Paris being destroyed and civilians killed. This much is historical fact, but in The Eagle and the Viper Loren D. Estleman crafts an explosive story around what might have happened if pro-royalist plotters had been inspired by the Christmas Eve assassinate attempt to launch their own conspiracy to bring down Napoleon. In Estleman’s alternative reality, the plotters are led by Georges Cadoudal, a former French military offer who fled to England following the birth of the Republic. Cadoudal hires a mysterious assassin known as the Viper, who seems to have his own deep-seated reasons for wanting to kill Napoleon. Mixing history with fiction, real people with intriguing characters, gives rise to an action-packed story of assassins and spies that whizzes along at a cracking pace as the Viper heads toward Paris and his fateful encounter with Napoleon.

All That Fall by Kris Calvin

When best friends Emma Lawson and Kate Doyle decide to give up their careers in the cut-and-thrust world of Sacramento politics in order to open a preschool, they have no idea just how dangerous their new endeavor will prove to be. Things seem to be going well when the Governor of California’s three-year-old daughter Vivian is enrolled in their preschool, but when both Vivian and Kate’s fifteen-year-old son Luke are kidnapped during a tour of the preschool, events take a turn for the deadly. Kate is shot and seriously wounded during the kidnapping, leaving Emma to puzzle out what the kidnappers are after and where they could have stashed the children. Despite the dearth of clues, Emma’s tenacity means that she makes more progress than the authorities, linking the kidnapping to long-buried secrets with serious implications for those at the highest level of Sacramento society. Kris Calvin’s All That Fall is an intriguing and suspenseful story of corruption and murder that grips readers from the outset and holds their attention throughout as Emma Lawson seeks to unravel the most complex of political scandals.

At Any Cost: A Father’s Betrayal, a Wife’s Murder, and a Ten-Year War for Justice by Rebecca Rosenberg and Selim Algar

In At Any Cost, Rebecca Rosenberg and Selim Algar relate the shocking story behind the real-life murder of Shele Danishefsky by her former husband Rod Covlin. Danishefsky had already accumulated considerable wealth through her job with Merrill Lynch by the time she married Covlin, who was eleven years younger and worked as both a stockbroker and a professional backgammon player. Although the couple initially seemed well suited, cracks soon began to appear in their relationship. In addition to frequent affairs, Covlin enjoyed gambling and the finer things in life, and he expected Danishefsky to pay for them. Despite the fact that they went on to have two children, Covlin didn’t change his ways, and the couple eventually separated. This proved to be the tipping point for Covlin, who wanted to hang on to Danishefsky’s money at any cost, even murder. As Rosenberg and Algar explain, Covlin was initially able to get away with his wife’s murder due to her death being ruled accidental, although he was finally brought to justice ten years later. The authors clearly and respectfully set out all that happened leading up to the murder and in the years before Covlin was charged, including his bizarre schemes to murder his parents. It all makes for a disturbing read.


The Sanatorium: A Novel

High atop the Swiss Alps looms a formerly abandoned sanatorium, now turned into a five-star hotel. Elin begrudgingly accepts an invitation from her brother to visit the hotel to celebrate his engagement, but just hours after her arrival, a woman is murdered. Then an avalanche hits, preventing anyone from leaving. Soon more women are found dead, and unless Elin can uncover the killer, she may be next.

The Sanatorium is, truly, an atmospheric read. Blistering winds, snow-capped trees, and eerie remnants of the sanatorium patients create a chilling environment and the perfect tone for an Agatha Christie-style whodunnit. Our leading lady, Elin, has a haunting past of her own that slowly becomes unraveled as she searches for the truth, which makes her less reliable but also more interesting. While not quite as subtle in its red herrings as it could be, and ultimately a little disappointing in its resolution, The Sanatorium is a great read whether it’s a stormy summer night or an icy winter day.


Predator/ Nomad: A Novel

"If you're willing to sacrifice life as a way to get what you want, then you're a predator. If you're willing to walk the journey to achieve your goals, then you're a nomad." The news of his brother's death leaves freelance journalist Price Laurel destabilized and anxious about the next phase in his life. First, he decides to interview Dr. Roberts—a brilliant genetics specialist—and discovers some shocking secrets. Apparently, human clones are real, and they might have been created unlawfully and by challenging the idea of what is right and wrong. Price is determined to get to the root of it all, either as a predator or a nomad.

Predator/Nomad is an intriguing and unpredictable tale that keeps you eager to discover the next wild event.

The story is wound round several interesting themes: murder, drug dealing, princehood, espionage, mind control, soldiers, politics, LGBTQ+, psychology, rebellion, psychopathy, and more! The first ten chapters alternate between the viewpoints of Princess Saleh Aisha of Saudi Arabia and Dr. Jordan Roberts, albeit in different locations— like Columbia, California, Yemen, and Italy. It was exciting to find myself immersed in a sporadic tale that is set in different countries and cultures.

I especially liked how educative the book is. I learned about and was reminded of several things, from game theory and cognitive dissonance to the difference between a psychopath and a social deviant. These interesting concepts and more are embedded in the story in a way that it still retains its appeal—with engaging conversations and events. Some ideas are quite profound and thought-provoking, like the fact that creative people are usually more arrogant because "creativity itself subconsciously travels the paths that subverts social norms". Daniel Micko's characters are complex and realistic. I could relate to Price's tough situation as he conditions himself to get to work while faced with uncertainty about the future. Also, I was fully immersed in the world of the book as the descriptions are vivid and easy to picture. I could almost feel the "lush green blades of grass" and the "glass windows, through which you can see the pool in the back".

In Predator/Nomad, Daniel Micko does a great job of combining scientific innovation, intense action, deep revelations, interesting conversations, cultural diversity, political games, psychology, and more. It's the type of book that you can read several times and discover new things every time. You should read Predator/Nomad if you wish to discover several thought-provoking ideas and wish to be yanked away from your reality to another one, with endless possibilities and little consequences.


Down Comes the Night: A Novel

Disgraced and willing to do anything to get reinstated in the Queen's Guard Wren takes a dangerous and treasonous trip to a neighboring nation to heal a servant of a noble. When she gets there, she finds the servant isn’t a servant but Hal Cavendish, a feared assassin. And the enemy. With nothing left to lose, Wren chooses to stay. But there’s more to the illness than she ever could have imagined, and she and Hal are right in the center of it.

Down Comes The Night is full of description, emotion, and fascinating characters. The prose, at times, is on the verge of being too flowery, the descriptions being too descriptive. Personally, I love it, but it's not everyone's cup of tea. The romance is an enemy to lovers and is well-paced. Wren is in love with someone else at the beginning making it awkward that she falls for someone else so easily, but it comes back at the end and is concluded well. Wren is an emotional character and it shows. All the time. She knows she needs to be detached, but she’s not capable of it and her empathy is what gets her into trouble and makes her so wonderful.


Living In The Rain

Cassie Pennebaker is a student at Kent Community College, hoping to someday be a foreign correspondent. Joe Baker is her boyfriend with a dream of his own: to finish up his education at Boston University with Cassie by his side. Sally Bishop is Cassie’s grandmother and the only relative she is close to after her mother abandoned the two of them to remarry. Sierra Kole is Cassie’s fast-living coworker at a pharmacy, and Rick Smollett is a neighbor with an unsettling obsession. The dynamic personalities and desperate wants of these five play off one another, escalating into a situation that promises to be untenable for everyone involved.

At least, they would if all five were equally as dynamic. As it is, the three side characters (Sally, Sierra, and Rick) have the most drive, while Cassie and Joe seem content to do little more than go back and forth about their conflicting dreams and responsibilities. Joe wants Cassie to move away to Boston with him. Cassie feels bound to look after her grandmother, who is mentally ill and incapable of taking care of herself. It’s a conflict that many readers may find touches close to home. Being a caretaker for a mentally ill relative can be extremely difficult, and Ormsby doesn’t sugarcoat Cassie’s situation in the least. She’s in a position that calls for sympathy and understanding, both of which would be easier to give if we saw her offering more of them herself.

This brings me to my main struggle with the book: I felt Ormsby expected us to feel more for the characters than she gave potential for. Joe often reflects on Cassie’s empathy and high moral code, but for about a third of the book, we really only see her bitterness and sense of superiority to everyone around her. The three side characters, while given strong motivation and distinct voices, all feel one-dimensional. At times even the conflict itself did. If this were a morality play, I could tell you exactly how it would pan out from the first few chapters. Sally does get some depth, but it comes late and isn’t explored as fully as it could be.

Living in the Rain is not an easy book to read. No book dealing with such heavy topics could be. Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite live up to the ambitions it sets out for itself, leaving it somehow too easy to get through. In the end, I simply wanted more from it than it was able to give.


Hello World!

Hello world by Kelly Corrigan illustrates the beautiful concept of how being curious about situations or persons may lead to new discoveries outside of what is apparent to the eye.

When we begin to step into the unknown, we might make superficial judgments on the environment and the people involved. We might even write off potential people who could teach us something significant to make our life purposeful and expand our knowledge in the right possible ways.

