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Actress, playwright, and composer Marylee Martin examines the hidden, long-term effects of childhood covert sexual abuse in this award-winning themed memoir. Covert abuse, while solely verbal and mental rather than physical, is a less dramatic but equally damaging form of sexual abuse and is sadly common in all cultures and at every level of society. Children who escape ongoing sexual molestation or more violent forms of physical abuse still struggle in their adult lives and experience similar symptoms of confusion, uncertainty, anxiety, and depression—reactions familiar to victims of overt, hands-on sexual abuse. ... (read more)

The Journey

Author Jeffries recalls his personal history, expanding it to a broad vision of his nation and the world. Born during World War II, he recognized early on that men in his parents’ “Greatest Generation” were spurred by the trauma that all warfare can evoke and, therefore, strove to achieve more once they returned home, building new neighborhoods and aiming for meaningful employment. Similarly, American women who had contributed industrial efforts to the nation’s defense, symbolized by the popular image of “Rosie the Riveter,” resolved to be conscientious wives and parents while also starting to seek outside employment. The postwar years thus wrought numerous upswings in ordinary American life. Meanwhile, citizens of central Europe, where whole cities had been obliterated, were still grappling with extremely challenging aftermaths. One ominous signal was the burgeoning of Russian communism and its concomitant movements of socialism and similar, politically far-left movements. ... (read more)

Finding Truth

Long-time friends Thomas Pettigrew and Flinders Petrie run a detective agency together. Lately, their business has not thrived, so they have taken on second jobs to supplement their income. Pettigrew works as a physician, while Flinders is a curator at the British Museum. E.A. Wallis Budge, the head curator of the British Museum, hires Pettigrew and Flinders to find a small statue of Aphrodite that has been stolen from the Elgin Collection. Normally, Budge would have sought out the missing artifact, but he is swamped and wants the duo to take on the task. Pettigrew and Flinders accept the job, but as they delve deeper into the investigation, the case becomes increasingly dangerous. ... (read more)

Deeper View

When one thinks of President Richard Nixon, the Watergate scandal is usually the first thing that comes to mind. However, in this biography, award-winning author Paul Carter works relentlessly to bring the true essence of Richard Nixon to the forefront, a feat which he performs masterfully and with grace and simplicity. Audiences will gain exposure to Nixon’s humble roots in rural Whittier, California, and Yorba Linda, California—his birthplace—when it was just a fledgling Orange County city with hardly three hundred residents. What’s more, though, is that Carter truly shines a light on the kind of person Nixon was. The premise is that, for all intents and purposes, while the former president was a superb tactician, he transcended that and was a giant of a man. ... (read more)

Ride, Baby, Ride

If it takes twenty-one days to break a habit, then it certainly takes thirty-four to change a life. In Mortensen’s memoir, he simultaneously dazzles with his wit and inspires with an authentic portrayal of his journey biking from Minnesota to California. This isn’t a ride to glory by any stretch. On the contrary, it is one that provokes the human spirit, impelling both Mortensen and those who read it to dig into the innermost recesses of their being and pull out an unquenchable fire for life. ... (read more)

Cast of Characters

The relationships between instructors working in a dysfunctional sociology department at a fictional Florida university in the late 1980s are realistically explored in this novella by educator McNeill. While many workplaces, whether in government, the private for-profit sector, or even non-profit organizations, have these ego-driven, ideological clashes that create a hostile environment for some employees but provide unfair advantages to others, this story reveals the particular problems that arise in academic settings, and in this case, with dramatic, destructive results. The drama is also a cautionary tale determined by various departmental cliques that disregard the warning signs of trouble ahead for not only department faculty but for the entire university and the outside community as well. ... (read more)

Textured & Memorable

A jilted lover kills herself after learning that she can’t have the man she desires most. A target of bullies is granted magical powers to seek revenge from a strange, otherworldly entity. The angel of death watches in the wings, taking interest in order to stop a terrible and inevitable fate. An invading force known as The Loons is coming to consume and extinguish the Earth across all dimensions. All of these happenings intertwine and knot together to create an action-packed story of death, rebirth, identity, and destiny, with all of humanity hanging in the balance. ... (read more)

The book opens with a bold declaration that all forms of perfectionism are unhealthy. Collins and Molitor denounce the concept of “normal” perfectionists who are more productive and achieve greater success. As perfection is inherently unattainable, its pursuit is an inevitable path to frustration, which adversely affects mental and physical health, relationships, creativity, and productivity. Inspired by Kintsugi—the Japanese art and philosophy of “golden repair”—the authors advocate rejecting perfectionism and adopting the “Flawsomism” mindset of celebrating imperfection, striving for excellence, and embracing failure as an opportunity for growth. ... (read more)

Delightful Read

This work is an experience unto itself, one that takes traditional elements of fantasy and plants them into the modern world with supremely original results. Character-driven at its core, Carr’s work follows Trista, an orphan tunnel dweller who calls the depths of the New York subway tunnels her home. In every way, this is a classic coming-of-age story. The book revolves around a protagonist who recognizes that she is different but refuses the call and seeks to conform, to be ordinary, and to fit in. However, she must throw caution to the wind and erupt from her comfort zone or risk losing everything she holds dear. ... (read more)

Daily Trials

While the book begins with the murder of Professor Johnny Wharton, the murder itself is almost superfluous to this brilliantly written novel of intrigue that is primarily set in the mid-1980s. It explores the lives of five women. Four of the women are connected to Wharton, while the fifth becomes an integral part of the book later in the story. These four women include the following: Wharton's wife, Liz, who is an accountant and who volunteers at a dog rescue; their estranged and troubled daughter, Jenny; his grad student Jane (with whom he’s having an affair); and his closeted lesbian coworker, Maddie, who he holds in disdain, and who is the lover of Roz, the fifth woman. The book takes readers through the lives of these women, from the joy and beauty of existence to the trials and tribulations of daily life. ... (read more)

A spin on Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience,” Soling’s work focuses on eradicating compulsory schooling. A stark deviation from his graphic novels like The Jolly Elf and The Land of Plenty , this book still retains the same creative flair and humor of these other works while delivering stimulating discussions on the state of K-12 schooling. At a time when there are so many outlets to learn, Soling’s handbook embarks on a journey to conclusively prove that everything from the curriculum to the educators are cogs of a system that is not that disparate from prison. ... (read more)

Set against the backdrop of Vladimir Putin’s grab for power in Russia and a rash of global terrorist attacks in the late twentieth century, the novel delves into the complex world of covert counterterrorism. At the age of six, Maxym (Max) Mikhailovich Ivanov suffers an unbearable loss when his parents are killed and ten-year-old sister brutally raped and murdered by religious extremists. Escaping the cruel fate of his family, Max hides in a cupboard. He is rescued by the Russian army after being discovered by a Russian soldier, Leonid. The desire for revenge ignites in young Max after seeing the brutalized bodies of his family. Vowing to his rescuers to kill as many of these terrorists as possible, Max, at the young age of six, begins with those who murdered his family. Praised for his execution of the captured terrorists, Max is admired by the soldiers and given a home with Leonid. ... (read more)

Myths & Magic

Prince Khael Stratton is a mystic who seeks to deepen his knowledge of such arts to help those in need. Following a mission, he reports to the city of Cambridge—ruled over by his brother—and has a close encounter with a pickpocket who steals his signet ring. Alongside his bodyguard, Grant, the prince manages to track down the young woman, Vixen, who suffers from a foggy memory while demonstrating a great talent for skills associated with assassins. Prince Khael finds it an odd happenstance in a time when a terrorist group known as the Chelevkori are making active attempts to eliminate the royal family for a perceived wrongdoing by his grandfather, Loren, and it is further compounded by reports that tyrannical rule has seized the city of Skemmelsham over which he rules. Prince Khael forges a contract with Vixen, and with Grant, they go on a journey to liberate the city. ... (read more)

Transporting audiences into a riveting espionage thriller, Bornstein pushes the limits of science and technology to create a potentially cataclysmic outcome that is as plot-centric as it is character-driven. Loyalties are tested regularly, revealing the fortitude of the main characters and their determination to achieve their goals at all costs. Not your typical thriller, the narrative is tied to one’s roots, family, and being wronged in a way that can’t easily be forgiven. ... (read more)

Children Thinking

Most children adore a good animal story. This one will likely be fought over if there is only one copy on the home, school, or public library shelf. This true tale of a rescued baby otter shares concepts of kindness, hope, healing, and the life cycle. ... (read more)

Beautiful Bar Talk

Streitz dives into an impressive and expansive range of topics, tackling them head-on rather than tiptoeing around them as most normally do. In the process, audiences get to reflect on how they interact with their own lives and the stimuli they are constantly surrounded by. Above all else, however, it is the poet’s ability to use language, particularly metaphor, imagery, and satire, to create a remarkably relatable and universal connection with his readers. ... (rea d more)

Juhani Murros made an unexpected discovery during his visits to art galleries when he worked for an organization in Ho Chi Minh City in 1990. A small still life in an unobtrusive gallery commanded the Finnish physician’s attention. “It was an unpretentious oil painting, yet its dark, mysterious colors and the emotional tension of its disciplined composition set it apart.” Thus began a long journey of discovering the art and life of Van Den, a frugal and kind Buddhist of mixed Chinese and Vietnamese ancestry who studied in Paris for less than two years during 1950-52, a volatile period during the first French Indochina War. ... (read more)

Clear Philosophy

The free will debate has raged for over 2,000 years. Do individuals have control over their own actions and decisions, or are these actions and decisions predetermined by the gods, logic, nature or nurture, or many other forms of determinism? In this new work by Kral, he takes the reader on an intellectual journey that attempts to provide an alternative to the free will question. Upon initial inspection, the question, at its heart, seems to imply either a yes or no with explanations while excluding other answers. However, Kral manages to create a compelling third option, which posits that the question itself is flawed. He argues that “will” cannot be considered free or not free. His reasoning breaks down what the word means in the context of this question, and his results lead him to create an additional theory about the source of human behavior. which he has titled procirclism. ... (read more)

Within this poetry collection, Australian writer Rodden has arranged forty-one contemporary poems reflecting both urban and rural experiences. Within the first selection, the poem’s speaker is driven to “make for the trees,” an attempt to avoid indoor offices where everyone else seems to be. There arise suddenly throughout these poems vivacious, invigorating lines, such as “In the library I try and try / to cram in all the poets and storytellers ….” Other poems tell of the writer’s experiences working among crews fighting bushfires in the wild. And some selections—such as the slightly eccentric, dry-humored “dead chicken-meat day”—paint a rather zany picture in which “the sign says / two skinned chickens for 6 dollars” as the speaker finds herself panting past KFC en route to work. In “The Loaded Dog,” a rustic pub sporting “Depression swaggy” photographs of “romantic gold miners / in classic beards” offers Devil’s Choice beer—with raspberries. ... (read more)

Jazzy & Gritty

This collection by Streitz is the first of four Bar Bibles of Poetry authored by him. In this volume, his attention falls on subjects ranging from bartenders to civil rights leaders, E.D. to selfies. Several poems deal with sex and love, from the lofty heights of romanticism to the street level of strippers and masturbation. He spends time on drunk writers hiding in their homes, dancers who should have been writers, beetles rolling balls of dung, and fathers who find themselves protective and uncomfortable. ... (read more)

Beyond the Usual

D’Agostino, a psychiatric and behavioral health expert, offers his personal and professional opinions about the differences between racism, prejudice, and tribalism in his book. He clearly explains in the introduction that he is neither a sociologist nor a scholar of racism, nor has he spent years researching and writing about this issue. His interest stems from his viewpoint as a mental health professional looking through the lens of psychiatric concerns with the complex of “motivations and emotionally important belief systems.” To this end, the author primarily examines the trajectory of race relations in his lifetime as he experienced the black-white racial divide, although he also cogently covers the topic historically ... (read more)

