I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.
A young girl known for causing havoc and looking at life with wonder in her small town takes readers on a journey of self-discovery in author C.P. Hoff’s “Canterberry Tales”, the first in the Happy Valley Chronicles series.
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The Synopsis
Pull up your knee socks and buckle your pinchy shoes, your childhood is calling. Celia Canterberry, a precocious seven-year-old, hell bent on saving earthworms, is about to drag you down memory lane and remind you what it was like to look at a careworn world with wide-eyed bemusement. Now take a deep breath. Smell that? Nostalgia.
Celia flits through the streets of Happy Valley to her Nan’s chagrin, causing havoc wherever she goes. She’s so infamous, she’s got her own comic strip in the local paper, and Old Lady Griggs, her babysitter, is only too happy to read it with her. But what Celia secretly wants to know is where she came from. You see, Celia was abandoned at the hospital by her should-have-been parents, and her Nan won’t explain how or why…
The Review
A truly well-written and engaging story, the author draws the reader in with colorful characters and brilliantly dry humor that immediately sets the tone for the story. The characters are vibrant and really stand out, balanced between the young protagonist Celia’s perspective and the sometimes harsh yet often true reality.
What really stands out in this narrative is the balance between character growth and story. Often times one aspect of a novel like this will overtake the other, but the author has found the perfect amount of character development to help elevate the overall story and theme of this novel. The humor does a great job of highlighting the lengths those in Celia’s life have gone to in order to both protect her from the truth of her origins and then to finally reveal them to her and her inquisitive mind.
The Verdict
A well-balanced, engaging, and driven narrative, author C.P. Hoff’s “Canterberry Tales” is a must-read novel. The inclusion of story elements like Celia’s local comic strip brought to mind visions of a little Dennis the Menace style story, while the balance of humor and emotional storytelling really brought the reader into the narrative, identifying and even becoming emotionally invested in Celia’s story as time went on. If you haven’t yet, be sure to grab your copy today!
Rating: 10/10
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About the Author
C.P. Hoff lives in southern Alberta with her husband, and the child who has yet to fly the coop. She has written for the local paper, which might be impressive if she lived in New York, and if anyone read the local paper. Hoff is presently writing two series. Her novel, A Town Called Forget, was longlisted for the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour. More information can be found about C.P. Hoff at: C. P. Hoff – C. P. Hoff: Author of the Picaresque Chronicles.
Paranormal Investigator and star of the acclaimed paranormal documentary series Kindred Spirits, author Amy Bruni shares her experiences and lessons she learned in the paranormal field in an effort to dispel the hysteria and fear that is often associated with the paranormal in her book, “Life with the Afterlife: 13 Truths I Learned About Ghosts”.
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The Synopsis
A USA TODAY BESTSELLER
Star of Kindred Spirits and paranormal investigator Amy Bruni shares stories from her years of experiences with ghosts, organized around thirteen truths that guide her approach to the supernatural.
Amy Bruni, co-star of Kindred Spirits and one of the world’s leading paranormal investigators, has learned a lot about ghosts over her years of research and first-hand experience. Now, in Life with the Afterlife, she shares the insight she has gleaned and how it has shaped her unique approach to interacting with the spirits of the dead and those who encounter them.
From her earliest supernatural encounters as a child, through her years appearing on Ghost Hunters and the creation of her company Strange Escapes, which offers paranormal excursions to some of America’s most notoriously haunted destinations, and into her current work on The Travel Channel’s Kindred Spirits, this book is full of astonishing and deeply moving stories of Amy’s efforts to better understand the dead but not yet departed. With Amy’s bright humor and fierce compassion for both those who are haunted and those who are haunting, Life with the Afterlife is an eye-opening look at what connects us as people, in life and beyond.
The Review
As a longtime fan of the author’s work both in television work and in the field of paranormal investigation, I have been eagerly awaiting the opportunity to review this book. The author and investigator does an amazing job of balancing personal stories and her views on the paranormal with real-life lessons and techniques that aspiring investigators can take with them into the field, along with helping to shed the “horror” quality paranormal investigations often get from those who don’t fully understand the field.
The thing that really stood out to me in this book is how the author balances personal experience with infamous cases and beyond. For instance, the author can relay some incredible moments from seasons of Kindred Spirits in the personal homes of a mother and son, and then just as easily switch over to the infamous Conjuring House, and discuss each case in the same matter of fact and thought-provoking way. It allowed the book to maintain a balance of personal and emotional recollection with scientific and investigative reporting.
There were so many incredible stories and lessons to be learned in this book, but one that really resonated with me was the lesson that is revealed early on in the book. Everyone tends to treat every haunting as something fearful and terrifying, but that is rarely the case. Sometimes people are so desperate to be heard in the afterlife or confused about what’s happening that their attempts to communicate come across as frightening, when it really wasn’t meant to be. The notion that people are generally going to act and behave the same way they did in the afterlife as they did in their living life is such a profound thing to think about, and a lesson that can really help others understand the paranormal in a whole new light.
