marinadoramartino

The Birth of Agent Big Butt: Butt of Steel, Heart of Gold by Amy Winfield, with brilliant illustrations by Tom McWeeney, is a hilarious and supremely original children’s book about a baby who was born with an enormous rear end as hard as steel, as he takes on local robbers while outwitting a mad doctor. With wisdom and intelligence beyond his years, this heroic baby understands the deadly nature of his weapon and desires to use it for good – a hysterically ridiculous take on “With great power comes great responsibility.” Lighthearted and funny throughout with a cheerful take on […]

Eerie, poetic, and mysterious, The Flowers of Hiraeth House by Angelica Krystel is an enthralling work of visionary fiction that is as beautifully written as it is enigmatic. Rose, or so she likes to call herself, is traveling on a train with no place to go, and no destination in mind, when she accepts a stranger’s offer to move into his place in Devon, where she is led to confront the darkest elements of herself, as the house acts as a kind of guide through her memory. Exploring topics such as love, grief, trauma, and the freedom to be oneself, […]

A charming and heartfelt novel set in a not-too-distant future, in which the sea has dried out, and rain is only a memory, Memoirs of Forgotten Yesterday by Aaron Grahame is a thoughtful work of literary fiction. Harry moves into a retirement home now that his health is deteriorating; confused by Alzheimer’s Disease, he lives at once in the present and in the past, with the boundary between memories and reality slowly breaking in his mind – a very real symptom, but one here that unfolds with Grahame’s lyrical prose. In the wrong hands, the story could seem to use […]

A collection of short stories inhabiting a universe full of mystery and wonder, The Unnatural Order of Things by Rick M. Clausen displays the author’s masterful command of the written word. In a series of surreal tales, we find thugs trapped in a desert loop, metaphysical visions of god-like horses, and the experiences of immortal cowboys, with each story being both eloquent and unpredictable. The stories possess a vital balance between fantasy and realism, so the narrative never becomes too absurdist to be believable, with Clausen mixing together straightforward prose with lyricism, authentic emotion with irony, for an innovative work […]

The third installment in Maggie Havoc’s Ancients series, Divinely Gifted carries on this ambitious theological epic with a deeper, more melancholic focus than previous installments, showing how actions can have dramatic consequences. In this third book, we find Ellie, Ruby, and Kaley still reeling from the events of Divinely Trained, with Ellie determined to carry on her mission to protect Heaven, and Ruby immediately thrown down a labyrinthine and dangerous path. More contemplative and personal than earlier volumes, Divinely Gifted expands this spiritual epic into a more character-driven work without losing the dramatic world-building and action-oriented storytelling, which define […]

About That Brit (About That Series Book 4) by Erin Lynne is a light but entirely captivating novel about sex, love, and relationships, and another entertaining installment in this series of steamy rom-coms. Elena has just broken up with her boyfriend and she needs a drastic change in her life, so when Jasper, a notorious lothario, offers to become roommates, she accepts. The premise sets up the inevitable odd-couple clash with “will they or won’t they,” but Lynne goes beyond the usual romance tropes, where the characters learn from each other in the process. With easygoing prose and a flare […]