Jennifer Huston Schaeffer | Biographies and Memoirs
Jennifer Huston Schaeffer's memoir, Mommy's Boy, is a unique story of a bond between a woman and her canine son, a story of the transformative decade she spent with Benny, a rescued Westie-Maltese mix who became her “doggie soulmate.” Following heartbreaks and realizing traditional motherhood might not be her future, Jennifer adopts Benny in 2014, finding unconditional love that heals her loneliness. The narrative follows their journey from Chicago to Indianapolis, where Benny helps Jennifer pursue a romance with Brad. Together, they face Benny’s complex health battles, including pancreatitis and gallbladder surgery, treating him as their child. For how long can they keep Benny with them?...
Continue ReadingJeffrey L. Carrier | Fiction — Thriller
Jeffrey L. Carrier's Coal Dust on Purple Asters is a collection of three interconnected stories set in the coal fields of Eastern Kentucky. In ''Rain on Chinquapin Holler,'' Vergie Hicks endures her husband's infidelity until a devastating flood prompts a sacrifice that might save the children. “A Sprig of Purple Asters” follows May Owens during the Depression, who burns her cabin to escape her criminal brothers. But the outcome delivers the opposite of her expectations, a redemption she never saw coming. “Red Snow in the Kentucky Woods” reveals a decades-old family secret when grandson Cory tracks down his missing uncle, James Herald, who fled a mining destiny after accidentally killing his...
Continue ReadingD.J. Paolini | Romance - Historical
D.J. Paolini's The Paladin of Rimini is a compelling multi-generational saga spanning from 1982 to 2017. Angelina Fabrizzi is a woman burdened by severe family abuse and financial ruin. After her mother, Isabella, was forced into marriage and died from cancer, Angelina suffered through an abusive union with Giovanni until her godmother, Valentina, a fierce former carabinieri, finally intervened. In 2017, widowed and in heavy debt, Angelina meets Benjamin LaRocca, an American travel writer, on a train to Rimini. Benjamin becomes her tenant, and their shared kindness quickly blossoms into romance. As Valentina protects them from the past, she must reckon with her secrets as well. While Angelin...
Continue ReadingRon Morris | Thriller
In a Country with No Name by Ron Morris follows Bert Mars, a young English teacher in Bangkok who abandons his teaching job for what he believes is a glamorous opportunity with CLB, a television network owned by Thai tycoon Chiang. Transferred to an unnamed neighboring country, Bert becomes entangled in a conspiracy to overthrow Prime Minister Thaw Kai after a business dispute over broadcasting rights. Recruited into Chiang’s inner circle, Bert helps install communications equipment for a coup attempt. Will he and his friends succeed in this daring mussion to overthrow a government or will this insane adventure become his undoing? The answers are surprising. Ron Morris delivers a comp...
Continue ReadingThomas Steele | Literary Fiction
The Prodigium by Thomas Steele is a psychological thriller with a labyrinthine plot, structured as a therapeutic dream journal divided into fourteen cantos. The story follows an unnamed, affluent narrator who discovers a disturbing photograph, depicting what appear to be the lifeless legs of an adolescent, on his wife's digital picture frame. Convinced this image reveals a hidden truth about his mysterious, Southern-born spouse (cryptically called “Doe”), the protagonist abandons his corporate existence to trace the origins of the photograph through the surreal, decaying landscapes of northeastern Pennsylvania. His quest becomes a phantasmagorical odyssey that involves hippie documentarians...
Continue ReadingAJ Streator | Poetry - General
AJ Streator’s From the Shallow End to the Deep End is a gorgeous collection of ninety-five sonnets that capture the author’s experiences, psyche, and autobiographical journey through varying shades of life. Structured clearly into three sections—The Shallow End, Middle of the Pool, and The Deep End—the collection features themes ranging from nostalgic childhood memories and family bonds to the painful experiences of divorce, mental health struggles, and aging. The poems are a reflective ledger, examining the author's intimate relationships with his mother, father, siblings, and children, while exploring resilience, faith, and redemption. Rather than adhering strictly to traditional romantic...
Continue ReadingAlisa Jean | Romance
Matthew (A Los Angeles Quakes Hockey Series, Book 3) by Alisa Jean is just as tantalizing as the first two books in the series. This entry introduces another unique, compelling hero, a character as genuinely flawed and lovable as those in the other books. Meet Matthew Holt, a Hockey player for the L.A. Quakes team and a man who will do anything for his team. He spares no energy when he plays and can even get brutal if that is what it takes to defend the team and teammates. Then something bad happens: he is traded to a team thousands of miles from home, away from friends and family. And he doesn’t like that. Now his anger has only one outlet—the hockey pitch. But something else is happening:...
Continue ReadingOliver Libby | Non-Fiction - Government/Politics
Strong Floor, No Ceiling: A Bold Plan to Rebuild the American Dream—for Everyone by Oliver Libby offers a radically moderate blueprint for a fractured nation. Entrepreneur and policy innovator Oliver B. Libby urges us to move beyond division with a pragmatic vision rooted in both tradition and innovation, equity and growth. Libby’s “Strong Floor” approach ensures every American has access to healthcare, education, and opportunity—while his “No Ceiling” philosophy champions the limitless ambitions that drive progress. Inside, you’ll find actionable strategies to restore trust in institutions and elections, a new model for bipartisan cooperation, and a call to civic renewal. Learn how capital...