The Verdict
Hauntingly engaging, both humorous and emotionally driven, and an evenly-paced yet exciting read, author Amy Bruni’s “Life with the Afterlife” is a must-read book and one of my favorite non-fiction reads in the field of the paranormal. A perfect balance of personal stories from her work and her life with the lessons and techniques investigators and average readers alike can take when dealing with the paranormal, this book is the perfect blend of entertaining and educational in this field. If you haven’t yet, be sure to grab your copy today!
Rating: 10/10
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About the Author
Amy Bruni started working professionally as a paranormal investigator in 2007, when she began appearing on Ghost Hunters, one of the longest-running and highest-rated paranormal television shows. Now, she’s the co-star and executive producer of The Travel Channel’s Kindred Spirits. In addition, Amy is the owner of Strange Escapes, a company offering paranormal excursions to some of America’s most notoriously haunted destinations.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.
Two young mothers find themselves in a gripping murder trial as one must defend the other and prove her innocence in the face of growing evidence to the contrary in author Lara Bazelon’s “A Good Mother”.
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The Synopsis
A gripping page turner about two young mothers, one grisly murder, and the lengths both women will go in the name of their children.
When young decorated combat veteran Travis Hollis is found stabbed through the heart at a U.S. Army base in Germany, there is no doubt that his wife, Luz, is to blame. But was it an act of self defense? A frenzied attempt to save her infant daughter from domestic abuse? Or the cold blood murder of an innocent man?
As the case heads to trial in Los Angeles, hard-charging attorney Abby Rosenberg is eager to return from maternity leave—and her quickly fracturing home life—to take the case and defend Luz. Abby, a new mother herself, is committed to ensuring Luz avoids prison and retains custody of her daughter. But as the evidence stacks up against Luz, Abby realizes the task proves far more difficult than she suspected – especially when she has to battle for control over the case with her co-counsel, whose dark absorption with Luz only complicates matters further.
As the trial careens toward an outcome no one expects, readers will find themselves in the seat of the jurors, forced to answer the question – what does it mean to be a good mother? A good lawyer? And who is the real monster?
The Review
A gripping legal thriller, the author has used her expertise in the field of legal aid to really dive into the laborious work that goes into being a lawyer at trial. The balance found of legal work and suspense as the evidence and discoveries made in the case keep the reader guessing made this such an entertaining read.
The character development was fantastic to see here. From protagonist, Abby, and her challenging battles both at home and in the case kept the reader invested in the narrative, while the back and forth on Luz as a suspect in the case and whether or not she could be trusted made for some interesting and gripping storytelling. Then pacing is what really sets the tone for the novel, as the story begins wildly with the 911 call on the night of the crime, and then steps back and begins to set up the trial itself as the mystery begins to slowly be peeled layer by layer.
The Verdict
A mesmerizing, heart-pounding, and evenly-paced read, author Lara Bazelon’s “A Good Mother” is a fantastic thriller and a must-read novel. Great character growth and a pulse-racing mystery that keeps the reader on the edge of their seat make this story shine brightly and make for the perfect summer read for fans of the genre. If you haven’t yet, be sure to grab your copy today!
Rating: 10/10
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Lara Bazelon is an attorney, journalist, MacDowell Fellow, former public defender, and professor at the University of San Francisco School of Law, where she holds the Phillip and Muriel C. Barnett Chair in Trial Advocacy. She is also the author of Rectify: The Power of Restorative Justice After Wrongful Conviction, as well as the upcoming nonfiction book, Ambitious Like a Mother: Women, Ambition, and Motherhood, and her writing has been published widely in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Slate, The Washington Post, and many others.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.
A young assistant to an astrophysicist finds her world turned upside down after her professor disappears, along with dozens of others around the nation. Soon a mysterious young man working as an assistant to another professor arrives, and her perception of reality changes forever in author Kristen Martin’s “Beyond the Stars and Shadows”.
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The Synopsis
The night sky holds more mystery than every continent on Earth combined—at least that’s what thirty-three-year-old Elara Friis believes. And why wouldn’t she, when she’s been named after one of Jupiter’s many moons?
A long-time assistant to astrophysicist Professor Haven at the University of Colorado Boulder, Elara’s unexpected change in employment status couldn’t come at a worse time. Even more unnerving is the sudden disappearance of her professor just minutes after their last conversation—not to mention the fact that she’s somehow traveled four days into the future . . . with no recollection of those days’ events.
