Reviews
The Quiet One
Cameron Lane (Stone House Editions)
In The Quiet One, urban planner Sera Linden arrives in the stubborn coastal town of Wintermere to revitalize the historic St. Avila's Chapel. She expects resistance but finds an unexpected ally in Julian Vero, a reclusive craftsman secretly restoring the chapel without credit. Their relationship unfolds not through dialogue, but through shared silence and mutual respect for the space. A single kiss acknowledges their growing bond, but corporate reassignment forcibly separates them. Sera eventually returns to present a revised proposal that hono...
Or So It Seems: Mr. Peterson's First Ever Do-It-Yourself Workshop
Paul Steven Stone (Blind Elephant Press (Paul Steven Stone, publisher))
Or So It Seems by Paul Steven Stone follows Paul Peterson, a divorced advertising copywriter and former spiritual seeker, who finds himself in a very precarious situation with his son’s teacher, Allison Pratt. This moment triggers a metaphysical “Do-It-Yourself Workshop,” guided by the spirit of his deceased guru, The Bapucharya. Paul revisits important memories, including a humiliating Pinewood Derby involving his son Mickey, turbulent relationships with ex-lover Ellie Eichorn and ex-wife Marilyn, and childhood trauma connected to his abusive...
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From the Shallow End to the Deep End: Ninety-Five Shakespearean Sonnets
AJ Streator (AJ Streator LLC)
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...
Powerful Mind: 12 Simple Keys
Bill Harvey (The Human Effectiveness Institute)
In Powerful Mind: 12 Simple Keys, Bill Harvey offers a comprehensive guide to reclaiming mental autonomy in an age of overwhelming noise, what he calls the Acceleritis culture, which drives us all at top speed by giving us too many stimuli nearly all the time. This book addresses a question that every human being should consider, especially in this time of information overload: “What does it mean to use more of our mind, which is a tool we already have?” Harvey starts by arguing that we suffer from an accelerating information overload that forc...
Magnanotron: a Bond of Brothers Thriller
Robert Saniscalchi (Independently Published)
In Magnanotron: A Bond of Brothers Thriller by Robert J. Saniscalchi, Colonel Jason Patrick and his elite Delta Team face a high-stakes threat when scientists Peter Androvski and Darious Patel develop a revolutionary wearable forcefield technology. While the U.S. military celebrates this breakthrough, Russian SRV operatives, led by the ruthless Demetri Romanov, plot to steal the secret. The conflict escalates when the spies abduct Patel, intending to transport him to Russia through a freight train. Racing against time, Delta Team deploys to Mal...
The Man on the Bench
Hy Conrad (Mason Hill Inc.)
In Hy Conrad’s The Man on the Bench, Austin reporter Callie McFee befriends a homeless man named Barney, only to discover him murdered shortly after confessing family secrets. Barney is revealed to be Cameron Frost, a reclusive, famous author disguising himself to gather material for a new novel based on the confessions of strangers. As Callie and her homicide detective brother, State, investigate, the body count rises, including fellow bench buddy Daisy and investigative journalist Dennis. While suspicion falls on Frost's brother and a shady b...
FROM BROKEN PIECES TO PEACE
Kimi Y. Bivins (Canoe Tree Press)
In From Broken Pieces to Peace, Kimi Y. Bivins’ psychologically grounded and motivating book, she writes: “It took me forty-six years of trial and error to realize I am not broken. I’ve just dealt with many broken men. I refuse to believe anything else.” This book is a raw memoir that is filled with practical Christian relationship advice. Drawing from her personal journey as a single believer at forty-five, Bivins recounts a life characterized by dysfunction, including being born to a married man, experiencing rape at the age of twenty by some...
Death Followed Us Home: A Thriller
J-S Rioux (Friesen Press)
In J-S Rioux’s Death Followed Us Home, elite Army Rangers return from Afghanistan only to face tragedy on US soil. Sergeant Emmanuel Muñoz and his young son are murdered during a botched ATM robbery, and this sets off a series of events that bring together his old unit in a daring and dangerous game of revenge. The police investigation doesn’t move as quickly as Muñoz's grieving unit would have wanted, and so they settle on vigilante justice. Led by Staff Sergeant Thomas “Sully” Sullivan, six soldiers track down the killers to a remote meth lab...
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Mortal Vengeance
Alejandro Torres De la Rocha (Alejandro Torres De la Rocha)
Mortal Vengeance by Alejandro Torres De la Rocha is a harrowing Dominican crime thriller that follows a group of Santo Domingo high schoolers whose attempt to poison their abusive teacher, Profesora Lourdes, ignites a catastrophic spiral of violence. What begins as misguided revenge fractures their friendship, triggering Enrique’s brutal murder by the spectral Grim Cojuelo, Manuel’s death, Lourdes’ own murder, and the slaughter of Enrique’s parents and Lieutenant Ricardo’s family. Paranoia consumes the survivors—Alex, Melissa, Mario, and Monika...
The Wireless Operator: The Untold Story of the British Sailor Who Invented the Modern Drug Trade
David Tuch (https://thedesaifoundation.org/)
David Tuch's The Wireless Operator: The Untold Story of the British Sailor Who Invented the Modern Drug Trade chronicles the extraordinary life of Harold Derber, born Hyman Tuchverderber in 1926, Manchester. From his childhood evacuation during the Blitz to his training as a wireless operator in the British Merchant Navy, Derber’s journey spans continents and decades. After fighting in Israel's War of Independence and various smuggling ventures, he arrives in 1960s Miami, where he launches the Freedom Ferry to transport Cuban refugees, a humani...