Continue ReadingAlan J. Hesse | Children-Educational
It was supposed to be an easy, delightful journey to return Penguin to Antarctica, but Captain Polo and her clever sidekick, Penguin, are drawn into perils they never anticipated. Tex Greedyman is a ruthless oil tycoon with devastating plans for the Amazon, and from the rainforest's heart to Rio’s enchanting streets, Captain Polo and Penguin are on a whirlwind adventure packed with action and discovery. They'll scale Sugar Loaf Mountain's cable car, dodge a furious bull at a southern cattle auction, and uncover nature-based climate solutions in the Atlantic Forest. Along the way, they confront pressing environmental crises while discovering inspiring community-driven innovations. Will they m...
Continue ReadingGlenn Bostock | Business and Investing
Glenn Bostock’s A Human Business presents a revolutionary alternative to profit-driven corporate models, articulating a “people-first” philosophy rooted in the author's four-decade journey building SnapCab. Rejecting Milton Friedman’s doctrine that business exists solely to maximize shareholder value, Bostock argues that lasting success stems from creating “communities of usefulness” where caring beats competition. The book outlines five core principles: creating a foundation of caring, understanding one’s “ruling love” (core passion), focusing on usefulness over profit, embracing problems as opportunities for growth, and modeling the business after the human form, an integrated or...
Continue ReadingMartyn Rhys Vaughan | Science Fiction & Fantasy
Those Who Endure by Martyn Rhys Vaughan is the third book in the No Truce with the Vampire trilogy, and it follows Greg Ferguson, a sheep farmer in the post-apocalyptic Australian outback known as Stralia, where the remnants of humanity were exiled after vampires conquered Earth. When Ferguson discovers documents revealing that humans were once the masters of the planet, he and his companion Allira are captured by vampire scientists Gronz and Theondra, who conduct brutal experiments on human cognition. Their imprisonment exposes the truth about the dependence of vampires on human blood and their war against the Vetusians—higher-dimensional predators who feast on vampire mentalic energies. Af...
Continue ReadingColin Dodds | Fiction - Literary
The Reign of the Anti-Santas by Colin Dodds is a unique and audacious Christmas tale that takes readers on a rollercoaster ride through a world where the holiday spirit collides head-on with corporate greed, scandal, and societal change. The story is narrated by Elvin, an elf with a front-row seat to the evolution and devolution of Christmas. Elvin's journey begins when he unwittingly accompanies Santa Claus on a Christmas Eve trip, setting the stage for a decades-long adventure filled with intrigue and danger. Dodds creates a narrative that includes Santa's secret affairs, the PR scandal that catapults Rudolph to fame, and the encroachment of humanity on the North Pole. What makes this book...
Continue ReadingLaurel Colless | Children - Adventure
Knights Unite is the fourth book in the Peter Blue Series by Laurel Colless, and it follows Riva du Lac, who is determined to uphold her promise to avoid detentions at Spiral Hall. But a sea cleanup reveals Shem, a mythical fish boy, and a surprise honor from the Spiral Knights forces her to choose between rules and friendship. Meanwhile, Peter Blue has a vision of a water-dwelling monster. Can their unlikely alliance save the knights—and the world? Laurel Colless captures the delicate balance of environmental activism and adolescent adventure through the eyes of Riva, the determined twelve-year-old protagonist. The character development is both nuanced and engaging, particularly in Riva’s j...
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Glenn Bostock (Forbes Books)
Glenn Bostock’s A Human Business presents a revolutionary alternative to profit-driven corporate models, articulating a “people-first” philosophy rooted in the author's four-decade journey building SnapCab. Rejecting Milton Friedman’s doctrine that business exists solely to maximize shareholder value, Bostock argues that lasting success stems from creating “communities of usefulness” where caring beats competition. The book outlines five core principles: creating a foundation of caring, understanding one’s “ruling love” (core passion)...
Simin Cai (Forbes Books)
In a world where people chase success and happiness, which are always elusive, Making Sense of Life, by physicist Simin Cai, challenges our notions of happiness and achievement and introduces the “Individual Correlationism” as a framework that redefines happiness as the alignment between our lived and desired experiences. Drawing from optical metaphors, where reality is the “object,” our perception is the “lens,” and our understanding forms the “image,” Cai argues that contentment emerges from developing a self-consistent system of beliefs...
Thomas Steele (OEU Books)
The Prodigium by Thomas Steele is a psychological thriller with a labyrinthine plot, structured as a therapeutic dream journal divided into fourteen cantos. The story follows an unnamed, affluent narrator who discovers a disturbing photograph, depicting what appear to be the lifeless legs of an adolescent, on his wife's digital picture frame. Convinced this image reveals a hidden truth about his mysterious, Southern-born spouse (cryptically called “Doe”), the protagonist abandons his corporate existence to trace the origins of the photograph th...
Elizabeth Fannin (Elizabeth Fannin Press)
Elizabeth Fannin's Letter to Caroline is a devastating epistolary memoir in which a mother reconstructs her past for her adopted daughter, tracing a path from childhood trauma to hard-won redemption. The memoir unfolds as Elizabeth “Liza” Stark recounts her violent upbringing, her escape to San Francisco, where she meets the magnetic Haitian nurse Genevieve, and their decade-long partnership. Their love story—intense, passionate, and fragile—crumbles under brutal fertility treatments and Genevieve’s unresolved childhood trauma, leadin...
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