Transcendent Tone

Divided into three movements to mimic an actual concerto, this book’s poems create a representation of the human emotional experience that makes its complexities accessible. Poems like “Early in Morning in Bethesda” examine a relationship’s tenderest moments. “Little Box” embraces an experimental form that is both peaceful and chaotic. “Grief at Full Moon” captures where loss compounds one’s interactions with not only the physical world but also the emotional one, and the memory of a loved one becomes a haunting force that controls one’s being. In other poems, the sanctity of nature becomes a healing, cleansing entity, while “the first grace of snow” offers a turning point in the speaker’s grief cycle. Fueling the musicality inherent in these poems are the experimental structures of lines and stanzas that form a concerto unlike any other. ... (read more)

Kind-Hearted Soul

Young Emmeline dreams of becoming a veterinarian or a biologist in the future. She is inspired by her father, who works as a naturalist and travels all over the world. When she convinces him to let her meet up with him on an expedition to the Falkland Islands, Emmeline travels on the Maria Christina , where she becomes friends with a crew member’s son named Demetrio. Disaster strikes when the boat comes under attack and sinks, leaving Emmeline alone when she washes up in the strange land of Pletonia. But she soon makes friends with many of its inhabitants, learning it is natural for them to get reincarnated as various animals. Further, during her journey to visit its rulers, Emmeline discovers that she has personal ties to this fantastical land. However, Pletonia comes under attack by the exiled Valdrimos Pish, who unleashes creatures that kill and stop the reincarnation process. Emmeline and her new friends must work together to find solutions to the crisis. ... (read more)

Transformation

Fred counts on his dad when his inability to keep a job and keep his weight in check causes conflict with his mom and sister. When Fred’s dad dies and his sister (his primary income buffer) moves away, Fred and his mom are on their own until Fred’s wrestling champion girlfriend, Mary Ellen, arrives, giving Fred the boost he needs to defend himself, literally and figuratively. ... (read more)

Effortless Storytelling

Soling’s out-of-the-box writing style is on full display, bursting with candor in this graphic novel featuring a jolly elf with magical powers who incessantly sings “Get up and Boogie,” among other seventies hits at 4 AM, much to the dread of his sleep-deprived neighbors. The story, set in a remote area of Cuba, is pure entertainment on the surface, a peculiar concoction of a Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale that encountered the sublimity of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein . Digging deeper, however, there are a number of themes that emerge and beg to be contemplated, creating an unsuspecting but fulfilling read. ... (read more)

Eventful Life

The world of intrigue was not anomalous in John Meier’s life. His father, Herbert, was a German immigrant whose loyalty to the fatherland led him to risk his life in providing shelter to German spies during World War II. The web that Meier would find himself ensnared in would involve reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes, the Nixon administration, and the CIA. Meier met Hughes in 1956 and was offered a position with Hughes Aircraft. Meier would maintain periodic employment with the Hughes organization for over fifteen years and would become privy to Hughes’ secrets and his political influence. Hughes’ largesse towards Richard Nixon and his family had allegedly cost Nixon the 1960 Presidential election, and Meier witnessed a larger payment to Nixon that may have triggered the Watergate burglary in 1972. As Nixon’s downfall began and chaos reigned in the Hughes organization, Meier retained the secrets that many were seeking. ... (read more)

Centered around the Euthanasia Law in Australia, Snow’s work is an incredibly comprehensive and multidimensional examination of what the “right to die” truly means and to whom it is applicable. From the Catholic perspective and the Arabic approach to Aristotle and Hercules references, the author is unyielding in her desire to inspire discussion at a global level. On a personal level, the author notes that she herself would have become a victim of euthanasia had it not been for her letter to the parliament. ... (read more)

Deep Listening

In this unique work of photography and writing, readers embark on a road trip unlike any other that spans 900 days and 93,000 miles. During the duration of this monumental trip, the author conducted 140 interviews in an effort to discover what interconnections exist between people in a world of disrupted relationships. The book follows the author’s cross-country journey after he and his wife sold their Minnesota home in order to spend their time on the road, interviewing people of various backgrounds and searching for stories of hope, healing, and resilience. The author emphasizes that one doesn't "have to drive 93,000 miles to find stories like these” because there is “wisdom and beauty all around us if we choose to see it.” ... (read more)

Emotional Repair

This book introduces readers to the various forms of trauma individuals encounter every day. It offers an individualized approach to understanding trauma. It asks important questions that help one understand how various forms have impacted and shaped one’s life. Readers also discover step-by-step guides for assessing and managing trauma as well as ways to reduce it. Throughout the book, a multitude of definitions are given that help one understand trauma and its emotional and psychological effects. Blended into the scientific analysis of trauma is a cultural analysis that examines the historical role of trauma in American society, especially after the September 11th terrorist attacks, which made counselors and psychologists realize they lacked the training and equipment to treat widespread trauma in America. ... (read more)

Cohesion & Conflict

Readers enter this tale on the cusp of deep change in Montauk as the traditional fisherman’s life is in jeopardy, and many residents contemplate the hard choices they must make to create balanced new lives. Clancy, a New Yorker who once enjoyed Montauk during his family-deprived childhood, revisits the peninsula. He rediscovers Otto, the man who mentored him in a program for disadvantaged orphans. This places Clancy in conflict with Theresa, Otto’s estranged daughter, who resented the boy during her childhood. She feels doubly betrayed in adulthood by her father after he cheated on and divorced her mother. Unfortunately, Otto is ill and soon passes away, leaving his legacy to Clancy because Theresa refuses to reconcile with her father or to receive any property. Clancy must balance sorting out Otto’s wishes and gaining Theresa’s trust while navigating Montauk’s social order and the community’s challenges with climate, housing, and open space. ... (read more)

Snoodles Return

The whimsical, rhyming world of Normal Noodle, Sally Stroodle, and their children— Ricky Rockadoodle and Briana Brainy Broodle—returns with another adventure full of silliness, absurdity, and intergalactic interference. Picking up after the events of the first book in the series, Grumpy Grimy Groodleman is upset over how the Snoodle vehicles have completely driven out the need for his business selling Groodlemobiles. When Evil Kidoodle comes from the planet Zoodle to Earth to meet with Grumpy Grimy Groodleman, he brings a plan to trick Ricky and Briana into eating some modified cake that will sap their intelligence. Seeing an opportunity to get back at the family that ruined his business and an opportunity to bring the Groodlemobile back to prominence, Grumpy Grimy wastes no time in agreeing to help out this evil alien invader. ... (read more)

Author, actor, and world traveler Darling offers a dynamic chronicle depicting his years walking thousands of miles in his native New Zealand and across the globe, sharing his understanding of the biblical Gospel of Mark. The choice to do so began in 2000, as he emerged from an astral dream with the words “Do Mark” resonating through his spirit. Taking this as an order, his diligent study and dramatizing of Mark’s words became his innovative template. And there was another call for Darling, who was then in his mid-fifties: he was to walk from venue to venue. His first foray was forty-two kilometers, while the second was an astounding nine-hundred and fifty. One episode illustrates the success of his inner calling: on the second visit to a prison in Ohio, Darling met a prisoner who had observed his presentation on the first occasion during a raging snowstorm. The man avowed to Darling that, “You saved my life,” declaring that he had seen “a light” despite the darkened skies outside. ... (read more)

Deep History

In any pedagogical program, educators are trained to promote inquiry, to encourage their students to probe deeper, and to ask who, what, where, when, and why. Momon’s work exhibits the same instructional tendencies as it challenges preconceived notions using a background in STEM, specifically math and science, alongside extensive research. At its core, though, this is the work of an inquisitive mind, an intensely curious individual who is unyielding in his intent to help both himself and his readers navigate through the labyrinth of human history to ultimately uncover hidden truths. ... (read more)

Bad for Good

An expert computer hacker, Sydney has been stealing from several employers for close to three decades, amassing over twenty million dollars. Nearing fifty, Sydney has decided to change direction. She starts a private investigator business and hires two young and highly talented siblings she knows about through a previous acquaintance. After coming clean about her criminal activity and having masked it so well over the years that no one wants the negative publicity that would come from admitting they were duped, Sydney avoids any charges and keeps the money. Interestingly, she is hired by an attorney she once worked for and robbed to work for a client needing someone who can find lost things, many of these things being criminals of some sort. The catch is the company, We Remember, is hiring these individuals, fixing their records and damages due, and paying Sydney extremely well for the work. Sydney and her two associates are well-suited to the tasks at hand and are having great success. However, Sydney and the attorney are both suspicious of the company. Sydney gives the business to her associates, and she and the attorney begin looking deeper into We Remember. ... (read more)

Everlasting Soul

Stories harbor the potential to stand the test of time, carrying over from generation to generation. In Harry’s work, themes of scripture are transposed onto a fictional canvas that gives audiences a unique vantage point of many biblical elements, with a particular emphasis on the end times. The Lord’s sacrifices for mankind, despite the darkest of sins committed unto him, are brought into the light through this narrative. More importantly, the work is about restoring peace, balance, and love, shattering the subverted agendas of humans who wear the guise of peacekeepers while only looking out for themselves. ... (read more)

Benjamin Simon is a twelve-year-old high school freshman on the autism spectrum who lives with his parents in Boston. He is a mathematics prodigy with an encyclopedic knowledge of dinosaurs. Unfortunately, his diminutive size, lack of social skills, and tendency to spout random dinosaur facts make it difficult for Benjamin to form friendships. He is frequently the victim of bullying. When stressed and overstimulated, Benjamin has meltdowns that include biting, pacing, and arm flapping, which only exacerbate his peers’ ridicule. When he receives an invitation from a classmate to play video games after school, Benjamin is cautiously optimistic that he may finally be making new friends. Instead, he suddenly finds himself a suspect in a murder investigation. Thrust into the custody of the Department of Youth Services, Benjamin maintains his innocence while navigating a system fraught with gangs, violence, subpar education, and jaded officials. ... (read more)

Compelling Drama

Set against the backdrop of the turbulent late 1960s, two twenty-two-year-old queer men find their lives publicly scrutinized by judge and jury in Chicago’s judicial system. Colin Doyle, the gay son and grandson of two of the CPD’s toughest and most corrupt cops, is indicted on a capital murder charge after his wealthy older patron, Oliver Bradford, dies of a heart attack while the pair have consensual sex. The death may not have been notable had Bradford’s angry nephew been included in his will, but Oliver had given Colin joint ownership of his property and his extensive financial fortune despite the relationship with his young personal secretary not being a conventional love affair. In a youthful, foolish decision, Colin moves Tyler Voight, his brand-new lover, into the home the day after Oliver’s death, making the older man’s demise look more sordid and suspicious and an intentional homicide. ... (read more)

Provocative

The intrigue of ancient Rome’s political landscape never fails to provide fascinating characters and interesting narratives. This novel, centered on the chaotic reign of Septimus Severus and his sons, is no exception. Caracalla and Geta came of age when Rome had acquired many distant lands. It was stretched thin, struggling to maintain control. When the emperor died, he left the two young boys as co-regents under the Domna’s purview. They inherit an unstable empire steeped in complex challenges to resolve. First on Caracalla’s list is to eliminate his enemies. This includes his brother. ... (read more)

Broad Appeal

The world that we live in has steadily progressed to a society that is beginning to understand and appreciate the various shapes and styles that people embody, creating more and more equal opportunities in business and professional culture. Though there are still many barriers to break down and more gaps to narrow, the most important step that can be taken is to find the support and the courage not to hide one’s personal identity in one’s work life. It is not a simple thing to ask, and there are those who will close doors based on their own prejudices, but this book aims to empower its readers to identify the unique qualities and perspectives they have to offer and prepare them to honestly present that realized self in a way that will improve their own mental health while making their organization more well-rounded and capable. ... (read more)

Wealth & Greed

In another rendition of satire and candid humor, Soling’s graphic novel has created a world where neighboring lands envy the Land of Plenty. Fitting to their name, these bordering lands are called the Land of Death, The Land of Pestilence, and the Land of Scarcely Anything at All Other than Misery and Depression. In this work, these lands are essentially the principal characters. They seek to dethrone the Land of Plenty and bring it to its knees. ... (read more)