Through letting go of shyness and embracing boldness and asking the right questions to those around us, we can learn things that are useful and make our life more tolerable than before. Maturity and wisdom come from learning from one's own mistakes and from those of others.

Kelly Corrigan's talent in weaving a feel-good story for all is highly appreciated. This book is recommended for adults. Some of the introverts or the ones who are narrow-minded might find the book a major put-off and criticize it. I wish the author had kept this fact in mind. Asking questions may annoy some folks, however, the right questions asked at the right times can be rewarding. It will be a welcome boost towards an exciting, adventurous, colorful life that opens previously closed opportunities or create brand new ones.


Mother May I: A Novel

Mother May I is the story of a mother's love in two separate scenarios that overlap and become intertwined in a deadly way. Bree is married to Trey and they have three beautiful children, the youngest of whom is a baby boy named Robert. Bree sees a witch lady out the window and again at her daughters' school. She is freaked out but lets it go. Then, one day, she is at the school and Robert goes missing. Left in his place is a note telling her to go home. From there, it is a ticking time bomb to find out why someone took her baby. With her deceased best friend's P.I. husband by her side, Bree takes on the task of playing detective and soon uncovers secrets to do with her husband and his friend Spence's past.

This book will have you biting your nails as you read it, hoping for Robert's safe return. It is a story full of revenge and unstable people who could lose it at any minute. Well-written until the very end, Mother May I is bittersweet and realistic.


The Medusa Quest: The Legends of Olympus, Book 2 (The Legends of Oympus)

Medusa Quest is a magnificent book with an exceptional and imaginative storyline that will keep you turning the pages. I was fascinated while reading it. I would recommend this book to anyone older than ten.

The plot of this story is amazingly enthralling and unique. It is about Pheobe, a daughter of Zeus who is stuck in the modern-day and has to get back to ancient Greece to fix a paradox she accidentally created. If the paradox doesn’t get fixed it could destroy her brother, Perseus, the gods, and Hercules.

It all started with a dream when Pheobe discovers that she needs to get back to ancient Greece to save her brother and the gods. Once they get there, they visit Athena for a plan first as she is the god of wisdom. The plan is they have to make sure Hercules finishes his labors. Not only will it kill him if he fails, but it will cause the gods to die off due to not enough believers. Then, they have to acquire Hades’ helmet and a special sword to give Perseus a chance against Medusa to fix the timeline. This is a unique and exciting storyline that kept me reading.


InvestiGators: Off the Hook (InvestiGators, 3)

The InvestiGators go after a criminal, but they’re about to face an even BIGGER villain! Can the InvestiGators, Mango and Brash, put a stop to two villains who are making a horrible wreck of the city? Find out in InvestiGators: Off the Hook! However, when you’re finished with the book, a cliffhanger remains.

I LOVED this book and hope John Patrick Green makes more InvestiGators books. This book contains investigation, words used for different meanings, crackers, a very angry waffle, and alligators. I loved the book partly because it is so funny and the drawings are wacky and hilarious as well. This book has a lot of action words and onomatopoeia.

I recommend this book to people who are interested in evil villains and superheroes. Make sure you read the first InvestiGators book, then the second book, InvestiGators: Take the Plunge, and the fourth InvestiGators book that is coming out soon! I hope you read this book and, if so, I hope you like it as much as I do!


What Unites Us: The Graphic Novel (World Citizen Comics)

Dan Rather and Elliot Kirschner's graphic novel What Unites Us comes at a fitting and relevant time when our nation is so deeply polarized. What is normally viewed as a boring and dry subject of history and civics lessons becomes lively and engaging with the art by Tim Foley. In his book, Rather discusses what it means to be patriotic and what our society needs in order to come together. This graphic novel packs a lot of facts, history, and some of Rather's life lessons. Unlike other graphic novels, you won't be able to finish this in one sitting because there's a lot to digest. Rather's views and writing are very thought-provoking, fair, and balanced. Maybe it's because Rather is an experienced and distinguished journalist, but I am amazed that he was able to write about politics but not come off as political. I think this book deserves to be read in every middle school and high school. I also highly recommend the other graphic novels in the World Citizen Comics series to both young teens and adults to learn more about our government and its complex history.


Reset: A Novel

It’s pretty bleak out there right now. You’re gonna want to avoid the news at all costs in fact. Why not get lost in a good book? And regular fiction ain’t gonna cut it; it’s time to get lost in the worlds of speculative fiction. I’m talking about a healthy dose of science fiction and fantasy, so here are some great new and forthcoming stories to take you away from all the bad stuff.

Light Chaser
From scifi master Peter F. Hamilton and Gareth F. Powell comes a fun little novella that packs the same epic story power of a long novel. Our main character is Amahle who is one of the eponymous light chasers and spends her time traveling the universe, all alone except for her accompanying AI, as she trades trinkets for memory collars and getting the most she can vicariously from these past lives. But there is a voice she hears more than once that appears to be talking directly to her somehow.

Shadow & Claw
From bestselling author Gene Wolfe comes the first two books of the tetralogy collected in //Shadow & Claw//. In //The Shadow of the Torturer//: on the world of Urth there is the Guild of Torturers where a young man named Severian is apprenticed to them, but his world is completely upended when he commits the ultimate wrong of the guild by showing mercy to a victim. In the second book, //The Claw of the Conciliator//, Severian continues with his banishment when he learns of an ancient relic he must find because it is his destiny.

 The Starless Crown
James Rollins has delighted mystery thriller readers for over a decade and now he returns to the fantasy world he used to write in with //The Starless Crown//. There are four characters mysteriously drawn together: an imprisoned thief, a drunken prince, a broken soldier, and a gifted student who predicts an oncoming apocalypse. How can they stop? Will they be able to? And who will claim the starless crown?

Paper & Blood
Al MacBharrais is a magician of ink and sigil magic who can cast powerful spells, but he is also one of a number of sigil agents to seek to protect those in need from demons and monsters across the world. When a fellow agent goes missing, it’s up to Al to leave the comfort and familiarity of Glasgow and travel down under to Australia to pick up the trail and see if he can find out what befell his comrade and solve the mystery behind the disappearance.

Reset
Aris is a scientist living in a world very different than ours. The Last War destroyed most of her planet and what remained was able to rebuild a little in four cities across the globe. But their goal is never to repeat the mistakes of the past and so every four years everyone undergoes “tabula rasa” where there minds are wiped and they begin life anew. Aris is a huge supporter of tabula rasa and looks forward to her new existence each time, but she keeps having this recurring dream that seems like it might be something from her distant past, so she must begin her quest to find what it is all about.

Hard Reboot
Hard reboot can mean a couple things: it can be something you do to your computer when you are having problems and everything crashes; or it can mean state-sponsored battle-droid prizefights. The book from Django Wexler is fortunately the latter. Kas, through ignorance and some bad choices, has ended up wagering a large some of not her money on the result of an arena battle featuring manned robots, and she soon finds herself pulled into a world she never intended to get into.


From the international best-selling author of Guess How Much I Love You comes the beautiful story of a little girl named Mindi who sees a big, scary goose that no one else can see. Her well-meaning parents cannot figure out how to make a goose they can’t see go away, so they seek the advice of a wise, old man, who comes up with an amusing solution.

Sam McBratney’s gentle story exploring a little girl’s anxiety will likely become a much-loved tale quickly. Mindi’s very real fear is not dismissed as silly by the adults around her. Rather, her feelings are respected and addressed with care. Bratney’s spot-on surprise ending will no doubt delight readers. Furthermore, Linda Ólafsdóttir’s charming illustrations perfectly pair with this text. Indeed, her depictions of an invisible goose are especially clever and will entertain readers. Although the world lost a wonderful storyteller when McBratney passed away in 2020, his memory will live on in part in this remarkable story. For those seeking a heart-warming bedtime story, Mindi and the Goose No One Else Could See should not be missed.


Except Antarctica

Antarctica is really cold and not a lot of animals live there, or people! In Except Antarctica, the narrator talks about animals and begins with the turtle. He says some things about the turtle, then says that they live everywhere except Antarctica. The turtle doesn't like hearing that and decides to go there anyway. Then the narrator sees an owl and says some things about it, including that they don't live in Antarctica. The turtle invites the owl on his journey and then they bring along more animals, including a dung beetle. The narrator is partly upset and partly doesn't believe that the animals will make it across the ocean.

Except Antarctica is silly and goofy and fun to read. My favorite part was reading about the dung beetle because of what they do. I like that at the back of the book there are more facts about the animals in the story! The way that the animals make it to Antarctica is smart and silly, and what happens to them when they get there is funny, too. This is a fun story to read by yourself or with someone else.


California Vegan: Inspiration and Recipes from the People and Places of the Golden State

On the search for delicious vegan dishes? Wishing to create a weekend inspired by farmhouse favorites? These delicious recipe books will introduce you to a variety of dishes from country treats to vegan delights to five-ingredient dinners. You'll go from learning about food webs to the history of veganism to thought-provoking essays about food in these great reads that will be sure to spice up every night in the kitchen.

