Editorial Reviews

An honest, heartfelt insider look at living life on the road, Me & Mrs. Jones chronicles the author’s complicated experience working in the door-to-door sales industry. Justine Gladden’s memoir covers both the good and the bad – from the terror of being confronted with a gun to the joy of belonging to elite clubs within the business – with straightforward, sincere prose. While the book’s turn to youthful reflection at the end is a bit unexpected, the revelations in those final sections are resolute and unflinching and could easily warrant their own volume. All told, this is a fascinating memoir […]

A genre-busting cybernetic thriller set in a futuristic world where magic has returned and advanced technology reigns, Lost Girl by L.J. Kendall is an action-packed and visionary work of science fiction. Corporate spy Mason Dane hauls a mysterious woman out of the New Francisco Bay late one night – she has amnesia, and the rest of the novel is a race to uncover her identity, featuring strange shamans, augmented brains, dangerous bounty hunters, and an Aztec death god. While the frenetic pace of exposition can be overwhelming and confusing at times, readers are rewarded throughout by Kendall’s self-assured prose, wild […]

Nana Piercy’s picture book, Isla Dilah’s Nursery Rhymes: Reimagined for Our Times, is both a stylish and entertaining work geared toward young grandkids with a clever retelling of common classic children’s stories. Featuring the cute cheese-loving toddler Isla and a whole host of enchanting animal companions, the book covers everything from Sunday afternoon trips to the beach to a mischievous and curious kitty taking a tumble into a fish tank. Andie Shaw’s whimsical illustrations always add a colorful pop to these amusing tales about the daily adventures and escapades of childhood. The rhymes don’t always have the same rhythm […]

A comprehensive and concise guide, Yara Green’s Top 20 Diets for Weight Loss Plus a 7 Day Meal Plan presents readers with a score of different dietary approaches for good health, explaining the principles and rationales of each, how they work, and their pros and cons in an unbiased fashion. Readers who want to make an impact on their lives will find this book a refreshing change from the many offerings on the market, which can be more sales-based for the author than truly practical, and find themselves empowered to make informed decisions about which diet will work best for […]

Yara Green’s Weight Loss Plan for Menopause is a comprehensive roadmap presented in a straightforward and easy-to-follow fashion. The book demystifies the physiological changes of menopause, while presenting a collection of possible dietary approaches for managing this potentially tricky time. The recipes are easy to prepare for complete meal plans, with pros and cons for each approach, and explain the science of how each diet can work, so it is not a one-size-fits-all solution. The book also offers more general lifestyle tweaks, making this a must-have for anyone approaching this particular time of life and wanting to improve their mood […]

A stirring ode to the elements, emotion, and experimental expression, Body of Water by Fay Mtn is a dynamic experience as much as it is a collection of poetry and musing. Cyclical rhythms of language tease out ideas about the corporal body, our connection to nature, and the vast experience of being alive, while the post-modern execution of these pieces forces readers to slow down, and absorb the poet’s words and energy. Laced with unforgettable lines and powerful imagery, this brief journey is at once gripping and meditative, leaving the reader with a renewed appreciation for the sacred nature of […]

A rhapsodic stream of language, observation, and reflection, Shadow Reel by Clive Gresswell is a prose poem like few others. In a work where sound, flow, and rhythm are often more important than linguistic substance, the reading experience becomes hypnotic and engaging, as the poet leaps from subject to scene to thought to tangent in entirely unpredictable patterns. Enlisting unexpected imagery to create a jaggedly poetic landscape, this post-modern offering is a manifesto of imagination, peppered with striking commentary and clever turns of phrase that impress and enthrall.

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A soul-elevating read about compassion, caregiving, and sacrifice in countless forms, If I Die Before I Wake: A Caregiver’s Journey by Eli Shaw is a heart-rending and revitalizing memoir. Penned as a series of reflective essays on his diverse roles in providing support and love for people around the world – both in his personal and professional pursuits – this isn’t a chronological report of Shaw’s life so much as a philosophical and experiential collage. Regardless of the decade or crisis, from AIDS and drug abuse to cognitive disabilities and systemic racism, Shaw has been in the thick of societal […]