World in a Day

Time offers the same potential and opportunity for everyone. While we may be alive and on this Earth for different lengths, we each experience the same twenty-four-hour cycle of the planet’s rotation. What changes is what we do with that time and what our outlook toward each rising of the sun may be. This collection of poems and prayers serves as a devotional that is focused on taking a moment at the beginning and at the end of each day to welcome in that potential, celebrate the opportunity, and let go of any disappointments or hurts incurred before beginning the next one. By reading along, absorbing the words, and even repeating them aloud, readers will be adjusting their mindsets toward a full appreciation of the temporary yet limitless nature of what can happen in a single day. ... (read more)

Funny & Brave

This poignant, personal book guides readers through the ins and outs of midlife dating after losing one’s soulmate. The book opens with an openly honest foreword about how Meehan met her husband, his cancer diagnosis, and the brave steps the author took to begin finding love again after the tragic loss of her spouse. As readers progress from chapter to chapter, they discover stories of intimidated men who scorn a woman who orders her own coffee, the strangeness of navigating dating apps, and the taboos that are broken when men decide a photo of themselves in a speedo is the best introduction. ... (read more)

Mind & Soul

Medical advancements and technology continue to grow and evolve, giving doctors more tools to diagnose and treat sickness and patients more ways to monitor their own health and make healthier choices. Care must also be given to conditions that are caused not by bacteria or viruses but by a lack of healthy love in a person’s life, leading to cycles of abuse, addiction, and dysfunction in relationships with others and the self. Combining the scientific expertise of a medical practitioner with faith-based methodology, this book blends science and the spiritual to find reliable, consistent causes and treatments for social ills that anyone can access without costly hospital visits or medical insurance. By fostering a more personal and full relationship with God, those who are suffering from these afflictions can find peace and happiness and break endless cycles of harm and hardship. ... (read more)

Eldwyn was quite unlike one’s typical fire-breathing, knight-battling dragon. He was instead entirely laid-back, snacking on cheese doodles, puffing on weed, and blurting out random, occasionally profound philosophical statements. Other evil dragons spent their time kidnapping princesses, while the protagonist simply “hung out,” smoking. Fellow dragon Dendryl abducts Princess Summerbliss, while Britsyl invades and runs off with Princess Cellulite. When they celebrate their conquests at the local Ye Olde Dragon Bar and Grille, Eldwyn just watches it all “glassy-eyed” and says that he digs it. ... (read more)

Consequences

In this colorful yet dark and twisted book, readers meet Boris the Dog, a furry friend who is ready for a big adventure. After Boris decides that he has had enough of his home life and wants to see the big city, he develops and executes a heinous and demented plan that will help him escape his owners. After Boris devours his owners’ child, he proceeds on a dark path of even more recklessness. His actions influence others to pursue dark and angry paths, and soon, unbelievable chaos unfolds. Nonetheless, Boris manages to reach the city, where the amount of buildings and people surprise him. However, the traffic and the large population are not the only surprises in store for him after he crosses into the city’s limits. ... (read more)

Cipherinf Strategies

At the root of all things in the cosmos is the word. The power of language, when observed astutely and from the right lens, is exponential and harbors the ability to reign in everything from religion and philosophy to mathematics and sociology. Through a combination of personal experiences and meticulous research, Johnson provides tools to observe how language is a universal connector that can decipher life’s greatest complexities. ... (read more)

Intentional Poems

The beauty and toughness of the Taíno culture are valiantly portrayed with equal parts force and grace, creating an energetic field made more vibrant through imagery. The sanctity and adulation with which Rodriguez regards his roots, especially the caciques—the tribal chieftains—shine through loud and clear, carrying a determined resilience to continue “caressing these roots fatigued by a half millennium.” ... (read more)

Driven Narrative

By 2041, the world’s oligarchs have reinstated white supremacy and chattel slavery in a caste-based society. The dystopian system rolls smoothly along for the vile oligarchs until the rebellious Citizen Cassandra IX, a patrician with an AI implant, questions the social order a century later. After her conviction and sentencing for insurrection in 2126 due to her sharing old black market books and revolutionary ideas such as those found in Joseph Conrad’s novel, Heart of Darkness , she is convicted and sent to prison. But after serving eighteen months, she is diverted to Mars on the spaceship Jefferson Davis . Earth is nearly unlivable, and the formerly stable colonies on Mars are going dark. ... (read more)

Celebration

From the poet laureate of Texas comes a new collection in which ordinary objects and instances inspire insights and wisdom. For example, in the title poem, a widow, with much reason to grieve, rejoices over an ice dispenser. Similarly, a belt in “Evening Dress” is both inert and dangerous to the one watching a man dress. Meanwhile, love is a connection so integral that there is “no room for even wax” in the poem “Sincerity.” ... (read more)

Crisp & Clean

For the first time in her life, Bethany will be attending a school where she doesn’t need to keep secret her powers as a witch. Although the move is difficult for fifteen-year-old Bethany, getting a larger house and being among other witches and hunters (males with powers) is exciting. Bethany quickly makes a couple of friends when she arrives at her new house: two normal children and a hunter. Also, she accidentally ends up texting a boy she thought was one of her new friends, but he turns out to be someone quite different. ... (read more)

Love & Suspence

Nijsha grew up in a desolate desert world of unbearable cruelty where having emotions is a crime punishable by death. She escapes, crossing the Jagged Edge into Anwar—a world of beauty and danger. Trained to be a warrior since she could walk, Nijsha finds it far easier to neutralize threats than to navigate the onslaught of new emotions and social interactions in this foreign land. She soon encounters Alec, a well-trained assassin on a mission to return an ancient scroll with an important prophecy to the monks at Nevia’s Temple. When Nijsha convinces Alec to serve as her guide, they embark on an epic journey across Anwar. Much to Alec’s dismay, they acquire an ever-increasing group of traveling companions as their journey continues, and Nijsha experiences the novelty of making friends. But Nijsha possesses secrets, a complex heritage, and an ancient paranormal ability that attracts danger and makes it difficult to differentiate friend from foe. ... (read more)

Intimate & Honest

Author Gasner looks back on a life of turmoil, discouragement, and challenge that led her, step by often painful step, to a sense of acceptance, enhancement, and courage. Her powerful, poignant memoir begins when, at age sixteen, she was forced to confront the fact that, in many ways, her physical abilities were weakening. She had taken a fall, which was presaged by a noticeable increase of swaying and staggering; she’d begun dropping things, and her handwriting had become unsteady, almost unreadable. Testing by neurological experts indicated Friedreich’s ataxia, a form of muscular dystrophy. There was no known cure, and life expectancy, as she would learn, was no more than the mid-twenties. ... (read more)

Pain & Beauty

This unique memoir is heartbreakingly poignant in its careful examination of the cycles of loss and grief that ultimately define life. Grief, however, does not entirely define it. Readers also find poems influenced by pop culture, the author’s Jewish identity, and Southern Californian culture. The author also bravely shares their experiences of navigating the superficial ideal society created for women that caused so many to embark on endless dieting trends and succumb to eating disorders. Music holds a paramount role in the text, and many of the poems lend a nod to unforgettable musicians like Jerry Garcia, Peter Frampton, Roger Daltrey, and Robert Plant. ... (read more)

Human Interconnectedness

Masterfully written and powerfully thought-provoking, this collection offers readers an attentive look into a world reshaped by climate change. It also offers them a glimpse into the emotional and psychological legacy of women and the power of generational fortitude. Readers learn lessons from “a mixed flock of birds” who “are content to be what they are.” They also find celebrations of romance where “beauty lies” in a couple’s “own fleshy story.” Other poems celebrate friendship’s intimacy and its manifestation in something as small as a t-shirt “ripped free from a slamming / screen door of an Ohio farmhouse.” ... (read more)

Fascinating

This fictionalized true crime story explores two murders in New England in the mid-1800s. The first murder is perpetrated against a popular schoolteacher in Vermont and later tied to the murder of a seventeen-year-old girl attending Pembroke Academy in Pembroke, New Hampshire. Both murders are exceedingly brutal, with the victims being raped and mutilated in a similar manner. Each is believed to have been accosted from behind in surprise attacks, and details of the murders reveal just how similar the two atrocities were in execution. ... (read more)

Dance Story

An artist of many talents from a young age, nineteen-year-old Marcia Weary opened her own school of dance in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in 1955. With an equal investment from her sister, the two bought a barn to serve as the school with the adjacent home to be used both as home and office. Heavily influenced by George Balanchine, often referred to as the father of modern ballet, Marcia would work tirelessly to grow children interested in learning to dance into real dancers. After twenty years of running the school as a small family business, the school was renamed in 1976 as the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet and incorporated as a non-profit. Several people were instrumental in the success of the CPYB, including three men who originally started as fathers of students: Andre Drosselmeyer, Ken Laws, and Bob Gregor. Along the way, the school was supported by many others, including famous choreographers and costume makers. The school would eventually expand and partner with local colleges as well as being granted permission to perform exclusive dances choreographed by George Balanchine. Dancers from the school would work and dance all over the world, and many working, professional dancers were trained by Marcia Weary and the CPYB. ... (read more)

Rare Advice

Author and attorney Engel assumes an unusual and challenging yet much-needed task: to demonstrate, through his experience as a divorce attorney, the ways in which a determined woman might pursue and secure a future of genuine love and security after the trauma of legal separation and the inherent complications of divorce. In his long career, Engel became acquainted with and legally represented divorcing clients, the majority of whom were women, as they faced marital disentanglement, which can include hidden or overt rage, loss of financial support, unfaithfulness, unfulfilled ambitions, and in many instances, a sense of the inability ever to achieve a successful new relationship. Women often believe they can rely solely on their intuition, which can be a powerful motivator. But if it is not, Engel asserts, underpinned by pragmatic considerations and a truly open mind devoid of discouragements that follow divorce, it will not be a sufficient guide to new and better pathways. ... (read more)

Veteran nurse Lexi Burns is content with her life in the small town of Atherton, Missouri. She has a rewarding career, great co-workers, and a comfortable relationship with her long-term boyfriend, Scott. She also has Zelda Allen, the most amazing lifelong best friend anyone could ever hope for. Lexi’s tastes are simple—a good book, great food, a cold beer, and the occasional girls’ night out. But when she works a Code Blue on a teenage girl named Buffy Stephens, who dies of gruesome injuries following a vicious attack, Lexi is compelled to uncover the truth. When local authorities prove incompetent and cave under political pressure, Lexi and Zelda launch their own investigation into Buffy’s death. Soon the aspiring sleuths find themselves risking their careers as they come under fire from the police. While they uncover more and more clues, they are drawn deeper and deeper into a spiraling vortex of danger where the truth may cost them everything—including their lives. ... (read more)

Award-winning author Baltazzi has constructed an energizing treatise focused on the search for and acquisition of the experience of happiness, extracting it from what may sometimes seem like an impossibly complex morass of personal and societal restraints through her well-considered methodology. Based on her background as a noted television producer and director with the long-running and highly successful series Survivor , and drawing from perceptions of a multitude of realms—spiritual, social, and practical—she postulates eight core values needed for the process of attaining happiness: faith, love, health, gratitude, forgiveness, peace, detachment, and abundance. Each of these qualities, referred to collectively as “Happiness Essentials,” is explored using certain terms derived from the author’s background in cinematography. ... (read more)

Strange Harmony

In this fever dream of a novella, the protagonist takes a special interest in a prostitute who he is determined to help and protect. Other characters include Richard, an addict and the prostitute’s sometimes pimp, and Carpenter Wells, a violent man driven by impulse and hunger. This takes place in a city and country consumed by chaos. There are bombings, fires, a general malaise, and madness. The narrator uses vivid language and has a philosophical bent as he tells the story. He is an interesting man, describing himself as “I am not a violent man, but when it is called for it should be quick and to the point, what I think of as an efficient kindness, a concise use of language.” ... (read more)