Building Community Food Webs – Ken Meter

Farm production in America continues to increase while the net farm income is now considered lower than when the Great Depression began. Statistics say that one out of eight Americans struggles with hunger which is why /Building Community Food Webs/ focuses on the civic networks that are made up of grassroots food and farming leaders. These leaders band together to activate a plan that will engage farmers, organizations, and residents with low incomes. The aim of these networks is to create communities that are stronger and a food web that will inspire the community to empower themselves. Ken Meter will show how these food webs will provide opportunities to build connections between each other, better farming practices, achieve better health, start a new path for the future, and how to strengthen economic trade. This book will address the challenges the leaders and activists striving to create these food webs face.

California Vegan – Sharon Palmer

/California Vegan/ is a delicious book that consists of vegan recipes from Sharon Palmer with each one focusing on local produce. This unique recipe book will showcase the culture and history of California while also delving into what Palmer calls plant-based pioneers. /California Vegan/ delves into the origins of veganism which started within the state of California and will explore the innovations that have been discovered. This stunning history that Palmer explores delves into the beginnings of veganism in the 1970s to modern startups in the Silicon Valley with all the fun of veggie trends that are savory, delicious, and healthy. Palmer delivers a dream book for vegans seeking new recipes while also serving as an introduction for those new to veganism. The book consists of 100 recipes that are all plant-based and even consists of original photography as well as including nutritional information.

5 Ingredient Semi-Homemade Meals – Bobby Parrish

The goal of the recipe book is to allow you to keep meals simple as Bobby Parrish delivers easy and quick recipes for any kind of cook in the kitchen. The recipes you'll find in the book include only five ingredients and options that range from snacks to dinner dishes. Not only are these recipes said to be delicious but they're also healthy for you and your family. A perfect quick solution for those that don't have much time to spare in the kitchen after and can cook up something easy in no time. The prep work for the recipes takes place right in the grocery store with the book telling you how to go about smarter grocery shopping. You will learn how to pick the best ingredients for your meals with 50 delicious recipes that make/5 Ingredient Meals/ the best book to turn to for advice on cooking and insight into smarter grocery shopping.

Farmhouse Weekends – Melissa Bahen

This recipe book is for everyone that loves country life and wants to invoke that feel-good lifestyle in the kitchen. These recipes create what Melissa Bahen calls the perfect farmhouse weekend with each recipe coming straight from Bahen's own experiences. These country experiences influenced the delicious meals and tasty treats within the recipe book from apple picking in the fall to picking berries in the summer with treats that range from apple cider doughnuts to a buttery cobbler. The recipes found within the pages of the delicious recipe book include white bean chili, biscuits, and homemade strawberry freezer jam. You'll find these recipes and more in /Farmhouse Weekends/ which consists of 65 recipes that are perfect for every season.

Cook, Eat, Repeat – Nigella Lawson

/Cook, Eat, Repeat/ is a combination of delicious recipes and thought-provoking essays about food from Nigella Lawson. The writing style is engaging and insightful with wisdom that comes straight from Lawson's experiences with food and life. The recipes are perfect for every season and for every taste with dishes that include Burnt Onion and Eggplant Dip, Cherry and Almond Crumble, Beetroot Yogurt Sauce, Chicken with Garlic Cream Sauce, Rhubarb and Custard Trifle, and Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake. The recipes range from solo suppers to family meals to vegan dishes with Lawson weaving in personal favorites. Whether you're looking for a savory snack, a healthy meal, or a delicious dessert, /Cook, Eat, Repeat/ is perfect for the cook looking to try something new in the kitchen.


Impostor Syndrome: A Novel

When Julia, a plucky Russian orphan, meets a visitor named Leo, she never imagines he’ll actually return for her. But years later, Leo recruits her for a Russian intelligence agency, sending her to California. The plan is for Julia to rise through the ranks of technology companies, make a name for herself at the top, and then begin feeding information to Leo and the organization. Julia excels, becoming COO of the tech giant Tangerine, acquiring a husband and baby daughter along the way. When she begins finding Leo’s orders too extreme, she realizes she has little ability to refuse. Meanwhile, tech support underling Alice discovers some unusual activity on Tangerine’s servers, and her decision to flag the issue sets dangerous consequences in motion.

Wang creates effective portraits of two very different women at turning points in their lives, and she also pokes fun at Silicon Valley’s culture of excess and the often ridiculous demands made of women in tech. Imposter Syndrome is a timely thriller that also raises questions about how much of our lives we’re truly in command of as well as about how much we’re controlled by the people surrounding us, both visible and behind the scenes, jockeying for influence, credit, and connection.


Raid of Souls

In many ways writing a good historical fiction novel is considerably harder than writing a normal novel. The author has to be extremely comfortable in describing the setting and having characters interact with each other pertaining to the specific historical period. It also has to feel both compelling and historically accurate, keeping the reader interested throughout the book. As with the first book in the series, in the sequel, Raid of Souls, author Kalen Vaughan Johnson does an incredible job of balancing historical detail with great storytelling.

In Robbing the Pillars we are introduced to the California of the mid to late nineteenth century where the gold rush is alive and well, and we meet the fiery Scotsman James MacLaren, who was forced to flee from his native country. But MacLaren knows the world is changing and it’s no longer so much about the independent miners but about the consortiums who are working to control everything and make the most money. In Raid of Souls, he has to face this reality head on and make big decisions that not only affect him but also his wife and daughter, Emma and Charlotte, whom he obviously cares deeply for. Choosing to move away from working on his ranch and focus more on these miners who now work for the large consortiums, he forms and runs one of the first unions for miners, to give them the help they both need and deserve. Of course, in so doing, he also makes some new enemies.

Johnson does a wonderful job of filling the reader in on the world with rich details but never being overbearing or “fact-dumping” that can turn readers off. She skillfully takes readers to various locations from mines and small farms and ranches, to the growing, thriving city of Sacramento. MacLaren talks in a bit of brogue that’s not over the top, but is there enough to separate him from other characters and create an automatic conflict whenever he interacts with locals; it serves to add a level of authenticity to the story that is there throughout the book. We see a complex world with so much going on, as there are those looking to gain and willing to let others suffer, while MacLaren is caught in the crossfire needing to do what he feels is right for the miners he is representing, and also knowing he is paving the way for the future of mining in California, but also never forgetting he is both a husband and a father. The book does what historical fiction should do: immersing you in a world that educates and entertains, and also has some similarities that can easily be equatable to today’s world. It is probably best to start with the first book, just so that you can enjoy the sequel all the more.


Raid of Souls (Empire Barons)

Raid of Souls by Kalen Vaughan Johnson is the edition that followed Robbing the Pillars. A vibrant novel alive with beautifully descriptive writing ignited an engaging pulse within each page. The narrative fueled authentic realism to the characters' personalities and the burdens life had placed upon their shoulders. A window to western America's mining towns and ranches examined the struggles of daily life in America's west during the gold rush era without attempting to romanticize America's past.

 The early years of the state of California had hundreds of settlers migrating in hopes of securing their piece of the "California Dream." Many with honest intentions and hopes to build a prosperous future for their families. The hope of a better life inspired the journey to the west through endless hardships the raw spirit of perseverance propelled the weary settlers to the American dream.

Raid of Souls carefully examined life in various locations via individual chapters dedicated to Collier Ranch, San Francisco, Sacramento, and Nevada City. The backdrop of dusty streets, stagecoaches, saloons, frightening mines, ranches, and a bird's eye view of the ranch life and the daily lives of mining town dwellers fostered continual wonder for the reader.

The main protagonist James MacLaren was a rugged soul who had endured much to earn this stake in the American dream. He bravely faced the corrupt syndicate cleverly hidden behind the scenes amongst the everyday people of the mining industry who had a nefarious agenda to ruin the towns' livelihoods via corruption, deceit, and greed.

Johnson's portrayal of James's persona was more than a brilliantly written character alive with tumultuous hurdles to overcome. He was a solid depiction of a rugged American man with a heart for justice, a soul riddled with pain, and a mind with a penchant for justice. His character exuded the gritty bravery of a true American man.

In the midst of exposing the villainous syndicate and his attempts to save the miners were paved with endless difficulties. The miners were mere pawns and casualties of the syndicate’s clandestine corruption. James began to lose touch with what truly mattered. His love for Althea and her son Justin. In addition, James' daughter Charlotte's love story turned from heartwarming to a love dismantled by his disapproval of the socio-economic differences with an objectionable suitor.

Raid of Souls is wonderfully entertaining historical fiction with a trained eye for authentic historical details that will surely encourage readers new to the genre to pursue reading additional historical fiction novels in the future. Also, verifiable facts will impress history buffs who could appreciate Johnson's accuracy and impressive research.