As more professors begin to go missing and the police begin to ask questions, there’s yet another unexpected development in Elara’s life: one that goes by the name of Xero Sivalla. A fellow assistant at the university, Xero seems to have inside knowledge on not only the growing number of faculty disappearances, but on Elara herself.
As Elara spends more time with Xero, the more she discovers just how wrong her assumptions about life, the cosmos, and existence itself have been. Blurring the lines of reality is one thing, but cracking the entire Universe wide open? She should be so lucky—that is, unless it’s been predestined from the start.
The Review
This was such a compelling and engaging read right from the start. As anyone who knows me can attest, I love a wide variety of books. As such, I was so thrilled when the story I thought I was reading took off in such an exciting new direction. The author’s writing is so inviting and draws the reader into the narrative and the lives of the protagonist with ease. Elara is a truly fantastic character, well-rounded and while many books take their characters through a total evolution in their story, it was refreshing to see the narrative really hinged on the growth of the characters, making her story so much more interesting.
What really drew me in though as a reader was the subject matter the book dealt in. While much of this book was fictional and truly mind-blowing, anyone who knows me knows that I am an avid fan of the paranormal. A lot of the subject matter the author discusses in the narrative are things that I myself have been researching over the last couple of years. For those who don’t know, I run a paranormal podcast and investigative team and will include a link to all our stuff here. What was so interesting was the inclusion of synchronicities.
The big reason I got into studying and investigating things like synchronicities, the quantum consciousness, and similar scientific and spiritual theories that somehow connect the paranormal, UFO phenomena, and even cryptids, was because of a show called Hellier. If you haven’t heard of it, I’ll link the show here, but this documentary series has changed my whole perspective on how to treat the paranormal, energy, and the universe as a whole.
This book really hit me like a synchronicity bomb, from the use of synchronicities to astral projection, the stars and even utilizing the Pleiades, which the blue star is something that comes up in the Hellier case later on. As the story progressed in this direction, I felt drawn further and further into the narrative until I was falling down the proverbial rabbit hole, and I couldn’t have been happier.
The Verdict
A masterful, beautifully written and thought-provoking tale that blends fiction with the world of spiritual thinking and high strangeness, author Kristen Martin’s “Beyond the Stars and Shadows is a must-read book of 2021, and a contender for book of the year on my site. It really engaged me both as a reader and as a fan of the high strangeness aspect of her narrative, and I highly recommend you guys check this amazing readout for yourselves. Filled with great characters, a strong narrative, and a touch of passion and romance that keeps the readers invested in the protagonist’s story, be sure to grab your copy of this fantastic book today!
Rating: 10/10
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About the Author
KRISTEN MARTIN is a self-made creative entrepreneur, content creator, and the Amazon bestselling indie author of personal development books, Be Your Own #Goals and Soulflow, as well as the fiction works, The Alpha Drive and Shadow Crown.
Having worked in the corporate world for almost a decade, Kristen decided to pursue her vision of empowering women through her writing and content creation and, in just two years’ time, has grown what was once her “side hustle” into a full-time 6-figure creative business.
With her work reaching over 60,000 people via her YouTube channel and podcast, That Smart Hustle, Kristen regularly travels to speak and teach at conferences, workshops, and retreats across the globe.
She currently runs her business from her home base in North Houston, Texas.
I’m not sure who said it, but there’s an adage that goes something like: A first book is the one the author needed to write. This statement is true for me, though not for all the themes found in my first book, Anything That Happens. Hm. That may not be accurate. Let me begin again.
I came to writing through a side door. At the end of my senior year in high school, my English teacher pulled me aside, a stack of my creative assignments in his hand, and urged me to keep writing. “If you enjoy doing this, keep doing it,” Mr. Langford said, making me look up and into his eyes so I could see his serious face. He knew I was an adrift teenager about to be released into the world. I imagine him crossing his fingers as he gave me the “life raft” that is poetry.
My poetry has always been personal, tied to the exploration of emotion. I believe it’s a response to the practical, non-communicative environment where I grew up. The stack of papers Mr. Langford held were poems about friendship and trust, my mom making a new home with her husband-to-be, my father’s absence, and me coming to terms with … my future?
Since I had little direction, and I enjoyed writing, I took Mr. Langford’s advice. But, I didn’t know how to live like a writer. And I believed “experience” would make me a writer. (Obviously, I wasn’t paying attention in class when we talked about Emily Dickenson’s life.)
So, when I moved from California to North Carolina at nineteen years old, I was embarking on “life.” I uprooted, hoping for new, enlightening experiences. Nine months later, the event—a car crash—I would eventually need to write happened.
The irony is that after the crash, I couldn’t write. Then, I wouldn’t write, not seriously. Not for years. I believed it was wrong to make a good thing from my bad act. And since I wanted to become a poet, I kept myself from it, accepting my due punishment.