Crisp Storytelling

Tiffany has big dreams. With her parents’ gift of a bus ticket to Los Angeles, Tiffany is taking the first step to becoming a prostitute. On the way, she meets a helpful older man who stresses the importance of following her dreams and not letting life get in the way. He tells her he always dreamed of becoming a serial killer, but marriage and children got in the way. When she arrives, she immediately sets out to find a pimp. However, she runs into a film agent instead. She doesn’t want to do something as sleazy as being an actress but takes his card, nonetheless. ... (read more)

A young squirrel named Wembley is lucky enough to make his home inside of a magnificent, huge oak tree. However, he lacks any humility about his fortune and often boasts to all of the other forest animals about the fact that his tree is the largest in all of Cayuga. This, of course, makes the other animals feel sad. When two “burly lumberjacks” arrive on the scene one day, they take notice of Wembley’s giant oak tree and begin to discuss its impressive nature. It must’ve taken “over three hundred years for nature to produce such a wondrous specimen,” they remark. They decide, as lumberjacks will do, to chop the tree down. First, though, they share a snack of crumpets and hot tea. ... (read more)

International Intrigue

This novel focuses on protagonist Leeha Ritsagin, a young woman caught up in political intrigue after being mistakenly given a top-secret document called “Guiding Light.” In this alternative nation of Cadona, it seems that a right-wing religious group called the Soldiers of God, a militant arm of the True Church of God, has listed one hundred women for “justice executions.” “Guiding Light” lists these women and also describes a new all-powerful weapon called Toxic Sphere. Kidnapped and taken to a secret base in a mountainside, government agents for the Freedom Party, the political party aligned with the right-wing zealots, subject Leeha first with a truth serum drug called Mind One and then subject her to weeks of more traditional torture. The rightist government shoots down a passenger airliner with an army captain who knows about Toxic Sphere and blames it on another nation. ... (read more)

Undying Devotion

This is historical fiction at its best. Newhouse describes Polish ghetto life circa the early 1940s. The book is accurate, fast-paced, and riveting. It reads like a mystery novel, making the horrors of the Lodz Ghetto easier to read and learn about. The story describes starvation, freezing temperatures, poor healthcare, and a hierarchy amongst the Jewish inhabitants/prisoners. ... (read more)

Loss & Recovery

This passionate, heartfelt memoir is a tribute to the love shared by mother and daughter amidst the insular beauty of Whidbey Island. Ronhaar writes of receiving a level of unconditional love that many readers will envy: “I honestly do not ever recall a time where Mom wasn’t anything but understanding, delightful, encouraging, attentive, overjoyed, or genuinely proud of me.” Despite receiving unconditional love, Ronhaar was no angel, and she balances her glowing narrative with explorations of her childish faults and incidents that foreshadowed her more serious negative behavior after the sudden loss of her mother. ... (read more)

Vivid Imagery

Caroline (CiCi) Marcum grew up in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, a fishing village on Cape Cod. She graduated high school, attended college, became a teacher, and married. But a tragic accident forever changed the course of CiCi’s life, and she fled to Chicago. Six years later, Caroline finds herself back in Wellfleet carrying for her ailing mother. Lonely and grieving, she reconnects with fellow Cape native Ridley Neal, a fourth-generation fisherman who inherited his father’s sea farm. While Rid is sympathetic to Caroline’s plight, he is embroiled in a legal battle to save his livelihood and cannot provide the emotional support CiCi so desperately needs. ... (read more)

Twisted Tale

In this twisted tale, a bomb follows a young boy home and causes chaos for the boy and his family. Readers also meet the boy’s eccentric neighbors, the Greenspans, who live a hermit-like life and threaten all who dare to tread on their lawn. Even though the boy’s parents emphasize to him that keeping a bomb requires a lot of responsibility, the boy insists that the bomb remains with the family—for about one day. Then, the boy realizes just how much attention owning a bomb requires. Soon, the boy and his family decide to give the bomb to the Greenspans, resulting in an explosive change of pace and lifestyle for everyone. ... (read more)

Cross-Country

Fast & funny.

This satirical dystopian novel takes place In the year 2053 when most people have forgone smartphones and computers for nanobots that live in their bloodstreams. Users experience the world with augmented reality (AR) programs that allow them to change their appearance, sit in on conference calls half a world away, or brush away pop-up ads like flies. AR usually only affects one’s vision until mild-mannered programming genius Spiro finds a way to influence users’ sense of smell. Spiro presents his idea to his company, but soon, what seems like a silly suggestion spirals into chaos involving the military, the CDC, conspiracy theorists, and scheming whistle-blowers. ... (read more)

Page-Turner

Written in the voice of Martin (Marty), this book explores the world of a company start-up and how Marty and his partner, Bo, chase money by meeting with venture capitalists to fund their business, Paladin. Things go significantly wrong with one meeting, resulting in mayhem—arson, art forgeries, theft, the Russian mob, kidnapping, broken relationships, marital issues, a strip club, police involvement, greed, and ongoing threats. Throughout the book, there are numerous twists and turns, and there is significant history regarding Russia and Germany, Hitler and WWII, the black market for art, and the search for Raphael’s missing painting, Portrait of a Young Man . And out of this chaos, what is this doing to the families of Bo and Marty, and what is happening to their business during this five-day span of chaos? ... (read more)

Existential

After waking with an axe stuck in his skull, Enrico gets picked up by Estaban. They stop for breakfast on the way to work, and Estaban becomes concerned about the axe. However, before much can be done, Enrico dies. Estaban calls for the check, but the waitress trips and impales him with a knife. Worried about not getting a tip, the waitress runs to tell her boss, who swings open the door, killing the waitress. These fatal accidents continue until a group of girls walking to a parochial school are crushed by a falling man. The nuns with them scold the dead girls for their sloth. Seeing all, God strikes the nuns dead before killing himself, ultimately leaving philosophers completely unsure of what to make of all that has happened. This ending leads the reader back into the story by asking them to reflect on the outcome of those involved, who it all ties to the title, and why it leaves others confused. ... (read more)

Fascinating Read

In this memoir, Musser reflects on a lifetime colored by his mother’s emotional and physical abuse that began when he was eight years old. Only in the writing of this memoir, in his sixth decade, does the author come to terms with the abuse he both witnessed and endured. Not only was he the victim of his mother’s mental illness, but Musser also saw his father being physically and emotionally abused by his mother during multiple unrestrained tirades in which she physically slapped his father. Musser himself was locked in a cold, outside basement where he would spend hours in the dark. Yet, this memoir delves more into the positives of his life, especially concerning the relationship between his grandfather and him. “My most important refuge would be my priceless unforgettable memories of my time spent on my Grandpa and Grandma Hoover’s farm.” Musser relates his mother’s mental illness and her abusive behavior to a tragic accident that occurred when she was five years old. His mother witnessed her mother being burned to death when the stove on which she was cooking burst into flames. He relates his mother’s illness and his own struggles with depression and anxiety to this singular tragic event. The author includes some of the information he discovered while researching mental illness and childhood trauma, which led to his being able to find peace with the years of abuse. ... (read more)

Serious Humor

Sniffles is an ogre with poor personal hygiene and a bad disposition, partly due to the pickaxe stuck in the back of his head. Rumors suggest that his mother placed a curse on the pickaxe so that anyone who removed the pickaxe would immediately perish. Sniffles meets another ogre even meaner than himself, likely because the new ogre, Lucky, has a pickaxe embedded in the front of his head. The two ogres commiserate about their misfortunes and the fate of the proletariat. They decide to embrace a bit of Marxism and overthrow the monarchy of the kingdom. The two quickly find other disgruntled workers, including six of the seven dwarfs, Rumpelstiltskin, the three bears, and the Big Good Wolf. The group trains hard to get into fighting shape, learn military logistics, and understand the philosophy of their movement. However, things soon begin to fall apart. Red Riding Hood’s grandmother disagrees on philosophical issues. Dopey, Tom Thumb, and Mama Bear are kicked out for not restricting all actions to the destruction of bourgeois culture. Wolf, leading the military, is in crisis as he sees the group becoming just like those he despised. Eventually, only Sniffles and Lucky are left. They are overwhelmed by a group of children who want to play ring toss. ... (read more)

Blessed Women

While works on faith and spirituality inundate the literary ecosystem, Ring’s work is rare in that it provides a nuanced dimension and perspective when interpreting biblical events. At a time when women were marginalized, Jesus’ love-centered approach led to numerous engaging interactions that, upon examination, paved the path for modern women to follow, thrive, and, even more so, connect with them at a deeper level. ... (read more)

History Alive

Even before stories were written, they were passed along from generation to generation, standing the test of time. Story is central to Romanowski’s memoir, one that delves deep into her Italian roots, how they’ve intersected and fused with American life, and the indelible impact family has had on her own life—and she on theirs. Through prose and poetry, the author meticulously and gracefully guides readers through her family genealogy, zeroing in on one particular figure, her grandfather, who unquestionably has the most profound impact on her worldview. ... (read more)

Like a Song

Lazlo grows up in a ramshackle house in Ontario that acquires the name “Bleak House” from a Dickens novel he discovers. Lazlo’s life is disrupted by the arrival of a thieving preacher who shows up one Saturday night to drink and play cards, bringing with him a beautiful young woman—his daughter, Lizzie. Before long, Lazlo falls under Lizzie’s spell and resolves to marry her. But the sadistic preacher—a man who boasted of wanting to poison a local pond so that all the frogs would die—learns of their budding romance and fires a gun at Lazlo, driving him away from home and on a journey that begins with a fortune teller named Mama Budda and ends in the Yukon, where he braves grizzly bears, the police, and unthinkable loss in the hopes of uncovering riches and winning the hand of Lizzie, whom he hasn’t seen in a number of years. ... (read more)

Preserving the Temple

Depending on one’s perspective and history of behaviors, the times and events described in the Book of Revelation can either be seen as a joyous reunion or a terrifying consequence. In both instances, it represents a point in the future that people can use as motivation for making positive changes in their lives before it arrives. This brief examination of the timeline and events described in Revelation looks into the symbology of numbers used in the Bible to help make sense of some of the more vague descriptions and also helps readers realize that acts of self-harm or careless consumption are equivalent to defiling a most important temple. Blending both scriptural analysis and personal experience, Williams offers much for the reader to reflect on and act upon before it is too late. ... (read more)

Stimulating Beauty

Culp, a respected plein-air painter, spent her early adult years studying art in New York. In the late 1970s, she moved to California and became captivated by the desert’s beauty. In the book’s forward, Stanley Lewis explains that the artist is able to capture the magic of stark scenery because “she is out there.” She takes all her equipment to remote sites, where she spends hours creating images. ... (read more)

Across the Globe

Reggie and his friend and colleague Ash Black are in Saipan to confront a terrorist plot that involves vengeful Iraqi terrorist Achmed and the Russian government. It’s also revealed that Reggie has figured out a way to set off explosives remotely by using radio waves. Meanwhile, the other members of the vigilante group are dealing with a Mexican drug cartel run by the ruthless Melania Cruz in Denver, Colorado, and a kidnapping plot in Italy that surprisingly involves a very real-life Italian politician—Marta Fascina. With several tense showdowns, not all of the operatives will make it out safely.  ... (read more)

Delightful Challenge

As COVID-19 begins its assault through America, the book’s narrator, a logophile and verbivore, is visited by the Masked One who “formulated out of the atmosphere” and implores him to follow and support the Diversity Officer, Basil Dekay, and “disrupt the dominant discourse.” But what is the dominant discourse? As the narrator surveilles Basil, her sexually confused husband, and her radical daughter, he expounds on the meaning and etymology of words, exchanges jokes with Portland’s elk statue, and comments on racism, queer theory, gender roles, social justice, and the Baboon President. As quarantine gives way to weeks of rioting in reaction to the murder of George Floyd, the narrator wonders if the looting and destruction in the city is indeed justice. But should he question the dominant discourse that says the anarchists are right? And what is the penalty for doing so? ... (read more)

Family History

Author Niedfeldt has created a lively tale concerning a Russian immigrant family battling the woes of the Great Depression as they settle into America. The narrator is fifteen-year-old Lisenka, who works hard at home, helping Papa, stepmother Taty, and several siblings. While preparing a simple supper, Lisenka hears her young brother Yurgi screaming for help. She rushes outside to find him fighting with another boy for possession of one of their family’s precious chickens. The boy trying to steal the bird protests that “we have to eat” but is called off and pulled away by a gruff, grimy man. After the two slip away, Lisenka concludes that they are homeless people and will gradually come to learn much more about those known as “hobos”—the jobless, homeless, renegade, and desperate. Lisenka’s family, by contrast, have been fortunate In their chosen residence in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, finding work, staying close, sustaining their religious faith, and maintaining basic cheer. ... (read more)

Uncommon Experience

Teresa Biano was devastated when her beloved father, Giacomo “Jack” Bianco, was murdered. A quick, spotty investigation closed the case with no suspect. Although she was a young girl at the time, her heart told her that something was wrong. She vowed to identify the killer and bring him to justice. ... (read more)

Chose Death?