Raid of Souls

Robbing the Pillars, the first book in Kalen Vaughan Johnson’s Empire Barons series, introduced James MacLaren, a hot-tempered yet principled and socially conscious man who had been forced to flee from Scotland to the United States. Having settled in California, MacLaren was quick to recognize that the heyday of the independent miners was ending and that consortiums led by greedy and ruthless speculators were seeking to ringfence the spoils of the Gold Rush for themselves. His decision to champion the cause of the miners might have been morally correct, but it led to all manner of trouble and danger for MacLaren and those dear to him, including his wife Emma and his headstrong daughter Charlotte.

In Raid of Souls, Johnson picks up the story of James MacLaren following the shocking revelations and cliffhanger toward the end of the previous book. If anything, despite MacLaren’s best efforts to achieve parity, tensions between the independent miners and the powerful consortiums are higher than ever, as the depletion of the surface gold has made it necessary to mine even deeper, which requires costly equipment and expertise. Such investment rarely pays off for the little guy, and the consortiums are able to buy up failed mines at rock-bottom prices. The collapse of their businesses leads to increasing numbers of miners seeking employment with the consortiums, and it’s dangerous and backbreaking work. Rather than busying himself with his ranch, MacLaren decides to continue fighting the miners’ cause, spearheading the formation of a union and once again risking all that is important to him in an attempt to do the right thing.

Given the detailed nature of the story, as well as the interlinking plotlines and intriguing cast of characters, it would probably be useful to read Robbing the Pillars before tackling Raid of Souls, although Johnson does provide some valuable scene-setting and background information to help orientate readers who are new to the series. The book is rich in historical information and Johnson has done a great job of capturing the tone and atmosphere of California during the mid-to-late-1800s. It is clear that she has done a good deal of research into life during the Gold Rush and her enthusiasm for the period really shines through in the story. From the ranches to the mines to the “big city” of Sacramento, the locations are well described and authentic, while the characters’ concerns and dialogue generally ring true.

James MacLaren remains a gruff yet appealing lead character. His hyperawareness of the class struggle might sometimes blind him to the minutiae of life, but he is truly committed to helping the miners and exposing the dodgy dealings of big business. He is aware of the danger that his activities bring to those around him and so, this time around, he takes the step of sending daughter Charlotte to safety. Unfortunately, his desire to protect her might just have put Charlotte in the path of a romance that could spell trouble for those on both sides of the mining conflict. Reflective of real life, Raid of Souls is a slow-burning story of good versus evil and all the shades of gray that exist between the two.


Raid of Souls (Empire Barons)

By 1866 the California Gold Rush has all but ended along with the dreams of the hundreds of thousands who came from all over the world to seek their fortune.

James MacLaren, escaping persecution in Scotland is one of the lucky ones. The wealth he’s dug out of the ground has been reinvested in a horse-breeding ranch, but his heart and conscience are still with the independent miners, who are increasingly going broke.

 What’s left of the gold is now deeper and takes more sophisticated equipment to access. Unscrupulous bankers are eager to lend the independent’s money and when they inevitably default on their loans their claims are absorbed by large mining companies.

The majority are now working for these same large mining corporations and to protect their livelihood and safety a union is formed with MacLaren as their leader. He brings a wealth of industry knowledge, strong empathy for the members, and, inherited from experience in his homeland, a deep distrust of anyone of higher ranking in society.

In his acceptance speech, he tells the membership, “This is na about making demands from an unreachable, unreasonable tyrant, or begging scraps from their table. This is about empowering ourselves ta meet them at the table as men!”

 But some see the future from a different perspective and as tensions rise and friendships collapse, James sends his daughter, Charlotte, to Sacramento to protect her. While there, through a serendipitous course of events she falls in love with a man whose very family is involved with suppressing the legitimate interests of the miners.

 When the confrontation between workers and owners erupts in violence, MacLaren’s mistrust of wealth and privilege is validated, “Those two families started this nightmare—they’ve swindled the independents of their lands, and now they’re beating down their livelihoods.”

As the conflict of personalities and morals deepens, Charlotte is forced to choose between her father and the man she loves.

Raid of Souls is the second book in Kalen Vaughan Johnson’s Empire Barons series, and one would be well advised to read the first book if you don’t want to spend the first thirty pages trying to figure out who’s who and what’s what. Once up to speed, which is perhaps a misnomer because this novel is anything but a fast read, a believable and engrossing plot begins to unfold.

 Long passages of summary tend to densify the narrative and in places, there is a distinct lack of tension. The pace is further impeded when the author occasionally becomes too invested in the history presented as political speeches and the specifics of the early mining industry.

 However, strong characters, realistic dialogue, and vivid imagery prevail to make Raid of Souls a compelling read.


Cubicles Anonymous

Cubicles Anonymous is a timely tale of corporate work in the modern world. It grabbed me from the first page. It explores questions about ethics and the national conversation about finding a sense of purpose. Written by Brett Pahler and self-published, it is an accomplished, enjoyable book that takes place in our current time, and features a protagonist named Silas.

Silas is an accountant who has a plan to bring accountability to the weapons manufacturing corporation that he works for. In just a couple of weeks, the action of the novel centers on this plan, how the plan changes, and his misgivings or renewed sense of purpose regarding his plan. The reader gets to know several characters at the corporation and in Silas’s life. Silas attended Middlebury, has never had a passion for his work, and is scheduled to meet a friend in Budapest in a few days. Genevieve is a hard-working single mom whose son has significant health problems and she is Silas’s closest friend at work. Oliver is a creepy, womanizing coworker who can’t be left alone with a female coworker in a car. Pete is an upper-level manager who really means well but sometimes can’t see the bigger ethical picture. The characters are well written and realistic. The reader gets the sense that Pahler has worked in a setting like this and knows the people whom he is writing about. The passages about the SEC, accounting, and weapons systems seem natural for Pahler to write.

The book doesn’t lose its sense of humanity by giving into stereotypes about the “bad corporation”, which impressed me. It seems like a difficult road- to offer criticism about modern corporate culture (Silas’s impressions of mandatory meetings are quite funny) without becoming a farce. I felt that the middle section became a bit long, and some of the travel passages a bit unrealistic. I wanted the plot to wrap up a little sooner than it did. But otherwise, the novel moves quite effortlessly. It feels original. The protagonist, Silas, is easy to like. He wants to improve the world but weighs who gets hurt in his plan (including himself). Like most far fetched plans, his changes according to reality. The ending was satisfying. I really enjoyed having a true conclusion, an ending that brings the whole novel together.


Cubicles Anonymous

Trying to ruin the company you work for takes its toll.

As someone who has worked multiple jobs ranging from the mediocre to the downright painful, I could instantly sympathize with Silas, the protagonist of Cubicles Anonymous. Who among us hasn’t wanted to bring some righteous vengeance down on our workplace, even just in fantasy? I was excited by the prospect of a cathartic read, what would hopefully prove to be a darkly humorous look at modern office culture.

That wasn’t exactly what I got.

The book is well-written, and could certainly have been exactly what I was looking for. Unfortunately, it suffers from the problem of not knowing quite what story the reader should be told. Is it a tale of revenge on behalf of Silas’s dead mother? A skewering of the commercial aspects of the military-industrial complex? A Kafkaesque parody of what it’s like to be an accountant for a company that makes missiles? It seemed to want to be each of these things variously, and while it certainly could have been (and I kept hoping would have been), in the end, I didn’t feel satisfied that it was any of those. The humor, unlike the company’s missiles, never quite landed. Plot threads were picked up and set down seemingly at random, and I could never tell whether they would be returned to. Silas’s internal monologue, while illuminating, bogged down the book enough that it felt far longer than two hundred pages, and somehow it all took place over the course of a week, even though I felt the story itself (and the juiciest parts) happened before then and were merely glossed over.

For the most part, the most appealing part of the book to me was the premise. I did keep reading to see how Silas’s grand plan would (or perhaps wouldn’t) be pulled off, but in the end, I found I wasn’t as invested in his story as I had wanted to be. Pahler does have an excellent touch for thoughts and internal monologue, though, and the wistful parts of the book were what caught my eye the most. I will keep an eye out for more of his work for just that reason. In the meantime, if you, like Silas, are an accountant with a heavy grudge against your job, you may well find a touch of catharsis in this book. If nothing else, you might just feel seen.


Cubicles Anonymous

It is a truly suffocating experience, spending hours in a single large room, a windowless open space, covered by cubicles. It's enough to make a person insane or a poet. A sadist or a comic. It's the single most dominant setting of modern adult life and professional development. It traps people, blocks them from creativity, and places them in an adult holding cell until age or health replaces them.

It has become one of the great weaknesses of the global workplace, and it is equal parts tragic and unintentionally hysterical. Cubicles Anonymous by Brett Pahler is a compelling personal appraisal of the workplace, the universal need to make a living, and the steady pull towards a more fulfilling place in the world.

