After not seeing his father for decades, Leo decides to make the jump from Dublin to Florida and reconnect with the long-lost Milo. Awkwardness aside, Leo has grown up to be a smooth-talking liar, a charmer with a silver tongue, a conman with motives that are difficult to suss out. Not only that, but an attraction from Leo’s new stepmother threatens to rock the boat of familiar normalcy. Peppered with clever turns of phrase and […]
A raucous story told by a brilliant mind becomes something both satirical and insightful in Snatch 2&20 by Luke Fellows. Following the misadventures and addled mind of one Giles Goodenough, this book is both a riveting read and a whimsical magic trick, spelling out a story so strange, and populated with such unique characters, that you’ll regret reaching the final page.
This foppish protagonist is depicted in sparkling detail, and readers quickly understand the caricature being painted – entitled, privileged, and used to skating through life without having to expend too much effort. In some ways, Giles is reminiscent of […]
Maggie Davis stands like a proud pillar at the heart of this tale, a recently widowed mother running a bed and breakfast in an out-of-the-way corner of Nebraska. Guests come and go, with their stories and burdens, grateful for a home-cooked meal and conversation, but small-town life for Maggie is far from simple. In addition to her own battle with loss and loneliness, she […]
Past traumas, dark secrets and reconciliations are at the heart of The Lighthouse, a wonderfully engaging work of women’s fiction by Elaine Kozak.
Driven by a need to reconnect with her estranged father after learning of the death of her mother, a stricken Leah Larsen returns to the family ranch founded by her deceased grandparents in Taos, New Mexico. Her father is less than thrilled by Leah’s arrival and gives her the shock of her life when he tells her that he and Leah’s mother had kept the baby son Leah had given birth to ten years earlier. Even […]
The complicated journey of life, through the eyes of an academic far from home, spills out onto the pages of High-Sensitivity-Based Mindful Awareness or a Schizophrenic Mind?: You are the Jury! by author Chandana Watagodakumbura. When Chelian gets the opportunity to travel to the western world – the fictional country of Astort – to pursue his Masters degree, he begins an existential journey that will take him countless miles over the course of two decades.
As the central character, Chelian maneuvers through a foreign land as best he can, confident in his own intelligence and creative streak, despite his inability […]
Author Charlie Suisman delivers a home-cooked platter of playful jabs and thoughtful relationships in Arnold Falls, a book about small town life in all of its strange intimacy.
In a place where everyone knows your business, people’s lives and stories collide in wondrous moments of synchronicity and gossip. In the hamlet of Arnold Falls, this seems particularly true, but that’s mostly due to the insightful lens of Suisman’s writing.
Jeebie Walker sits at the center of this tale as a highly original and unpredictable protagonist, but he is also supported by a cavalcade of memorable characters, as quirky locals […]
Betrayal and misunderstandings stoke the embers in Shattered Treasure, a superbly written Christian romance by Cindy Patterson.
On the day of her deceased twin’s birthday, a depressed Addison Morgan reluctantly agrees to meet her two-timing boyfriend at a party after school, but when she arrives, she’s just in time to see him coming out of a bedroom with another girl before stopping to kiss her. Mortified at her naiveté for trusting him, Addison runs to her car and takes off, only to black out behind the wheel a few minutes later.
When she comes to, she’s heartbroken to learn […]
A Dream Come True is a work of inspirational fiction by Andrew Ramz that shows how something really small, wrought from one person’s love, has the power to become viral.
Nine-year-old Jaeden Phillips had neuroblastoma as a baby but was able to make a full recovery. Now, he’s back in the hospital with a lump in his stomach and he’s not feeling all that great. Even with all his relatives visiting him, and his mom and dad always there, things are not the same as being at home and being with his friends.
The only thing that gives him more […]