The author of this challenging view of human existence explores the rationale for legally allowing people to choose their time and method of death. After many years of life, whether in sickness, health, or simple loneliness, anyone might ponder release from their earthly bindings. “A Human” postulates a “death card,” similar to current lawful stipulations that allow a person to give blood or donate an organ. As detailed here, the death permission would make it possible for even healthy individuals from whatever long-term outlook to choose the time and method of their own demise. ... (read more)

Health Care Guide

A registered dental assistant, the author has written a manual geared toward dental professionals, parents, and caregivers. Regulatory bodies such as the CDC, OSHA, and state dental boards establish laws and rules to ensure patient safety. The book opens with a detailed overview of the dental assistant’s duties, which contribute to practice compliance with these legal and ethical guidelines. One of the most important responsibilities is preventing the transmission of infectious diseases, and the book offers clear instructions on proper sterilization techniques. There is an in-depth discussion of dental anatomy, including teeth naming and numbering systems. ... (read more)

In this fast-paced novel, readers enter a future realm where the souls of the departed are intercepted and transported to a virtual existence. Readers meet Evie, a teenage girl who enters what can only be interpreted as Hell. However, like every virtual scenario, glitches and outages occur. As the virtual system where the souls reside threatens to crash, Evie takes readers on a wild adventure to save the souls whose eternal existence is threatened. Readers meet a cast of characters whose personalities and stories will leave a lasting impression as Evie works to deliver a special message and a unique offer that will forever transform their futures. ... (read more)

Psalm Study Guide

Author Greer draws inspiration and erudition from the Book of Psalms in the Holy Bible, sharing with readers across a wide range of needs—physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual—a guide to fuller, more confident life planning. Through this dynamic Twelve Week Program, readers are enjoined to create a journal in column format to record personal examination of issues raised, realistic resolutions, and envisioned successes. The opening section, for example, highlights Psalm 1, which depicts a ”blessed” person as one who avoids the ways of the wicked and meditates day and night on the “Law of the Lord,” becoming strong “like a tree planted by streams of water.” Greer invites readers to create their own “Law of Health” and begin practicing its tenets. ... (read more)

Grace Ann Sanchez is in legal limbo when she makes a call to the RAND Service. She has been detained by the Border Patrol and fears she will be sent back to Mexico. The RAND Service knows Grace along with her mother, Jaden Hawke. Hawke has friends in RAND and has been involved in recent adventures overseas that have involved RAND along with intelligence agencies. Jaden hasn’t seen her daughter in nearly fifteen years, as Grace’s father took her to Mexico. Jaden must rely on an old beau to help track down Grace. Jaden’s past with Stephan was steamy but also involved lies and murder. The other operatives brought in to assist are skeptical of Stephan, but time is critical the longer Grace is missing. ... (read more)

Humor & Inspiration

In this colorful book filled with rhymes and laughs, young readers meet Deondre and his brother, Devante. The story centers around Deondre and Devante’s pursuit of cookies for breakfast. However, their father insists that the boys cannot have cookies for their morning meal. Deondre and Devante beg and plea for chocolate chip, gingersnaps, and vanilla cream. Their father navigates the situation by offering alternatives such as cocoa and Apple Jax, but the boys continue pleading. Just when young readers and their parents think that Deondre and Devante’s father has won the morning battle, a surprise is received that will make everyone happy. ... (read more)

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Before you start your search you should know the title and author of the book being reviewed. The date of publication will sometimes also be required. Some databases offer a search option to limit search results to book reviews. Where not present, adding a keyword search that includes the phrase "book review" should help. Reviews of popular books are typically published close to their publication dates; find them via book-related websites and indexes that cover general interest periodicals. Reviews of scholarly books may take months to appear in scholarly journals. For more databases that cover scholarly journals, visit the Library of Congress E-Resources Online Catalog .

• Free Web Resources
• Book Review Databases
• Selected General Databases
• Historical Book Review Databases

Free contemporary book reviews are widely available on the web. The sources listed below are some of the most common places to find them.

• Amazon.com External Amazon.com offers book reviews of many of the book titles it sells. Some reviews are by professionals; many are by readers. Find a book and scroll down its entry to read the reviews, where present. For balance, try a variety of positive and negative reviews.
• Barnes & Noble External Barnes and Noble includes professional book reviews with the descriptions of many of the books it sells.
• Complete Review External The Complete Review contains a selected listing of old and new book titles with reviews and links to more reviews.
• GoodReads Reviews External GoodReads offers millions of book reviews contributed by its community members which include librarians, journalists, and many other readers.
• Kirkus Reviews External Kirkus Reviews includes reviews new and forthcoming fiction, non-fiction and Young Adult (YA) books. Kirkus also has a print magazine available by subscription.
• Library Journal Reviews+ External Library Journal reviews books on a wide array of popular and scholarly topics expected to interest a broad spectrum of libraries. Reviews from the most recent 24 months are free online.
• LibraryThing Reviews External LibraryThing Reviews are written by members of the LibraryThing community of readers and book collectors. Reviews are grouped in various ways, including by genre or may be searched by author or title.
• New York Times Book Review (free selections) External A free collection of book reviews published in The New York Times since 1981. A more extensive paid subscription database is also available.
• School Library Journal Reviews+ External Features reviews from School Library Journal from the most recent twenty-four months. Browse by genre, grade level, award winners and other criteria.

Subscription databases are great sources for current and recent book reviews. Many also include historical coverage.

• Children's Literature Review, Vols 1-216

These more general subscription databases cover a wide array of periodicals which include book reviews. Using the phrase "book review" in your search can be effective if no check-box option for book reviews is available in the database's search function.

Some researchers seek reviews that are decades or even centuries old, for example, to see how a book written in the 19th Century was reviewed when it was first released. This listing includes general and book review resources. For the general sources, be sure to Include the phrase "book review" in your search if no check-box option for book reviews is available.

• African American Newspapers, 1827-1998 (Series 1 and Series 2)
• American Business: Agricultural Newspapers
• American Business: Mercantile Newspapers
• American Gazettes: Newspapers of Record
• American Politics: Campaign Newspapers
• American Religion: Denominational Newspapers
• Early American Newspapers, Series 1, 1690-1876: From Colonies to Nation
• Early American Newspapers, Series 2, 1758-1900: The New Republic
• Early American Newspapers, Series 3, 1783-1922: From Farm to City
• Early American Newspapers, Series 4, 1756-1922: The Rise of Industry
• Early American Newspapers, Series 5, 1777-1922: An Emerging World Power
• Early American Newspapers, Series 6, 1741-1922: Compromise and Disunion
• Early American Newspapers, Series 7: 1773-1922: Reform and Retrenchment
• Early American Newspapers, Series 8, 1844-1922: A Nation in Transition
• Early American Newspapers, Series 9, 1832-1922: Protest and Prosperity
• Early American Newspapers, Series 11, 1803-1899: From Agrarian Republic to World Power
• Early American Newspapers, Series 12, 1821-1900: The Specialized Press
• Early American Newspapers, Series 13, 1803-1916: The American West
• Early American Newspapers, Series 14, 1807-1880: The Expansion of Urban America
• Early American Newspapers, Series 15, 1822-1879: Immigrant Communities
• Early American Newspapers, Series 16, 1800-1877: Industry and the Environment
• Early American Newspapers Series 17, 1844-1922: American Heartland
• Early American Newspapers, Series 18, 1825-1879: Racial Awakening in the Northeast

C19 Index draws on the strength of established indexes such as the Nineteenth Century Short Title Catalogue (NSTC), The Wellesley Index, Poole's Index, Periodicals Index Online and the Cumulative Index to Niles' Register 18111849 to create integrated bibliographic coverage of over 1.7 million books and official publications, 70,000 archival collections and 20.9 million articles published in over 2,500 journals, magazines and newspapers. C19 Index now provides integrated access to 13 bibliographic indexes, including more than three million records from British Periodicals Collections I and II, together with the expanded online edition of the Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century Journalism (DNCJ).

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Frazier's 'Paradise Bronx' makes you want to linger in NYC's 'drive-through borough'

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'A Wilder Shore' charts the course of a famous bohemian marriage

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Three great fiction audiobooks.

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Blindsided by 'The Most': This is a superb novel of a marriage at its breakpoint

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These dictators are different. 'autocracy, inc.' explains how.

July 24, 2024 • The dictators of today aren't united by ideology, writes Anne Applebaum: They operate like companies, focused on preserving their wealth, repressing their people and maintaining power at all costs.

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'Someone Like Us' is a fresh, idiosyncratic novel about immigrating to the U.S.

July 24, 2024 • Dinaw Mengestu's ingenuity and eloquence as a writer are on display in this novel about an Ethiopian American man who returns home only to learn that his father has just died.

'Liars' is an autopsy of a bitterly disappointing marriage

July 22, 2024 • In her fierce second novel, Sarah Manguso writes a requiem for a failed relationship from the point of view of a survivor, the wife left behind.

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8 hot new love stories from a stellar lineup of Black authors

July 19, 2024 • Some of the most fabulous romances by Black authors still fly under the radar. So we have recommendations for your summer reading enjoyment.

'This Great Hemisphere' tackles racism, classism, and political power struggles

July 18, 2024 • Mateo Askaripour's sophomore novel is a sprawling speculative-fiction narrative that delivers a heartwarming story about a young woman learning to navigate the world.

This absorbing debut novel about writing takes its cue from 'Mrs. Dalloway'

July 16, 2024 • Rosalind Brown's debut novel, Practice , centers on an undergraduate student trying to write an essay on Shakespeare. Along the way, we are treated to the fleeting insights of the the brain at work.

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July 15, 2024 • We're at the peak of summer, which means sunny days on the grass with a good book! Bestselling authors Tia Williams and Jean Chen Ho join host Brittany Luse to give their recommendations for great summer reads. They also offer some armchair theories on why we love a gossipy summer novel.

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15 Of The Best Book Recommendation Sites To Find Your Next Book

Abigail Clarkin

Abigail can often be found holding a book in one hand and an ice cream cone in the other. When she is not devouring stories (or dessert), Abigail trains for marathons and writes poetry about growing up with eight brothers and sisters. She enjoys working in marketing for a real estate developer and creating Instagram content for fun (@marathonandmunch) about all the tasty eats found in Providence, RI.

View All posts by Abigail Clarkin

At some point, you’ve likely encountered a long, bleak patch when your reserve of recommended books ran dry. A few years ago, there was a stretch when I didn’t have people in my life who understood my taste in books. I’d finish a fantastic series and then be disappointed when I realized that there was no rebound read to help me recover from the last series. Thankfully for the readers like us who are still nursing book hangovers, there are personalized book recommendation websites across the internet to save us.

If you have run out of books you’re interested in reading, look through these fifteen book recommendation sites.