At times this feels like a modern-day revisit to the literary world of the 1900s. When society was in dire need of revision or at least a mild awakening, with ordinary lives playing out over a humorously disconnected world that is being held together with duct tape. With protagonists that are more relatable than noteworthy. Where the villains' are not some black hat-wearing man with over-the-top plots, but rather a series of public ills that are difficult to define. A story about a single, careful, and surprisingly engaging person against an unempathetic world.
The book rushes past the reader in a flurry of dynamic characters and scenarios told in a charming muted fashion. It's the best kind of humor where the characters aren't in on the joke and the reader is given subtle hints from the author, almost giving them permission to laugh at the spectacle. Told in an active first person, with a candid openness, the reader can't help but be taken along the author's journey. There is a delightful oddness about many of the characters, they feel so familiar, like people who have populated your life. Yet, they also seem so refreshingly original. As if the reader is meeting the most extreme or muted versions of the people around them.

The author guides readers through his life and career with visual artistry and an inimitable tone. Sometimes it feels like a scrapbook of sorts, filled with all the ins and outs of the main character's life sprinkled with his sharp thoughts. Other times it has the feeling of a behind-the-scenes breakdown of the modern workplace and the obstacles many have to find their place. The book is a great addition to any library that was clearly a labor of love from its author.


Bitterroot Lake: A Novel

After her husband passes away from cancer, Sarah heads back to the family lodge on Bitterroot Lake to help her mother prepare the place to put up for sale. However, instead, Sarah finds herself face-to-face with her sister and friends from the past and embroiled in a murder mystery. While trying to figure out the current mystery, Sarah and company also dig into the lodge’s past as well as the accident that forever changed their lives at the same lodge, twenty-five years prior. Sarah and her mother are also having visions, that while mostly vague, send a very clear message that danger is close at hand. ||The best way to describe this book would be how it feels to walk into the middle of a conversation and spend the rest of the time trying to play catch-up. If you enjoy feel-good stories with families who end up working everything out perfectly and a murder that gets solved in two paragraphs, then you will enjoy this book. I prefer stories with more meat in them and infinitely more complicated characters. I also don’t like walking into a story that feels like it started a while ago without it being on purpose.


A Most Remarkable Creature: The Hidden Life and Epic Journey of the World's Smartest Birds of Prey

Penned by a most remarkable writer, Jonathan Meiburg, an avid ornithologist and also a noted musician, who became enthralled with the falcon-like caracara birds he unexpectedly noticed among other antarctic wildlife while hiking in the Falkland Islands. So intrigued was he by such remarkably curious birds that he pursued traces of these dinosaur offspring and continues to follow their evolution and history. Threading throughout the text are the earlier observations of these birds by Charles Darwin and beautifully interwoven are the observations of the Patagonian naturalist William Henry Hudson. As he records the riveting story of these unusual birds over the millions of years of adaptation to climate changes, shifting continents, and the vicissitudes of time, the writer reveals himself to be a master storyteller in detailing the history of these precocious falcon-like birds. Travel through the frigid, foggy shores of Tierra del Fuego through the swampy Guyana lands and the deserts of South America as he pursues the mystery surrounding these unique raptors. Keep your eye on this youthful science writer who has the magical ability to bewitch the reader with his musical flow of words as is evident in this engrossing epic.


We Are a Garden: A Story of How Diversity Took Root in America

This is an interesting story about how different people moved to the United States. From the first settlers of Northern Asian and Arctic People to the Apache and Navajo Ancestors. Then comes the Spanish, British, and Enslaved Africans. Eventually, the Europeans, the Chinese, and the Mexicans arrived. And now, modern-day immigrants include Chinese, Indians, and Mexicans, and many others from all over the world.

This is a great book about the migrations of all the diverse people who have come to the United States. The story was very interesting, but also sad because some groups of people were treated so badly. I think this is a great book to read right now because of all the hate that is going on right now. I love how the author describes everyone as a garden. The art was very pretty. I love seeing all the diverse faces of the people and children who moved and live in America. I highly recommend this book to families to learn about all the different people who moved here for a brighter future.


June Almeida, Virus Detective!: The Woman Who Discovered the First Human Coronavirus

This is a story about the life of June Almeida, a scientist and a virologist. Affected by her younger brother, Harry's death, June wanted to study science to help people with illnesses like her brother. June was unable to go to college because it was too expensive so she started working in a lab in a hospital. June started examining viruses under a powerful electron microscope. What does June see under the microscope?

This was a very interesting story about a woman scientist who discovered the first coronavirus. This story is very fitting right now due to the Covid-19 pandemic. June Almeida's discovery of the first coronavirus in 1964 helped scientists today with Covid-19. I liked learning how scientists decided to name the virus coronavirus. This is a non-fiction, educational book, and the back of the book includes real pictures of June and more information about her. I recommend this picture book to young girls who love science and anyone who wants to learn about coronavirus.


World Record Animals

If you think humans are the only ones who can beat world records, wait until you read this book! You will read about world records... involving animals! Did you know that the longest jump record of 45 feet belongs to the white-tailed deer? The human world record is 29.36 feet! And the fastest animal (the cheetah) can reach a speed of 75 mph while the fastest human record is only 27.79 mph!

This book was so interesting! I had a blast reading about world records. I learned so much, like how the fastest dive is 185 mph. That's a lot! The illustrations were very unique and enjoyable. I recommend this book for all ages. My little brother read this book and he really liked it, and my uncle like this book a lot too. My favorite parts to read were the most dangerous animals and the smallest animals.


The Ledger and the Chain: How Domestic Slave Traders Shaped America

Many aspects of the New York Times 1619 Project are starting to get into the academia history community, and that is at times leading to highly anachronistic books that are of poor scholarship and more about trying to score a modern-day political point. This book is an excellent example of sloppy research and poor writing. I was intrigued by the idea: following a family involved in the slave trade within the United States across multiple generations from the founding to the Civil War. It had the making for an excellent project. Instead, the author turns it into a soapbox to denounce slavery at every turn, to denounce the family that got involved in the trade and calling them at times inhuman monsters; even though he does not take the time to explore why they might have gotten into the trade and the circumstances surrounding it. The author uses many words which would not have been understood at the time, and his righteous indignation he uses throughout the book sounds more like he is going after the current situation minorities face, rather than looking at the past as how it was, something historians used to be taught.


The Firebird Song

The Firebird Song is a book about a beautiful land called Lyrica that was once a beautiful warm land where fire was used freely. It was the time of the Firebird, until one day the Firebird disappeared and the evil spectress took control of Lyrica. Young Prewitt is the son of the bargemaster who is determined to find the lost princess of Lyrica so that they can fulfill the prophecy together. Calliope does not know she is the lost princess because Meredith, her caretaker, had kept her safely hidden and protected from the spectress. Calliope is determined to escape her comfortable prison to fulfill the prophecy with the other half of the moon. She and Prewitt begin an adventure together to do just that.

I would recommend The Firebird Song to people of all ages but children ages seven to fifteen would enjoy this book the most. People who enjoy daring adventures and magical events would also be happy to read this wonderful book. It was an amazing story but it took a little while for the magic to start happening. The Firebird Song is a fantastic story that is a must-read for almost everyone. I hope you enjoy the book as much as I did.


Attachments: A Novel

Attachments is a book that it is hard not to be captivated by. Its characters tell a wonderful story in which all their hearts become one. Dean Griffin is head of a private school where he finds himself treating the students much like his own children. He is caring and loving and genuinely takes an interest in their futures. Fast forward eighteen years and Griffin has had a stroke. His last words were asking for Piccolo and Goodman. It seems like an odd request at first; however, as the story unfolds, a family secret is slowly revealed. Sandy Piccolo, Laura Appleby, and Stewart Goodman, who were once stuck in one of the most heartbreaking love triangles, come together again to visit Griffin on his deathbed.

Attachments reveals everything from start to finish, alternating between past and present and using the book that Goodman wrote to narrate the story as well. The book is brilliantly written, with undertones of both happiness and sadness all swirled into one nostalgic ice cream cone. With its endearing characters and fascinating plot, it is a "must read" for those who love it when a story sticks will you long after you put the book down.


A Beginner's Guide to America: For the Immigrant and the Curious

Political Roundup

Let’s face it, while it can be pretty hard to understand what’s going on in the world of politics, it’s generally even harder to determine if politicians themselves know what’s happening. The following five books tackle important contemporary political issues and explain the background to them, which should help readers to untangle the mess, see beyond the news reports, and understand why things are happening as well as what can be done to change the situation.

Children Under Fire: An American Crisis by John Woodrow Cox

As investigative journalist John Woodrow Cox notes in the opening chapter of Children Under Fire: An American Crisis, gun violence represents a public health crisis in the United States that has long been both drastically underestimated and willfully ignored, and it is having a terrible impact on the nation’s children. In fact, shockingly, on average, one child is shot every hour in the United States, making gunfire the second-leading cause of death among children in the country. Based on a series of articles Cox wrote for the Washington Post, this book examines the tragic effects that guns and gun violence are having on children. Through first-person accounts of those, both adults and children, who have suffered as a result of gun violence, the book highlights how woefully inadequate current gun control laws are and also exposes the individuals and organizations that have a vested interest in keeping them that way. The stories included in the book are heartrending and should prompt even those most committed to the cause of the gun lobby to reflect on what can and should be done to protect America’s children.

