Posted on — Leave a comment

The Suicide Council (Before God Decides) by Victer Hugo Basurco

An inventive, moving look at the questions suicide leaves behind. Basurco takes on suicide, grief, and divine judgment in this unusual work of speculative spiritual fiction. In his imagined Heaven, God creates the Suicide Council, a group of prophets and…
Posted on — Leave a comment

Influenced: Serenity Acres: Where Secrets Barely Stay Hidden by Crystal Quast

Sharp, sinister, and savagely funny. Quast’s spirited novel blends social-media satire with domestic drama and a steadily darkening mystery. Brook Salinger has spent most of her young life in front of a camera, trapped on her family’s wildly successful social-media…
Posted on — Leave a comment

The Sassy Snapper by Adam Moryto (Author), Meritxell Andreu (Illustrations)

A colorful undersea caper with plenty of snap! Moryto’s compelling picture book takes young readers beneath the waves for a spirited adventure about courage, friendship, and the confidence to embrace what makes one different. When Curious Clam’s treasured pearl disappears,…
Posted on — Leave a comment

Pareidolia: Illusions, Deceptions, and Murder by J. Herman Kleiger

A wickedly absorbing mind-bender where seeing is anything but believing. Kleiger delivers a dark, intricately plotted psychological thriller that makes uncertainty itself a source of menace. Disgraced former FBI agent Nicola Kitts is barely holding on. Haunted by combat trauma,…
Posted on — Leave a comment

Echoes of Truth: A Jake Scott Mystery by Barry Finlay

A wickedly entertaining ride with plenty of psychological bite. Finlay’s compelling latest turns a decades-old double murder into a smart exploration of memory, art, and buried secrets. When artist Robin Underhill produces a disturbing painting of her parents’ Halloween murders,…
Posted on — Leave a comment

Point First by Nannette Potter

Taut, twisty, and thoroughly absorbing. Potter’s gripping thriller brings a professional knife-thrower into a complex story of family secrets, political ambition, and corruption. Genevieve “Blade” Broussard arrives in Charleston searching for the truth about her newly discovered, powerful paternal family,…
Posted on — Leave a comment

A Pigeon in the Pen (Marshall Morris Is at It Again) by Robert John DeLuca

A high-stakes romp with heart, humor, and nerve. DeLuca’s gripping, fast-paced novel takes a reckless but bighearted teenager deep into a dangerous world of drugs, deception, and difficult choices. Marshall Morris has a habit of rushing toward trouble before common…
Posted on — Leave a comment

The Bear & Cat Chronicles by Kris Neely

A charming philosophical gem with plenty of heart. Neely’s delightful collection of brief, interconnected stories explores Zen and Taoist wisdom through the everyday experiences of two unlikely friends. In “The Buried Seed,” Bear’s impatience with a slow-growing seed becomes a…
Posted on — Leave a comment

Fire’s Ally  D. M. Kannapan

A wonderfully strange, deeply immersive fantasy of discovery and survival…  Kannapan delivers an ambitious, richly imagined YA fantasy where science, survival, and social upheaval collide.. The story follows Eleg, a quiet young Urmettian scientist who has spent years studying the…
Posted on — Leave a comment

Blueland by Robert Jaxx

A fierce, cinematic, hard-edged Western. In Jaxx’s sweeping historical Western, the end of the Civil War sends Union captain Alden Zur and three battle-scarred comrades toward an uncertain future. Reunited with his family, Alden heads west, hoping to put war…
Posted on — Leave a comment

Cooking Up Magick: The Dell Chronicles Book One by HL Bernabe

A spellbinding fantasy feast with plenty of heart… Bernabe’s series opener in the Dell Chronicles serves up an ambitious blend of cozy fantasy, sprawling adventure, romance, and high-stakes epic fantasy, anchored by an endearing heroine whose greatest strengths are compassion…
Posted on — Leave a comment

The Valhalla Project (A Dan Burnett Private Detective Mystery/Thiller) by Larry Terhaar

Taut, timely, and impossible to put down. Terhaar’s gripping latest pits a dogged investigator against a dangerous web of murder, money, and corporate power. Nineteen-year-old David Jacobs, an autistic accounting protégé, is walking his dog in Pelham Bay Park when…
Posted on — Leave a comment

Soaked: A Noir Mystery Short by Miguel Angel Hernandez Jr.

Dark, propulsive, and deliciously sinister… A calculating detective hunts a killer who knows exactly how to get his attention in Hernandez’s fast-paced noir mystery. When a string of brutal murders rocks New York City, Detective Jerry Crowder is drawn back…
Posted on — Leave a comment

Breezy Bakes Her Best by Lori Rotter

A sprinkle-filled romp bursting with creativity and heart. Rotter’s playful picture book finds comedy and confidence amid a morning of bakery mishaps. Breezy Bear is eager to pitch in as her family prepares Buttercup Bakery for the day. Unfortunately, her…
Posted on — Leave a comment

Cutie Pies by the Slice: A 1930s Historical Novel of Strength and Belonging by Kimberly Nixon

A warmhearted, irresistible page-turner. Nixon’s historical novel delivers an engaging tale of resilience, ambition, and found family amid Prohibition and the Great Depression. After her mother’s death, 20-year-old Lila Young leaves Rockford, Ill., for Lima, Ohio, hoping to make a…
Posted on — Leave a comment

Series Review: Dr. K’s Portal Through Time (2 books) by Dr Katherine E. A. Korkidis (Author), Emilie B Nuñez (Illustrator)

Magical, informative, inspiring; an irresistible invitation to explore, question, and discover. Korkidis blends science, history, and adventure into magical journeys through the lives of history’s most influential scientists. Galileo’s Points of Light in the Night Sky, the first volume in…
Posted on — Leave a comment

All Writers Are Liars by Nicholas Bruechle

Darkly funny, philosophically rich, and emotionally astute. Bruechle delivers an ambitious work of literary metafiction that blurs the boundary between author and invention with wit, intelligence, and surprising emotional depth. Struggling novelist Baker McCloud pours himself into a manuscript populated…
Posted on — Leave a comment

Braided Dimensions Series by Marie Judson

Enchanting, immersive, intricately woven… Historical fantasy, Celtic folklore, and time travel converge in Judson’s ambitious Braided Dimensions series. Braided Dimensions, the first volume, begins when Kay Halfin, a retired Berkeley professor of ancient languages, follows a mysterious bard through an…
Posted on — Leave a comment

The World As It Is by Donald Levin

An unflinching, immersive, and incendiary portrait of injustice… Levin crafts a layered portrait of a city and a nation confronting the realities of injustice and change in his latest novel. 1963 Detroit. When an aspiring Motown musician witnesses a white…
Posted on — Leave a comment

Daedalus (The Nabukko Trilogy #2) by K.R. Gadeken

A riveting blend of science fiction, mystery, and exploration… False accusations, fractured loyalties, and an alien world’s hidden secrets drive Gadeken’s richly imagined second installment in the Nabukko Trilogy. After being accused of murders she could not have committed, Eff…