Subscriptions

Book Riot has its very own subscription service called Tailored Book Recommendations . TBR is made up of staff who dedicate their time to carefully tailoring book recommendations for readers based on what they like to read personally. Sign up for either a recommendations-only level subscription or a hardcover level subscription (which includes having three books mailed to you).

Thank you for signing up! Keep an eye on your inbox. By signing up you agree to our terms of use

If you’d like free and discounted reading deals sent straight to your email, sign up for BookBub. Based on the genres you choose when signing up, BookBub will send personalized recommendations of ebooks that can be purchased for a reasonable rate. Themed lists are also available on their site.

22 Books Coming in 2018 Recommended by Librarians https://t.co/Sil3Wvs6Lh @tarawestover @thuglibrarian @CommerceLibrary @randyribay @alicewriterland @anglophilelibr pic.twitter.com/Uu6cIJuuxx — BookBub (@BookBub) March 2, 2018

3. Library-Specific Sites

If you’re a patron at a large library, there’s a chance that your library offers personalized book recommendation services delivered via email. A few libraries currently offering this service include New York Public Library , Denver Public Library , and Sacramento Public Library . Ask your librarians to see if this is a resource for you as well.

Themed Lists

4. epic reads.

Epic Reads is one of the largest young adult fiction communities online. Along with their endless energy and passion for YA, one reason for their popularity is their interactive quizzes, lengthy lists, and colorful book charts that point readers towards their next favorite read. A few years ago when I met a reading slump, I worked my way through much of their amazing Young Adult Retelling Chart . Many of my favorites were found through this resource.

5. Penguin Teen

The Penguin Teen website features book lists, news about young adult authors, and a helpful book suggestions tool that focuses on genre specific book recommendations.

6. Reading Rockets

If you’re looking for children’s books for the kids in your life (or for the child in you), check out Reading Rockets. Reading Rockets provides specific, lengthy themed lists for young readers. With list topics ranging from “Books About Kids Who Find Reading Hard” to “That’s So Gross,” you are sure to find a book for any occasion. This site can be a wonderful resource for teachers, librarians, and educators.

Tor is the online hub for fantasy and science fiction. Check out their many lists to find stories that will transport you to fictional lands.

A project from Netgalley, Bookish offers a wide range of book lists, including fiction, audiobook, and young adult. What makes this site stand out is these are all brand new releases or forthcoming titles, so you can get your library holds or preorders in early.

All of the recommendations on Olmenta are submitted by passionate readers. The site allows you to peruse titles by genre or category, and it’s a fun way to let someone else pick a book for you (without needing to do any real work on your end). You can submit your own suggestions, too.

10. Shepherd

Who could offer better recommendation lists than authors, experts, and passionate readers of books on aa topic? Shepherd offers a wide range of book lists, including everything from best YA books about immigration to novels where something queer’s afoot. In the near future, Shepherd will make it possible to sort lists by genre, as well, so you could find books set in China that are romance, nonfiction, YA, or otherwise.

Made-For-You on the Spot

11. whichbook.

On Whichbook, book recommendations are calculated by one out of two categories: 1. Mood, or 2. Character, setting, and plot. The reader has the choice to use sliders on the “Mood” section to rate what they’re looking for in a book. Do you want a book that is completely happy? Or on the border between safe and disturbing? There is also the option to select your desired character characteristics, the story setting, and/or plot points that you’d like included in the recommendation.

Maybe AI knows the perfect book for you. Readow starts by asking you some simple questions about recent reads and uses technology to pair you with your next great book.

13. What Should I Read Next

14. readgeek.

Registering is optional when using Readgeek to receive book recommendations. In order to get ahold of book suggestions, simply rate a few books that you’ve read on a 1–10 scale. After you finish rating as many as you’d like, Readgeek calculates which books you’d most likely enjoy based on your previous ratings.

15. Literature Map

At Literature Map, you can type in an author’s name and then view similar authors that other readers are enjoying. The site generates a map that displays author names in relative states of closeness. The closer the authors, the more likely other readers enjoyed both.

Another simple but fun AI-driven recommendation site is Gnooks. Pop in your three favorite writers and you’ll get a recommended author to try. It doesn’t end there, though: you can rate whether or not you like the author suggested for even more recommendations.

17. Goodreads

Goodreads provides a space for people to track their reading, write reviews, and view books, lists, and authors that align with their interests. When creating an account on Goodreads, the reader has the opportunity to create original book lists. One of my favorites is the “Want to Read” option: every time you view a book description that sounds interesting, you can save the book to a list that is dedicated to books you plan to tackle later. For those of you who are looking to build a never ending To-Be-Read list, Goodreads is a perfect place to start.

18. Narrative Muse

Are you interested in reading books specifically written by underrepresented voices? Narrative Muse serves as a recommendation site for those who are looking for both films and books created by women and nonbinary writers. Create an account to be matched with books that fall under these categories.

19. The Storygraph

Billed as an alternative to Goodreads, The StoryGraph is a book tracking site, a community making site, and offers book recommendations. You can import your Goodreads information to The StoryGraph, and both the website and app have clean but visually appealing interfaces. Here’s our full StoryGraph review .

20. r/books

Numbering at almost 21 million subscribers, Reddit’s main book subreddit is a haven for book discussion and recommendations. Want to know what Reddit users across the massive site are reading? There’s Reddit Reads for that.

Still looking for more ways to find your next favorite book? Take this quiz on what you should read next to receive an immediate recommendation. If you’re willing to look for suggestions in places off of the internet, check out 31 Ways to Find the Best Book Recommendations .

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7 Paid Book Review Services to Elevate Your Self-Published Book

Are paid book review services worth the price? Below, we’ll discuss paid book review services, their pros and cons, and what to look for when selecting one. 

What is a paid review service? 

A paid review service is a company that offers book reviews for a fee. When using paid book review services, the hope is that they will create a well-written, impartial review that can push people to buy and boost sales—if it’s a good review. It can be used on social media, your website, or your product page (e.g., Amazon’s A+ Content).

What are the benefits of using paid book review services? 

For authors, the crowded book market makes getting a well-written review within your preferred time frame a challenge. Reputable paid book review services can take some of the stress out of waiting for that “perfect” review to show up from early readers. When you pay for the service, you have better control over aligning the timing of your marketing campaign. You’ll also have a higher likelihood of getting a well-written review you can use.

What are the cons of using a paid review service?

If potential buyers know the review is from a paid service, it can feel inauthentic from the reader’s perspective. It’s similar to popular magazines that run featured articles written by their journalists, but in contrast, also run featured articles that PR companies pay for. One has journalistic integrity, while the paid article can come with questions attached like “Can I trust this?” Harsh, yes, but something to consider, so make sure that any paid service you use has a reputation for being impartial.

Where can you get paid book reviews?

• Kirkus Reviews has been around since 1933 and earned a reputation within the publishing industry as one of the go-to resources for the best books on the market. According to their website , “As an unpublished or self-published author, it can be a relentless struggle to attract a significant amount of attention to your book or manuscript. By purchasing a Kirkus indie review, authors can have the opportunity to build some name recognition and get noticed by agents, publishers and other industry influencers. Authors can expect to pay between $399-$599 for a review with a 7-9 week turnaround .
• Reedsy – For $50/title , you can get a book review through Reedsy’s Discovery service. If you are on a tight budget, then Reedsy’s service could work for you, but a review is not guaranteed. Books that are selected for review could be upvoted on their website, featured in one of their newsletters, and seen by a large pool of readers in your genre.
• NetGalley – Starts at $450 per title for a 6-month subscription . NetGalley is a professional review service that has been around since 2008. They offer a large community of readers and valuable feedback that can be beneficial for streamlining the book before it is published. Learn more about their service.
• Clarion Reviews is a part of Foreword Reviews Magazine. The magazine has a limited number of reviews per issue, so they offer a 450-word review for independent authors and self-publishers for $549 . Turnaround time is 4-6 weeks .
• Self-Publishing Review – $99-$329 – (7-30 day turnaround) . This publishing service offers a variety of options, from a 70-word review to a 500-word review. Each review is broken down by type, where it will be shared on social media, and additional perks associated with the service type.
• Indie Reader – For $299-$399 (4-9 week turnaround based on the service selected) , authors receive a book review with a minimum of 350 words. Books that receive a 4+ star review are included in their monthly newsletter roundup, and the author will receive an invitation to be interviewed for their reader site. Reviews are distributed or made available for distribution on Amazon, Banes and Noble, IndieReader, and Ingram.
• Blue Ink Review – $445-$745 (4-9 week turnaround depending on the service selected) Founded by a literary agent and award-winning editor, the company offers the following details about their services: “While fee-based, all BlueInk reviews are honest appraisals,  written by professionals  drawn largely from mainstream media outlets or editors who have worked at well-respected publishing houses.”

How do you select a paid review service? What should you look for? 

If you pay for a review, get one from a reputable provider—one that has a reputation for being impartial and uses vetted reviewers who know how to properly analyze a book and give a professional review. 

If the review site publishes their reviews (e.g., Reedsy Discovery), read their reviews and ask:

• Is the review professionally written?
• Is it thorough without giving away spoilers?
• Does the review persuade (or dissuade)? Does it choose a side and lead the buyer in that direction?

Public reviews won’t always align with the paid review but they should sound like they’re talking about the same book. If not, there will be a disconnect that readers won’t hesitate to mention.

How do you know if paying for a review is the best choice for you?

If you’re having trouble finding people to review your book, or you’re working with a short time frame and don’t have time to wait, then a paid review could be a smart move. Another reason to choose a paid service is if your initial reviews weren’t the quality that you were looking for. If this is your experience, a professional reviewer could give you the result you’re seeking. 

Steer clear of pop-up sites that look more like a money trap than a legitimate review site. When it comes to reviews, a company’s reputation adds value, so look for companies that have a strong reputation, not just with readers but within the publishing industry as well.  

Words matter. If you use a paid review site, make sure that they can give your book the foundation it deserves. 

Key Takeaways

Book marketing is all about strategy and making your money work for you. Don’t waste your marketing budget on a service that’s not going to help you level up as an author.  If paid book reviews are part of your marketing strategy, they should push people to buy your books. 

Look for paid review services that will get your book in front of your ideal reader. 

This might take some research, but it’s a good investment of time. 

If the reviews you find are basic, don’t persuade or dissuade the reader, and feel generic, trust your instinct. 

You want a review that’s going to move the needle in your favor. A positive review is great, but if it doesn’t work for you, it’s a waste of money. 

Strong reviews are great for social proof. If you can get a good one from a reputable site, it could help push your book sales.

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The Sydney Morning Herald

Don’t judge a book by its cover: warning over sexually graphic novel, by frances howe, save articles for later.

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Alyshia Graham was collating books for her 10-year-old stepdaughter for the MS Readathon when she was asked by the primary school student for a copy of Icebreaker , a book that other girls at school already had. In her local Big W, Graham saw the illustrated cover, reminiscent of young adult books, read the blurb, flicked through the pages and – believing it was age-appropriate – she bought it.

“It was located within the vicinity of what I would call the kids’ area, maybe just outside the kids section of books. I didn’t really think anything too much of it from the cover.” Graham said.

What she didn’t notice were Icebreaker ’s frequent and explicit depictions of rough sex, which are so detailed and graphic that at least one Australian school has issued a warning to parents about it.

Icebreaker was acquired by Simon and Schuster for publication in Australia. A school in Wandong issued a warning to parents about the cover.  Credit: Aresna Villanueva

The book, by UK author Hannah Grace, was published in Australia by Simon and Schuster in 2023, and has sold over a million copies internationally. It’s also wildly popular on TikTok, largely due to its explicit content.

Icebreaker is a love story between two US college students, one a figure skater, the other captain of the ice hockey team. The pair, who begin as enemies, are forced to practise on the same ice rink and eventually fall in love. The cover, designed by Leni Kauffman, depicts a cartoon illustration of the pair and is similar in style to young adult fiction novels.