When America Stopped Being Great: A History of the Present by Nick Bryant

In When America Stopped Being Great: A History of the Present, Nick Bryant looks back on the major events from the last four decades of American history in an effort to uncover what led to the dramatic and polarizing events that have characterized far more recent history, including the Trump presidency, the Black Lives Matter movement, the storming of the Capital Building, and the (mis)handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through clear prose and powerful imagery, Bryant explains how the optimism that permeated American society following the end of the Cold War was eroded in the decades that followed due to political scandals, economic inequalities, and social immobility, resulting in a society that was more divided than ever before. Bryant argues that this sense of division paved the way for Donald Trump to become president, which led to the further polarization of groups within US society. It’s a deeply personal account that still manages to provide a broad overview of American history, offering suggestions as to what the future may hold.

A Beginner’s Guide to America: For the Immigrant and the Curious by Roya Hakakian

Roya Hakakian fled her homeland of Iran in August 1984 and, after spending months trekking through Europe as a refugee, eventually settled in the United States. In the prologue to A Beginner’s Guide to America: For the Immigrant and Curious, she reflects on how, as a new arrival to the country, she was bombarded with information on the practicalities of being an immigrant to the United States but given next to no advice on how to live as an American, how to fit in, and how to reconcile her old life with the new one. Hakakian notes that while no two immigrants are the same, there are common human experiences and common immigrant experiences, which means that there are understandings, reflections, and puzzlements that could be of benefit to all. She has written this book to elucidate an immigrant’s perspective on life in the United States and so to help both new arrivals and natives expand their understanding of contemporary America. As such, it provides an unflinching, insightful, and sometimes even humorous account of immigrant life from the point of arrival through to naturalization and beyond.

How Rights Went Wrong: Why Our Obsession with Rights Is Tearing America Apart by Jamal Greene

Despite referencing the existence of certain “inalienable rights,” including “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,” the US Constitution actually says very little about the specificities of rights, most likely because the Founders disagreed as to their nature and necessity. In fact, as Jamal Greene notes in How Rights Went Wrong: Why Our Obsession with Rights Is Tearing America Apart, the Founders preferred to leave the issue of rights to legislatures and juries, not judges, although it was their failure to tackle the issue of racial discrimination that gave rise to the human rights system seen in the United States today. This lack of a structured approach to rights has led to a situation in which the courts will protect the interests they recognize as rights from even the positive interference of democratic politics, while they leave interests that have not been officially recognized as rights to the mercy of the government. The difficulty of determining “true” rights from mere interests was compounded by the explosion in rights seeking that characterized 1960s America, and the situation is no more clear today. Greene elucidates the need to reconceptualize rights and to link them more closely to justice before the divisions in contemporary society cause irreparable damage.

The Spirit of Green: The Economics of Collisions and Contagions in a Crowded World by William D. Nordhaus

In writing The Spirit of Green: The Economics of Collisions and Contagions in a Crowded World, William D. Nordhaus, who won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for “integrating climate change into long-run macroeconomic analysis,” sought to address the challenges posed by economic growth and globalization and the unintended consequences of the two. The consequence of particular interest to him is climate change, and many of the ideas presented in the book are intended to help slow that process. Due to focusing on the issues from an economic perspective, Nordhaus discusses how both public and private institutions can be harnessed to identify effective solutions to the challenges facing industrialized societies. He also seeks to answer a wide range of social, political, and economic questions from what he terms the “Green” perspective, focusing on issues such as pollution, global warming, and inequality. Nordhaus clearly sets out his Green philosophy and establishes its potential applications in globalized and technologically sophisticated societies. He suggests concrete Green steps that can be taken to help save the planet, ranging from increasing the incentives associated with the use of Green energy to improving ethical norms for both individuals and companies. In doing all this, Nordhaus succeeds in rendering complex discussions highly readable.


The Sign of Death: A Victorian Book Club Mystery

When Lord William Wethington’s man of business is found dead, it is presumed that Mr. Harding has drowned. Until it is discovered that Mr. Harding was not the upstanding man of business he purported to be. Many secrets and enemies are discovered as his web of lies is unraveled.  Unfortunately, Lord Wethington is caught in the middle. As the police zero in on Lord Wethington as their main suspect, he and Lady Amy Lovell work desperately to find the real killer. So many suspects and too little time, will they be able to find the real killer before it’s too late?
This is the second book in the Victorian Book Club Mystery series but was well written as a stand-alone novel. The author does a great job of working in all the suspects and leaving clues that keep you guessing until the end. I enjoyed getting to know the members of the book club, as well as the evolution of Lady Amy and Lord William’s relationship. I would recommend this series to anyone who loves historical mysteries.


This slim volume of personal history is not quite what the title indicates. What’s most interesting is not the brief period of time when the author’s grandmother, Rebecca, made and sold bootleg blueberry wine, nor even the fact that she was arrested and brought to court on related charges, nor even the surprising ruling by the judge. What I most appreciated is the carefully constructed context of Rebecca’s life. Despite scant historical records, we learn how and why her family fled the Russian Empire to find slightly better circumstances in the U.S. Knapp succinctly lets us know the constraints under which Rebecca lived, first as a dutiful daughter and then as a trapped wife and mother. When she is widowed, the family’s perilous existence is placed in even greater jeopardy and she does what she must to help them survive. Readers who are interested in history, especially among Jewish immigrants, will find< em>Prohibition Wine: A True Story of One Woman's Daring in Twentieth-Century America</em> a quick and fascinating read.


Firekeeper's Daughter

Angeline Boulley’s stunning debut novel, Firekeeper’s Daughter, is a YA thriller and #OwnVoices tale about a biracial teen caught up in an investigation on an Ojibwe reservation.

Eighteen-year-old Daunis Fontaine is torn between two worlds, those of her white mother’s wealthy community and her late father’s nearby Ojibwe reservation. Daunis isn’t even recognized as a tribal member because her father was left off her birth certificate, although she still feels a strong pull toward her Firekeeper identity. As she starts her freshman year of college, she has an opportunity to get away from the problems of reservation life—poverty, violence, and prejudice. But then she meets the handsome new Native hockey player, Jamie Johnson, who seems to be hiding something. When Daunis witnesses the shocking murder of an Ojibwe teen, she is brought into an undercover investigation that has the potential to either heal the community she loves or tear it apart.

Firekeeper’s Daughter brings something new to the crime fiction genre. Boulley’s powerful and dynamic characters offer readers a nuanced view of tribal communities, weaving Ojibwe traditions and culture into a tense and well-paced story.


Breakout

Breakout is the debut thriller from author Paul Herron that will make you feel like you’re in a Jack Reacher book/movie. Jack Constantine is an ex-police officer who is in prison for killing one of his pregnant wife’s killers. After three years in the slammer, there is a hurricane warning for not one, but two, hurricanes that are about to collide. The prison officers go to escape accidentally leaving the rookie, Keira Sawyer, behind. It is up to Constantine, his cellmate Felix, and Sawyer, to find the way to safety. They must do this while traveling through the prison where dangerous criminals lurk everywhere with and without weapons.

Breakout is a rollercoaster of a ride. I could definitely see it being made into an action-packed movie. The author does a fantastic job of describing every move that Constantine makes and why so it feels as if you, as the reader, are right there alongside him as he climbs through flooded cells, dodges bullets, and deals with the mentally insane. A must-read for fans of Clancy, Patterson, and Child.


Tiger Girl and the Candy Kid: America's Original Gangster Couple

The “Roaring Twenties” was a decade of post-war ebullience where financial speculation ran unabated. Prohibition led to lawlessness and violence and the media/law enforcement dubbed Public Enemies began to grab headlines across the country. Richard and Margaret Whittemore, known as “Candy Kid” and “Tiger Girl” would grace newspaper front pages for their infamy from 1925-1926. Richard was born from a privileged family, but his troublesome nature got him locked up in various institutions in Maryland. Margaret and Richard had known each other since they were children, and Margaret’s family saw menace in Richard.

The straight and narrow life held little appeal to Richard, who desired easy money. His criminal future was set when he met two safecracker brothers named Kraemer in the Maryland State Penitentiary. After a brazen escape involving a fatal assault on a guard, Whittemore and his associates conducted a violent crime spree spanning Maryland, New York, and Ohio.

 Tiger Girl and the Candy Kid is an excellent True Crime romp that is consistently compelling throughout its narrative. The brief spell the two Whittemores cast over the public conscience resonates even more a century later, with the glorification of the outlaw. Author Glenn Stout has written a fascinating account of the ill-fated rogues.


A Game of Cones (An Ice Cream Parlor Mystery)

Bronwyn is living the sweet life, making ice cream and serving treats at her family's ice cream shop until a developer threatens to ruin it. News of a mall shakes locals and results in the murder of the developer which leads Bronwyn to the reality that someone she knows could be a killer. After her friend becomes the likely suspect, she sets out to find clues that will lead her to the real killer. Soon Bronwyn has a whole other problem on her hands when her aunt arrives intent on taking over the family business.

