Editorial Reviews

A powerful testament of unwavering faith and divine conversations, One Day I Met An Angel by Francesca Darien-Hyde is an inspiring and affirming work of religious exploration. Delving into biblical texts and applying them to modern-day problems, while highlighting the messianic path, this is a dense and challenging examination of the Bible’s traditions, and how they’re carried on today. The angel-wing watermark and font choices make the reading experience more challenging than it needs to be, and the entire book could use a final proofread for small aesthetic errors and oversights. However, for dedicated believers, the author’s commanding tone, lived […]

Time Trap II by Richard Smith is a riveting race against the clock that YA readers will be hard-pressed to put down. Hector and Catherine’s peaceful new life explodes when ancient keepers of the time-travel crystals task them with another dangerous mission – teaming up to outwit a sinister British villain and prevent a future-shifting massacre of revolutionary proportions. The blurred lines between historical fact and fantasy fiction make the reading experience an immersive and intriguing pleasure. Smith poses philosophical questions that pit science and ethics against magic and youthful ambition, giving young readers important ideas to chew on, along […]

In the aftermath of war, a fearless mother with a powerful gift and a hunted boy trying to stay alive see their lives collide in the genre-defying novel, That Blinding Darkness by John-Mark Kruger. An unexpectedly compassionate and thought-provoking tale, filled with well-crafted symbolism and timeless themes reflected in unusual ways, this unique and compelling read is wildly original. The occasional stretch of unformed prose, including a handful of missing words, and some conveniently filled plot holes, could use more attention, but Kruger deserves high praise for this masterfully constructed mixture of western, sci-fi, and dystopian fiction.

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This bilingual collection of poems from Sonja N. Bohm conjures the exquisite peace and meditations of a Portuguese garden, the title in English meaning, “Poems From The Garden.” The poems are full of space and light, and even when Bohm enters a more despairing phase of the writing, there is still hope for spiritual healing. In short but intricate bursts of emotion, the poems capture the sense of movement through life and love, transformation through loss, as well as the experience of beauty. There is certainly a sense the poems are more sumptuous in Portuguese, but even if you cannot […]

A swirling ride through corporate espionage and the dark depths of company loyalty, The Telecom Takeover by Beverly Winter is an intriguing cross of thrills and character-driven drama, featuring two unlikely sleuths and a cast of decidedly unsubtle villains. The story moves quickly, but the prose is too simplistic at times, with overly explicit motives and descriptions, as well as some superfluous dialogue. A firm editorial pen to trim the narrative fat and add spice to the increasingly intense storyline would help elevate the novel, but as it stands, this is an authentic, behind-the-scenes look at corporate malfeasance mixed with […]

A deliciously wicked thriller about a commanding woman out for revenge, Vindictive is an enticing tale of lust, assassins, and the wealthy behaving badly. After uncovering a scandalous secret about her husband’s past, Jules Cartell plots his demise while climbing the Canadian corporate ladder, but unfortunately someone’s also scheming to take her down. It’s hard to believe Vindictive is a debut, as author Ryan Lawrence writes with the crisp confidence and witty repartee of a master novelist.

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A gentle celebration of resilience, spirituality, personal growth, and self-knowledge, Silent Muse Poetry: Soul Food by Ariele Tee is an unassuming collection of poetry and universal guidance. Varying in style from simple koans and aphorisms to longer and more intimate explorations of personal experience, Tee repackages classic advice into meditative, bite-sized bits of wisdom. Accompanied by occasional illustrations, this is a faith-based book that could be opened to any page at any time, or slowly moved through as a daily practice. The font choice feels a bit busy, and some of these sage nuggets are somewhat repetitive, but there is […]

Sandra Wolff’s Dark Cloud is a stunningly gorgeous graphic novel about a woman’s quest to save land from nuclear destruction in the post-apocalyptic American West. With the help of her monk-like father figure, a loyal robot, and her own foresight, the amnesiac Dark Cloud leads the resistance against warlord General Stone before he can further decimate the environment. Full of dynamic characters, cinematic visuals by illustrator Jared Barel, and action-packed intensity, Dark Cloud is a must read for fans dystopian fiction, even for those unfamiliar with the graphic novel format.

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