Its cover is very similar to that of another novel about an ice skating romance, Rival Darling, by Alexandra Moody. Unlike Icebreaker, Rival Darling is aimed at younger readers.

Icebreaker features numerous scenes depicting rough sex. The word “f---” is used over 380 times and the word “slut” is used 40 times. In one passage, the female protagonist asks her love interest to “f--- me like you hate me” and later when she says she wants to stop, he replies “don’t be a quitter, Anastasia.”

In another, he says, “One day, I’m going to f--- your pretty little mouth, and you’re not going to be able to be such a bossy, impatient little brat.”

When Graham came home with Icebreaker for her 10-year-old, her 11-year-old son saw it and told her about a TikTok trend involving the book being placed in the children’s sections of bookstores. The trend pranks children and parents into buying it.

Concerned, Graham looked through it in more detail.

“It was very, very explicit,” she said. “It felt a little bit inappropriate for me to be reading it and I’m 31 years old. I really wasn’t prepared for the pornographic nature of it and the extreme details which it depicted, which makes sense knowing that it is an erotica novel, but that’s not what you expect when you’re looking at it.”

Reflecting the confusion among parents over the book, principal Kelly Morrow, of Wandong Primary in Victoria, has had to publish two warnings to parents this year about Icebreaker .

In April and again in May, Morrow included a warning in the school’s newsletter stating: “Concerningly, while the book is marketed as a ‘swoonworthy romance’ novel, with a front cover that appeals to ‘tweens’, it contains highly adult material with an age rating of 18+.

“It is our concern that many parents are unaware of the text’s content due to the way the book is marketed, and as such are unknowingly placing children at risk of exposure to adult content.”

According to Simon and Schuster’s publicity director, Anna O’Grady, the publisher acquired the book with the original cover, as all publishers in English-speaking territories did, but decided to add a line above the barcode on the back of the book stating the following: “18+ content. Not suitable for young readers.”

O’Grady said she could see how parents may assume the book was suitable for children due to its “cartoon cover” though she said it wasn’t the only adult fiction novel with one.

Alyshia missed the warning on the back of the book above the barcode. Credit: Alyshia Graham

RMIT lecturer and book cover designer Jenny Grigg said it was understandable parents would judge the book based on its cover and miss the very small warning on the back. “It’s certainly tiny. It doesn’t look like the publisher was really seriously wanting to have that, wasn’t making an effort to prioritise the risk that this book might hold or the potential for this book to find its way into hands that maybe were too young for it,” she said.

Collide, another erotic fiction novel also about ice skating, by Bal Khabra, features a similarly cartoonish cover by Kauffman, the same illustrator as Icebreaker . It has a similar warning on the back.

Graham shared the book with her step-daughter’s mother, who posted a warning on Facebook to other parents.

“I fully took credit for the fact that I should have looked harder,” Graham said. “But I think the placement and the size of the warning has really allowed for that overlook to occur.”

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Science Fiction and Fantasy

New Speculative Fiction About the Villainous Power of Universities

Our columnist takes a look at recent books by Sofia Samatar, Vajra Chandrasekera and Emet North.

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By Amal El-Mohtar

Amal El-Mohtar is the Book Review’s science fiction and fantasy columnist. She is a Hugo Award-winning writer and the co-author, with Max Gladstone, of “This Is How You Lose the Time War.”

I feel privileged to witness the emergence of a type of fiction — not a genre, exactly, but an affect — that I might call, in the manner of a Spotify daylist, “queer millennial midlife multiversal crisis.” In it I would pile Isaac Fellman’s “ The Two Doctors Górski ,” Aimee Pokwatka’s “ Self-Portrait With Nothing ” and Jo Harkin’s “ Tell Me an Ending ” — all books that present selves and universes in a state of fracture, asking what if in a way that also demands why, though .

Universities figure powerfully in these books: As high-pressure places of self-fashioning, aspiration and competition, they promise knowledge to enlightenment seekers like the lure of an anglerfish before devouring all the potential they attract. Here are three books that make a killer triple bill touching on the nature of reality, multiversal selves and the university’s villainous power.

Sofia Samatar’s THE PRACTICE, THE HORIZON, AND THE CHAIN (Tordotcom, 127 pp., paperback, $18.99) is a far-future fable set on spaceships stratified into rigid social hierarchies, written with her usual sly and slicing grace. At the bottom, in the Hold, are laborers bound to one another by an enormous chain; in the middle, in the Ring, are people who are policed via blue anklets but can mostly forget about them; and at the top are people whose movements are completely unhampered, and whose whims shape the lives of the people beneath them.

Samatar’s protagonists have designations rather than names: the boy, the prophet, the professor. When the professor revives a scholarship program for extracting “gifted young people” from the Hold, the boy — an artist — is brought up to the Ring, to be equal parts educated by and exhibited to the faculty and other students. But what the boy and professor learn from each other changes them both, and could transform their worlds.

As both an unabashed fan of Samatar’s writing and a spiteful ex-academic, I am trash for this. Samatar’s work often interrogates pedagogy’s place in confronting or shoring up social iniquities; the question of whether teaching is a liberatory practice or an instrument for instilling orthodoxy animates her novels, short fiction and essays. “The Practice” is a small but perfectly formed addition to Samatar’s oeuvre, a thesis statement leading into her wider body of work.

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Throwing the book: Democrats enlarge a copy of the ‘Project 2025' blueprint as an anti-GOP prop

Michigan Sen. Mallory McMorrow brought out a copy of Project 2025, a blueprint created by the Heritage Foundation for a second Trump term. She then slammed it on the podium.

Michigan State Senator Mallory McMorrow holding up a book during her remarks at the Democratic National Convention on Monday, Aug. 19, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Malcolm Kenyatta, member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, speaking at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

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CHICAGO (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris and Democratic allies have turned Project 2025 into one of their most consistent tools against the campaign of former President Donald Trump. Now, they’ve taken the fight over the conservative-written handbook to a bigger new scale.

Mallory McMorrow, a 37-year-old state senator from Michigan, brought out a giant copy of the roughly 900-page “Mandate for Leadership” on Monday night, the first evening of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. She slammed it on the lectern, then made an expression to signal how heavy it was as she opened to start reading.

“They went ahead and wrote down all the extreme things that Donald Trump wants to do in the next four years,” McMorrow said from the stage. “We read it.”

Trump says Project 2025 is not related to his campaign and has denied knowing about the Heritage Foundation, which is overseeing its own transition effort with the help of dozens of his allies and former aides. Democrats have for months tried to pin Trump to Project 2025’s most sweeping proposals.

DNC officials plan to talk about Project 2025 every night of the convention. McMorrow said in an interview Tuesday that there is a “keeper of the book” and that the book would be handed off to a new speaker each night.

On Tuesday night, Pennsylvania state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta trotted the book back out. “Usually Republicans want to ban books, but now they are trying to shove this down our throats,” he said.

What is Project 2025 about?

Project 2025 was created by the Heritage Foundation as a handbook for the next Republican administration , and has caught a lot of attention because it was drafted by longtime allies and former officials of the Trump administration.

The document outlines a dramatic expansion of presidential power and a plan to fire as many as 50,000 government workers to replace them with presidential loyalists. It calls for the U.S. Education Department to be shuttered, and the Homeland Security Department dismantled, with its various parts absorbed by other federal offices.

The plan says the Department of Health and Human Services should “pursue a robust agenda” to protect “the fundamental right to life.”

Democrats have falsely claimed that it also proposes to “gut Social Security.” The document contains no proposals to cut Social Security, even though the Heritage Foundation that oversaw it has long pushed for changes to the entitlement.

Where is that giant book from?

The idea to create an oversized version of Project 2025 first came about several weeks ago when Harris’ campaign manager, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, contacted McMorrow about speaking about Project 2025 at the convention, McMorrow said.

McMorrow said that she had never spoken to an arena full of people before and wanted to create a moment that would “play well both at home and in the arena.”

In an interview, she joked the book weighs as much as her 3-year-old daughter and is filled entirely with the actual text from Project 2025.

“Dropping the book on the podium played a big part in what we wanted to do,” said McMorrow.

On Wednesday, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis is expected to haul the book out, followed by U.S. Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado, according to a person familiar with the plans who disclosed them on condition of anonymity.

Who is behind Projec

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Some of the people involved in Project 2025 are former senior administration officials with deep GOP ties. The project’s former director , Paul Dans, served as chief of staff at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management under Trump.

Trump’s former White House budget chief, Russell Vought, was a key architect of the plan and was also appointed to the Republican National Committee’s platform writing committee.

John McEntee, a former director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office in the Trump administration, was a senior adviser. McEntee told the conservative news site The Daily Wire earlier this year that Project 2025’s team would integrate a lot of its work with the campaign after the summer when Trump would announce his transition team.

What does Trump say about Project 2025?

Trump has tried to distance himself from Project 2025 and has denied knowing who is behind the plan.

Tom Homan , who oversaw U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement during the Trump administration, has cautioned against blowing the project out of proportion, arguing Washington think tanks prepare plans for new administrations that aren’t always followed.

Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida, a key Trump supporter, criticized how much Democrats are talking about the plan.

“It’s not a problem for the president because the president is already on the record saying that he has nothing to do with it,” Donalds said. “Their focus on Project 2025 is insanity.”

The decision to make Ohio Sen. JD Vance his running mate was taken by some as one more connection to Project 2025. Heritage’s President Kevin Roberts has said he’s good friends with Vance and that the Heritage Foundation had been privately rooting for him to be the VP pick.

Vance penned the foreword to Roberts’ own new book, which was set to be out in September but has now been postponed as Project 2025 hits turmoil . Roberts is holding off the release of his potentially fiery new book until after the November presidential election .

Gomez Licon reported from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Associated Press writer Meg Kinnard and Brian Slodysko in Chicago contributed to this report.

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Last updated on Feb 07, 2023

How to Get Book Reviews in 5 Steps (2024 Update)

About ricardo fayet.

Reedsy co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer, Ricardo Fayet is one of the world's leading authorities in marketing indie books. He is a regular presenter at several prestigious writers' conferences, where his unique personal style has made him an instantly recognizable figure.

Imagine the day of your book launch. You’re sitting in front of your computer, blissfully imagining all the five-star book reviews that will soon be yours. Yet the days pass... and the reviews don't come.

Needless to say, you'll want people to buy and read your book ASAP so they can leave you some good reviews. But you may see the Catch-22 here: in order to make your first sales, you’ll need to display positive book reviews. So how do you get the chicken before you’ve got the egg (or vice versa)?

Enter book bloggers , who are your new best friends! For this post, we asked our top Reedsy publicists to share their best tips on how to get book reviews from book bloggers — and we've condensed their advice into these five essential steps, plus a few bonus tips at the end.

You can also check out this Reedsy Live on how to get your first book reviews, with advice from author and book marketer Debbie Drum.

Those who prefer their tips in written form, let's dive right in with the very first step of the review acquisition process!

1. Identify your audience

A quick preliminary note: you want to start the review-gathering as early as possible. If you can, plan your book review campaign 4-6 months in advance of your publication date. Because if you want your reviews to be in place by then, you’ll need to give people time to actually write them!

Now, using the "5 W’s of Storytelling," let's talk about the first thing you should be asking yourself: who? Who will be reading your book, and who is best positioned to promote it to that audience? The following tips will help you answer these questions.

Build a questionnaire

Here are a few more specific queries to help you clarify your "who":

• Who reads in my genre?
• What magazines, websites, forums, or blogs do they frequent?
• Where might they find reviews of my book that will entice them to buy it?

Indeed, publicist Jessica Glenn recommends building a full-length questionnaire to identify your audience and where you might find them on the Web (or in real life!).

“Most, if not all, publicists and publishers send authors a very long questionnaire to fill out when they start their marketing plan ,” she says. “That's so we can dig into any useful piece of bio, community, or regional info to figure out who and why people will be interested in your book.”