The characters create a close-knit community with the shop owners providing an assortment of suspects as one could be a murderer. Abby Collette has a rich cast of characters including Bronwyn's closest friends and even the presence of Grandma Kay who is felt throughout. The community drives the story as Collette weaves in the idea of a small town versus developmental takeover in the backdrop of the murder investigation. This cozy mystery will leave your sweet tooth wanting a helping of ice cream and an extra scoop of this series.

A Game of Cones is the second book in the Ice Cream Parlor Mystery series.


The Boy and the Sea

The Boy and the Sea begins with a young boy who likes to listen to the whispers of the wise, old sea. As the boy grows and faces the new challenges of adulthood and, eventually, old age, he is curious. The boy has questions, some of which he can answer. Others, however, he cannot. At each age, the boy returns to the whispers of the sea, which tells him to dream, to love, and, finally, to be.

Camille Andros has written a beautifully meditative story that touches on the themes of the cycle of life, the importance of curiosity and seeking solace in the natural world, and the need sometimes to simply trust the process of life to find answers. Amy Bates’ illustrations in soft-focused, cool blue tones perfectly complement the tone of this book, while subtly emphasizing the sea as the boy’s mentor. The messages contained in this book would be wonderful for any child to hear, but maybe especially for those who feel a little uneasy or anxious about the uncertainties of growing up.


Positively Pokémon: Pop Up, Play, and Display! (UpLifting Editions)

My brother and I are big Pokemon fans! When my mom brought us Positively Pokemon, we were both very excited about reading it! My mom read it to us, but I could have read it on my own, too. There aren't very many words on each page. Each page in the book reminds me of other books about how much the mom loves the kid, like "I love you as much as (blank)." In Positively Pokemon, the pages are about how special the kid is, like "you're as playful as Pikachu" or "as brave as Bulbasaur." Each page has other pokemon from the same category as the main one; on the page with Bulbasaur, there are other leaf-type, and on the page with Pikachu, there are other electric-types.

Besides the fact that this book is about pokemon, I like it because there is a cutout of the main pokemon that you can push up and display like a bookmark when you're reading, or keep them up when the book is closed. I haven't seen a book like Positively Pokemon before, hopefully, I find more like it.


The Archeo: Personal Archetype Cards

This beautiful set includes both a book and a deck of forty cards. Although reminiscent of oracle or fortune-telling decks, these cards are not meant to be prognosticative. Instead, they represent archetypes, or various aspects of the human psyche. According to many traditions, each of these archetypes resides in each of us; while some may be more overt or developed than others, each has something to teach and a way to help us (even the ones you may view negatively).

Understanding all this takes some work, but the book is an excellent guide to how each archetype functions. The descriptions are poetic, mystical, and surreal, and they perfectly match the wondrous drawings that, with their dreamlike quality, remove you from the mundane while opening your thoughts to deeper, more profound perceptions. After studying the cards and book, you are offered several potential ways to use the cards to elucidate subconscious impressions that may have been hidden.

Finally, the author shares a short story for each archetype that exemplifies how these characters may act; use these stories to heighten your awareness of each aspect of your own persona and how they can help you better understand your own inner world.


Dr. Disaster's Guide to Surviving Everything: Essential Advice for Any Situation Life Throws Your Way

Dr. Disaster’s Guide to Surviving Everything is a book that everyone needs to run out and buy a copy of. As the title states, it is a survival guide that covers everything from basic first aid to Morse code to animal attacks and terrorist attacks. There is even a chapter about how to survive a pandemic, which seems oh-so-appropriate in this day and age.

One of the things I liked best about the book is that it is written in a way that is easy to understand for children who are just starting to read to adults. This book truly could help anyone. One of the most interesting chapters was about shooters and stabbers. The author teaches readers to divide a large room into quarters and search for an escape route in each quarter. He also teaches the art of barricading and to hide with as few people as possible to remain a difficult target.

As an emergency physician and U.S. Air Force veteran, author John E. Torres has firsthand experience in the face of disaster. This book is complete and detailed, and it’s an excellent guide to have on hand.


The Art of Eric Carle (The World of Eric Carle)

As a child, I loved the brilliant colors that popped off the pages of my Eric Carle books. Books such as The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? have such a unique feel to them. This is because of the way Eric Carle uses textures in his tissue paper collages.

In The Art of Eric Carle, the reader learns about the early years of the artist. Eric Carle was born in New York; however, he also lived in Germany when he was a small child during the war. This book describes his life from not only his point of view but also from the points of view of many of the people he worked and collaborated with. From being downgraded at art school from an artist to a typesetting apprentice to touching the hearts of children around the world both in person and through his books, Eric Carle is a household name for many.

This book is a treasure that anyone who has ever opened an Eric Carle book will enjoy.


The Galaxy, and the Ground Within: A Novel (Wayfarers, 4)

Several aliens from different corners of the galaxy cross paths at an interstellar layover and are forced to shelter in place during a catastrophic event. They have very little in common with each other, and the reputations of their species precede them. Those people are aggressive expansionists. Those people are warmongers. Those people are violent, unfeeling scavengers. But within the confines of a humble space station on lockdown, these diverse characters somehow manage to find common ground.

The Galaxy, and the Ground Within, the fourth (and ostensibly final) volume in Becky Chambers' Wayfarer series, feels like her most subtle novel yet—and in my opinion, it’s also her best. That familiar, quiet pulse of fervent optimism is stronger here than ever before, but the emotions of the characters feel more natural, their struggles more real, more believable. The result is something evocative of The Breakfast Club set in deep space, where the curiosity of the small cast, combined with their desire to feel seen and understood, overpowers their preconceived notions about each other. I highly recommend this book, whether as an end to a heartwarming science fiction series or as a standalone novel.


Code Breaker, Spy Hunter: How Elizebeth Friedman Changed the Course of Two World Wars

Cryptanalysis at first sounds like a scary job, but really, once you learn the meaning, it is not scary at all. Once I found out what a cryptanalyst was, I knew it sounded like a very fun and interesting job! I love to solve mysteries, so learning about the work of Elizabeth Friedman was enjoyable. Who knew someone had the job of decoding messages from others all across the world? It is hard to imagine a time when the world was in such turmoil and people sent secret messages during war to spy on others or plan attacks.

This book shows how important the work of Elizabeth and William Friedman and their helper was. Their perseverance and ability to break codes saved the lives of many and alerted many to planned attacks. I love the detailed illustrations, which show how important her work was to the history of the United States during the world wars. The back of the book includes codes and ciphers for readers to learn about, in addition to a challenge for readers to decode their own puzzle. There is also a timeline and bibliography of Elizabeth Friedman.


This House Is Home

Lily’s house has been lived in for generations. Grandma says it’s as “old and steady as mountains.” Located at the end of a lane, it has a quiet, country feel. Then, one sad day, everything begins to change. Knocks at the door are followed by more knocks. Foxes want desperately to purchase their property, and as summer arrives, Lily watches as nearby homes are demolished, one-by-one, until her’s is the only one left. Fear enters her dreams until one night the tide turns, and she becomes a captain, sailing her home to safety across the sea. With the support of her family and a well-drawn-out plan, her dream becomes a reality.

This House Is Home is a sweet and tender tale that will touch the lives of children everywhere. Those who have experienced loss or separation from all they know and cherish will especially find it heartwarming. The main character, a rabbit named Lily, is precious, and the illustrations throughout are full of life, animation, and color. Emotion bleeds through them.

The target audience for this memorable story is youth ages four to eight. It’s relatively short, making it an ideal bedtime treat as well as a great pick for those hesitant to embark on lengthy reads.


THAO: A Picture Book

People keep messing up Thao’s name. They make fun of her because she’s different. Sometimes she is called Toe or Tail or Tofu or Tao the Cow. Thao would like to change her name to Jennifer. It would be so much easier for her. People wouldn’t mess up her name anymore. Instead, Thao tells everyone how to say her name, her full name. Just don’t misspell her last name, Lam.

I can’t believe people would call her Toe or Tail. They are spelled differently from Thao. I like how in the front and the back of the book, there are pictures of many kids from different countries with different names like Floortje or Jianyu or Awinita. I like how the author/illustrator used cut up paper to illustrate the whole book. It is very cool and creative. I also like how the author/illustrator used actual baby pictures of herself in the book. I recommend this book to kids who are different and who have different names, names people might mispronounce sometimes.


Carry On: Poetry by Young Immigrants

If you pick up this book and start flipping the pages, you'll find yourself reading poems from people who came from a different place but live in Canada. There are people who come from the other side of the country! Some come from Iran, South Korea, Moldova,  and other places, but even though they aren't similar at all, they are all immigrants.