Your questionnaire will direct you to your target audience and help you create a  proto-persona.  This is the "ideal reader" of your book, so to speak — a perfect blend of the traits you'd expect them to have. (For example, if you've written a YA paranormal romance novel, your proto-persona might be a 14-year-old girl who's obsessed with Twilight .) And whoever they are, you'll keep them in mind every time you make a marketing decision.

Think about comp titles

Another great way to get a handle on your target audience is to figure out your comparative titles — books that are a) similar to yours and b) share the same general readership. When pitching to book reviewers, these are the titles you'll use to sell your own  book . For instance, "My book is  Normal People meets The Incendiaries ."

According to Jessica, you should have at least 15 potential comp titles for your book, ideally a mix of bestsellers and well-reviewed indie titles. “Many first-time authors balk at this," says Jessica, "as they believe there is no true comp for their book — but dig deep and you'll find them!”

Comp titles are critical because they act as a compass, pointing you towards a ready-made audience that enjoys works in the same mold as yours. This is a huge help in determining your target readers, as well as which reviewers will cater to them. Speaking of which...

2. Find relevant book blogs

Now that you’ve got a strong sense of your audience, you're ready to find blogs that will provide the best exposure to that audience. We recommend starting with our directory of 200+ book review blogs , but feel free to do your own research as well!

As you dig into book review blogs, check on these two things first:

• Is the site active? Has the blogger published a post within the last month or so?
• Are they currently accepting queries? If they're closed at the moment, it could be months before your book gets a review — if at all.

And if you want to confirm your book marketing strategy when it comes to book review blogs, we recommend first taking this quick quiz below!

Which book review site is right for you?

Find out here! Takes one minute.

Once you've confirmed that a book review blog is both active and open to queries, think about whether it's right for your  book. Here are some important factors to consider:

• Genre . Don't waste your time on blogs that don't review books in your genre. "Be very mindful of a publication’s particular audience and target market when pitching for review. If their readership is science-fiction, do not pitch a commercial crime novel!” says publicist Hannah Cooper .
• Traffic . High-traffic book blogs might seem like your highest priorities, but this isn’t necessarily true. “Don't shy away from the smaller blogs,” says publicist Beverly Bambury . “They can sometimes foster a real sense of community and starting off small is just fine."
• Posting frequency.  Another consideration is how often the blogger in question actually publishes reviews. Too often, and your book will get lost in the shuffle; too seldom, and they're likely to lose readers. Try to strike a balance with about 1-2 reviews per week — no decent reviewer can turn them out faster than that, anyway!

Track down your comp titles' reviewers

Remember those comp titles you came up with earlier? You can use them not only to pitch your book, but also to find potential reviewers , as they will correspond perfectly with your genre and target audience.

“Once you have your 15-or-so comps, you can research where each book has been reviewed,” says Jessica. “With luck, you will find at least a couple of book reviews per title, which will give you many more outlets to investigate further.”

Now, as an author, you might be wondering: “How can I begin to find all the places where a given book was reviewed?” Don’t forget the power of Google! Try searching the following terms to find reviews for a given title:

• [Title] + book review
• [Title] + review
• [Title] + Q&A

And here's one last tip to give you a boost — sign up for a "Mention" account and/or set up Google alerts to get a notification every time these titles appear online.

Once you’re armed with a bundle of suitable book review blogs, you've arrived at the third (and perhaps most crucial) step in this process. This is, of course, creating the pitches you'll send to reviewers.

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3. Write pitches for them

Pitching a reviewer is pretty straightforward. All you have to do is a) keep it short, and and b) personalize it as much as possible. However, before we get to our publicists’ actionable tips on pitching, there’s one more thing that you absolutely HAVE to do. And that thing is...

Read the review policy!

Before you pitch any blog, make sure you read the blogger’s review policy. Some blogs will have a form to fill out; others might ask you to email them directly. Still others might not welcome any queries from self-published authors . Whatever they say, make sure that you follow it to a T.

“There are two main benefits to reading and following the review policies closely,” says Beverly. “First, you show the reviewer that you respect and appreciate them when you follow their instructions. This is important when asking someone to do you a favor.

"Second, you may find that even if the site is closed for review queries, it's open to publicity queries — where you might be able to place an excerpt or do a Q&A or occasional blog post. You'll never know if you don't take the time to read the review policy first.”

More tips for pitching reviewers

Now that you’re clear on what the blogger wants, you can start pitching them with confidence. Here are three more key tips for pitching book reviewers:

1. Never send out bulk pitches. "When you pitch each outlet individually, specifically write that you read their positive book review of your comp and what that comp title was,” says Jessica Glenn. Or if you didn't find them through a comp title, mention other  aspects of their blog and why you think they would be great to review your book!

2. Be concise and direct. “Include your title, publisher, date of release, and genre in the first paragraph,” notes Beverly Bambury. “Then you might want to include the cover copy or a brief description of the book. Finally, be direct and ask for what you want. If you want a review, ask for it! If you want an excerpt placed, ask for that.”

3. Appeal to their commercial side. “All reviewers want the opportunity to discover the next 'big thing’ — particularly with fiction — so make them feel as though they have the opportunity to get the word out first," says Hannah Cooper. Indeed, if you can convince a reviewer that you are doing them  a favor, you're practically guaranteed to get a review.

Basically, try to get reviewers to think, “Oh, if I enjoyed [comp title], I’ll enjoy this person's book too,” or “They've done the research to know that I’m a good fit for their book.” If you can do that, you’re already much closer than everyone else to obtaining high-quality book reviews !

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4. Send out your book

This is the step before the moment of truth (the review itself), so it's extremely important to get everything right. To ensure you're complying with each reviewer's guidelines, review their policy again before you send them your book. Some bloggers might prefer digital copies of manuscripts, while others might want a physical ARC — be prepared to accommodate.

Also, as you begin sending your book to various outlets, you should track your progress in a spreadsheet. Record which blogs you’ve submitted to so far, which blogs have responded, and which blogs you plan to submit to, so you don't accidentally double-submit or skip over anyone.

Formatting your book

Other than double-checking the review policy, the most important thing to do here is to format your book in a professional manner . After all, you want the presentation of your content to match the quality! Even though it shouldn't technically matter, reviewers will definitely judge your book by how it looks, inside and out.

The good news for self-formatters that you probably won't need to send physical proofs, and ebooks are much easier to format than hard copies. Digital copies also cost next-to-nothing to produce, so you can easily send multiple copies of your book out to different reviewers. You may want to check out apps like Instafreebie and Bookfunnel , which make it easy to generate individual ARC download links that you can send to the reviewers.

Pro tip : If you’re searching for a good book production tool,  Reedsy Studio can format and convert your manuscript into professional EPUB and print-ready files in a matter of seconds!

5. Follow up after a week

A week or more has passed since you queried a book blog, and so far… crickets. What do you do now? Why, follow up,  of course!

When it comes to this stage, keep calm and follow Hannah Hargrave’s advice: “Don't bother reviewers for an answer daily. I will usually chase again after a week has passed.

"If you receive a decline response, or no one responds to your third chase-up, assume this means they are not interested. Any further follow-ups, or aggressive requests as to why your work's not being reviewed, will not be viewed kindly. Above all, be polite and friendly at all times.”

That said, someone rejecting your book for review is a worst-case scenario. Best-case scenario, the blogger responds favorably and you’ve bagged yourself a review!

What comes next, you ask?

The reviewer will post their review of your book on their blog — and on Amazon, Goodreads, and any other platforms that they’ll name in their review policy. This is yet another reason why it's vital to read that policy carefully, so you know exactly where  the review will be seen.

If all goes well, the reviewer will publish a positive review that you can use to further promote your book. Maybe you'll even get a decent pull-quote for your book description ! Not to mention that if you ever write a sequel, you can almost certainly count on them for a follow-up review.

Pro-tip: Want to write a book description that sells? Download this free book description template to get a headstart. 

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Learn to write a book description that will make readers click “buy.”

But what if you don't get any bites from book bloggers, or — horror of horrors — one of them gives you a negative review? Fortunately, the next two sections should help you deal with each of these possible dilemmas.

Bonus ways to get book reviews

Though book bloggers are the most reliable and professional source of reviews for independent authors, you may want to try other avenues to maximize your chances! Here are three more ways to get book reviews  for your work, so you can bolster your Amazon profile and start making some serious sales.

1. Tell your followers about your book

Though Amazon prohibits reviews from close friends and family , you're free to tell your random social media followers about your book and hope they leave good reviews. It obviously helps if you have a large following on Twitter or Instagram, even more so if some of those followers are fellow authors who appreciate the significance of reviews.

That said, NEVER offer "review swaps" or any kind of promotional enticement for customers to leave reviews, as this would also be against Amazon's terms. Simply let your followers know you've got a book out and that you'd love for them to read it; the rest is in their hands. However, when it comes to reviews, any amount of awareness is better than none.

2. Submit to Reedsy Discovery

Finally, for a professional review option that's a bit less time-and-effort-consuming on your part, you can submit your book right here on Reedsy Discovery! The platform allows authors to share their books with readers who are right up their alley, plus get the chance to be reviewed by one of our Discovery writers. If they leave a good review, you'll be featured in our newsletter, which goes out to thousands of subscribers every week.

Sounds pretty sweet, right? And it only takes a few minutes to submit .

Is your book ready for Discovery?

Take our quiz to find out! Takes only 1 minute.

How to deal with negative reviews

Once your work is out there in the world, you can’t control other people’s reactions to it. “Remember, by submitting your book for review, you're accepting that some people might not enjoy it,” says Hannah Hargrave. “It can be very tough after you’ve spent months or years crafting your novel, only for some reviewer to tear it apart. But you need to be prepared."

In that vein, here are some final tips on how to deal with bad reviews:

1. Have someone else read them first . This might be your agent, your friend, or your mom — anyone you trust to pre-screen your reviews. They can inform you whether each negative review is a worthwhile (if humbling) read, or just too nasty to stomach.

2. Ignore unreasonably hateful reviews . Easier said than done, yes, but really try to tune out these people! For example, if they're clearly not your target audience, but insist on pretending like they are. Or people who pick apart your sentences word-by-word, just for the "fun" of it. There's no sense in agonizing over readers who are determined to hate you, so block them on every platform and refuse to read anything else they write.

3. Address valid criticisms . You're only human, and your book won't be perfect. If someone points this out in a constructive way , acknowledge it and do what you can to fix it. This may be as simple as editing a misleading blurb, or as complex as restructuring your entire series. But if you're the author we know you are, you'll be up to the task.

Every author's book is different, but the process for getting book reviews is reassuringly universal. To recap: identify your audience, find relevant blogs, pitch them, send out your book, and don't forget to follow up! On top of that, feel free to try alternative strategies, and remember not to take the bad reviews too personally.

Yes, marketing a book may be madness, but the process of getting reviews lends method to that madness. So go forth and get your reviews — you deserve them! 🙌

Special thanks to book publicists Jessica Glenn , Hannah Hargrave , Hannah Cooper , and Beverly Bambury for their input and suggestions throughout this article. If you have any more questions about how to get book reviews, let us know in the comments!

2 responses

Elena Smith says:

25/09/2018 – 22:33

Excellent Write up. I have thoroughly gone through the article and according to my personal observations you have done a great job writing this Article.Being associated with writing profession, I must mention that AcademicWritingPro are quite helpful nowadays.Furthermore, quality is also an important aspect.

Team Golfwell says:

11/12/2018 – 05:38

We do free book reviews if your book interests us. We are a group of retired people in New Zealand who play golf, read books, write books, and do free book reviews if we like your book. We write books too, so we like to see what other authors are currently doing and it is amazing to see what writers are creating. We try to post our reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, Barnes &amp; Noble and our social media. See our book review page for more info &gt; &gt; https://www.teamgolfwell.com/free-book-reviews.html #bookreviews #kindlebookreviews #amazonbookreviews #indiebookreviews https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4ad92dde2f70456000bf5c44af3489ee638dae511be91f7b8cb1545acb388cdb.jpg

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