 This book was amazing because you read the changes that immigrants had to go through when they moved. This is a very powerful and meaningful book, and I really enjoyed reading different stories from different and unique people who moved to Canada. The illustrations by Roge were realistic and fun to look at, but I would have liked it better if there were more colors. I recommend this book for people who like reading poems. It is for any age. Now, go read some poetry!


The Wind and the Trees

A sapling says, “hello” to a neighboring tree that stands much taller and stronger than it does. It has the gift of time and experience, and decides to take the little one under its wing, teaching it about the wind - its gentle feel, its ferocity during a storm, its ability to shape, stretch, and even destroy it. The older tree describes how the wind helps scatter its seeds, promoting new growth and how it carries its messages to nearby trees. As the younger tree grows in wisdom, the older one weakens. When it passes on, a new one takes its place, and the cycle begins anew.

The Wind and the Trees is a beautiful tale of resilience, survival, and acceptance. The trees form the only dialogue that exists in the story, and though their conversation is brief, it’s marked with meaning. The older tree cares for the younger one, ensuring it shares the knowledge the sapling will need to survive in the world on its own, just as a parent imparts his or hers to a child before independence is earned. This text is ripe with symbolism, and its pages are laced with vibrant illustrations. It’s a treasurable pick for children ages five to nine.


The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War

Malcolm Gladwell, author of Blink, Outliers, and Tipping Point, and host of the podcast Revisionist History, turns to one of the most written about periods of history––World War II––in his new book, The Bomber Mafia.

The group referenced in the title revolutionized the way airplanes were used in wartime by considering how strategic bomb strikes could improve the allied position and save civilian lives. In theory, this idea would have changed the war effort, but the technology available and the desire to end the war quickly led to carpet bombing, a strategy that was antithetical to the views of the “Bomber Mafia” but ultimately led to the end of the war.

While the story is interesting, there are a number of footnotes and so much cited text from other sources that, at times, it feels more like you are reading a Ph.D. thesis than a fully developed book. Perhaps that is because the book began as four episodes from season five of Gladwell’s podcast. The structure of a podcast, which pulls from multiple sources to tell one story, may have added more dimension to this story.

That being said, there is a great deal of historical information here for the military and World War II buff, and Gladwell’s tangents––particularly on the creation of models of villages to determine the best bombing practices––are not to be missed.


Black Star

Black Star is an amazing graphic novel, with stunning artwork and great visuals. The storytelling is also great. You can really feel the conflict between the characters as they struggle to survive each other and the dangerous planet they have crashed on. If you like stories with morally grey characters, or stories told from the “villain's” perspective, I would  definitely recommend it.

The characterization of Dr. North and Parrish makes them feel like they’re real people, trying to accomplish the original mission or get revenge, or just trying to survive and make it home. The book explores the way humanity can act in times of destruction and the choices we make.

Black Star is a beautiful story with great characters, whether they only appear in flashbacks or are more central. The vibrant colors and great facial expressions drive home the emotions the characters are experiencing. Sometimes the scenes do not feature any words, but they still clearly get the points across to the reader. I'd definitely suggest this book if you need something to read!


Harvey the Hippo: A Tale of Good Food Choices

My mom has been telling me a story like Harvey the Hippo for a long time. She hasn't been telling me the same story, but mostly telling me to watch what I eat. In Harvey the Hippo, Harvey is a hippopotamus who lives in a zoo with his family. Harvey loves getting fed by the zookeepers because he loves to eat and thinks that hippos are supposed to be huge. One day, Harvey eats too much and starts floating away! Harvey floats across the whole world and can't enjoy anything he sees because he is too big to come back down. If Harvey can come down, he will have to learn how to keep himself from floating away again.

There was a lot that happened in this story. I can understand how Harvey likes all of the sweets; there aren't many that I don't like! I can understand how Harvey felt scared when he started floating away because I would too! I like reading about all of the things that Harvey saw on his trip; there were lots. In the end, I like that Harvey changed how he ate to keep himself healthier; I will work on that too!


1001 Bees

Most youngsters find bees to be scary. All they know is that bees can sting them, but it’s important for them to know the wonders of these amazing insects. Author and illustrator Joanna Rzezak has created a gorgeous book that will give children a great deal of information about these wonderful creatures.

Although listings for this book say it is for children aged three to five years old, older readers might well do better with it. It is really text-heavy for that age. Children up to eight years old would really enjoy it. The illustrations are beautiful and filled with so many wonderful details that youngsters' eyes will be engaged whether they are being read to or reading independently.

Readers will learn about the life cycle of bees, how they create honey and wax and build their combs, and the different jobs the worker bees, forager bees, and drones have in the hive. It shows the symbiotic relationship between bees and plants, the importance of bees in the process of pollination, without which plant life would be decimated. There is fun information about many birds and other insects and animals as well. Don’t miss this book.


Prince Dustin and Clara: Deep in the Black Forest (Volume 1)

Prince Dustin and Clara have a mission: to re-imprison the Dark Forces in their own kingdom and defeat the enchantress Serihilda. This book, their adventure, is packed with magic, excitement, and danger. I like how the author incorporates rhyming poetry into the book. It gives emphasis on certain evil elements of the story and adds emotion to the book overall. It clearly started as a Nutcracker twist, then the author kept writing in the same world, to finish the series, and this resulted. Elementary students in first through fifth grade who love dance will enjoy this book. This makes a good read in language arts in elementary school. There are good vocabulary words used in this book and I would recommend using them to find examples for grammar classes. I think every elementary school library could use a copy. Most local libraries and classrooms could use this book, along with families containing young dancers. The only thing missing is a map of the world the characters live in, and there are enough clues to this in the books that most people could draw one! This book is an imaginative, exciting, and descriptive fantasy novel.


Guess what this book is about? It’s called Horse Power: How Horses Changed the World by Jennifer Thermes and it’s all about horses! It talks about the whole time line of horses. There are a lot of horses in the world, lots that I’ve never heard of. For example, the Chinese Guoxia or the Akhal-teke (from Turkmenistan). Horses were used long before the medieval times, in deserts and in mountains too. And also people used to feed apples to horses, most days you don’t usually see that around. Horses can be used for all kinds of things, like horse races. Horses could be used to get bison. We don’t use horses as much now. The book didn’t talk about unicorns, but that’s okay. In the Industrial Age, trains were invented and horses were needed to transport coal to the trains. If horses weren’t there, they’d have to have gotten coal by hand! This book is really good for learning about horses and all the horses in the world and how they’ve been used through history. Horses are awesome!


Rivals

Carter is the star basketball player for Walthorne South and struggling to maintain his grades for playing.   Alfie, also a student at South, dreams of being a sportscaster, even though she can’t play any sport well.  Austin plays for Walthorne North, the rich kids’ school, where he has big shoes to fill following his father’s career. The first game of the season is a huge event, but an injury changes the line-up, putting Austin at center stage.  When Carter’s coach tells him to make sure he passes the math test however he can, Carter hatches a plan that requires a little dishonesty.  However, investigative digging by Alfie may threaten the season for both teams when she realizes there is more to sports than what happens on the court.

Like Greenwald’s previous sports book, Game Changer, this one is told through interviews, texts, chats, and news articles. However, this story about the dark side of sports features basketball and addresses other contemporary issues, like trash-talking by teams and poor sportsmanship by parents. These kids are flawed and realistic, bravely facing and understanding their faults. Alfie’s wizened views of sports provide food for thought and a great read for sports fans and mystery readers.


The Dead Husband

The Dead Husband is the story of a woman named Rose who finds her husband dead in their bed from an overdose of pills mixed with alcohol. Not being able to make ends meet as a suspense novelist, Rose must face her toxic past and move back in with her father, taking her eleven-year-old son, Max, with her. The eeriness of the book seeps in as we meet Rose's father, Logan, and her evil sister, Cora. Although the death of Rose's husband was marked as an accidental overdose/suicide, there is one detective who thinks that Rose killed her husband. After all, she did write about it in her latest novel.

This book started off really good. The character development was well done, as were the alternating chapters from the points of view of Rose and the detective. I felt that the middle of the book became really boring. Then it picked back up at the end and bam! You're hit with the solution of what really happened to Rose's husband. The book ends so abruptly that if you don't pay attention, you might miss it. A decent read but nothing too great.


Carmen and the House That Gaudí Built

Carmen Batllo spends her days playing outside with her imaginary salamander, Dragon. But when Carmen’s parents decide to buy a house in Barcelona and hire Antoni Gaudi to remodel the house, she does not want to leave Dragon and her home in the countryside behind. Will Carmen be happy living in Barcelona? And will she ever see Dragon again?

This story was interesting about how Gaudi built the house for the Batllo family. However, the story about Carmen wasn’t memorable or inspiring. I really liked seeing a picture of the famous house in the back of the book. Casa Batllo in Barcelona looks very colorful, imaginative, fun, and magical. The illustrations in the book weren’t as colorful and magical and fun as the real house. The colors in the story were very dull and drab, nothing like the real house. Although the story in the book isn’t really true, I did learn about the architect Gaudi. I recommend this book to readers who like books about artists and architects.