The thing about needs is they don’t disappear. Whether I wanted to believe it or not, I was a poet, and a poet needs to write poetry. There’s no escaping it. (Oh, thank goodness.)
I first gave myself permission to write about the crash in a fiction class. I had returned to college at twenty-seven years old and majored in creative writing. Fiction provided me the distance I needed to write the details of the night, from my friend’s phone call to being handcuffed and put into a police car. In the “story,” the crash was happening to someone else.
That first step was monumental: I was in the writer’s chair.
Two years later, during my last poetry workshop before graduation, I wrote my first poem about the crash, the original version of the “Slipped” series that’s in the book. It was the story I wrote in fiction, but this time, I was once again in the driver’s seat. Placing myself there gave me a better vantage point to tell the story, and not only the drinking too much and car wrapped around a pole story. The pieces of the story only I knew: the emotional and psychological impact.
The crash was the story I needed to tell. “Emotional and psychological impact” is the inherent slice of all the stories I tell, like when I tried to understand my father’s choices compared to my mother’s back in high school.
The main narrative of Anything That Happens is the car crash and its aftermath. But there is also the death of my mother, the birth of my first son, struggles of parenthood, and underneath it all, ever-present shame. There’s no doubt the car crash heightened my interest in how one action can affect someone else. When I wrote about the relationship with my parents and how I felt about becoming a mother, I did so through the lens of cause and effect—the impact of choosing what not to do weighing as heavily as choosing what to do.
The impact of writing the story I needed to write is just coming to fruition. The book is only two months old. My desire to write hasn’t lessened. Now, I get to work on what I want to write. I don’t know what that looks like yet. Sure, I have ideas and dreams. Okay, I even have projects I kept putting to the side while I finished the needed-to-be-told story. But that’s the “work” of being a writer, and I’ll get to it. For now, I’m still living the piece I’m most interested in, the emotional and psychological impact of having told the story I needed to tell.
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About the Author
Cheryl Wilder is the author of Anything That Happens, a Tom Lombardo Poetry Selection (Press 53, 2021), a collection that examines how to reconcile a past grave mistake and a future that stretches into one long second chance. Her chapbook, What Binds Us (Finishing Line Press, 2017), explores the frailty and necessity of human connection.
A founder and editor of Waterwheel Review, Cheryl earned her BFA from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and her MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.
A day that begins with the assassination of a respectable North London businessman ends with violence and betrayal in author C.C. Humphreys modern day noir-thriller, “One London Day”.
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The Synopsis
July 30th 2018.
It’s the hottest Summer in fifty years and Joseph Severin, a respectable North London businessman, has taken on a lucrative side job. He’s doing the books, old school, (because these days the only trail you can’t trace is a paper one) for a rogue MI5 outfit, the Shadows, headed by clever, psychopathic Sebastien. When the game is rumbled, he sends their hitman, Mr Phipps, to kill Severin and get those books back.
For a simple man, Severin has a complicated life. He’s developed a sudden and wild passion for Lottie – aka ‘chaos on two legs’. Who is in love with Patrick, the next hot young black actor. Who is obsessed by Sonya, a gorgeous Russian escort. Who has one night to make the final money she needs for her daughter’s cancer operation. With MI6 onto them, and the books missing, the Shadows panic. And a day that begins with a hit in Finchley ends in violence and betrayal on the steamy night streets of Portobello.
ONE LONDON DAY is a daisy chain tale of characters and connections, a contemporary London Noir. Like that genre’s 40’s origins, this story has its hood, its moll, its femme fatale, its fancy boy. Everyone is both protagonist and antagonist. No one gets out unharmed – and some don’t get out at all.
The Review
A masterfully crafted narrative, the author has executed a shocking and engaging thriller. Each chapter does an excellent job of drawing the reader further and further into this modern-day noir, even shocking readers with the fate of one of the characters in the first chapter. The reader never knows what outcome will befall the characters as the story progresses, and the mystery of it all is what keeps readers engaged.
The best aspect of this narrative is actually twofold: the character growth and the setting. Getting to explore a modern-day London and the cultural melting pot the city is known for made for a fun setting, while the twists and turns the narrative took to connect each character made this a really exciting thriller. The pacing set the entire book into place, starting big with the first chapter before settling into a slow and entertaining back and forth between character growth and character interaction.
The Verdict
An exciting, mesmerizing, and enticing adult noir thriller like no other, author C.C. Humphreys’s “One London Day” is a must-read of 2021. The narrative instantly draws the reader in and the balance of character growth with an inviting setting leads to a shocking finale as the story comes to a close. If you haven’t yet, be sure to grab your copy today!
Rating: 10/10
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About the Author
Chris (C.C.) Humphreys was born in Toronto, lived till he was seven in Los Angeles, then grew up in the UK. All four grandparents were actors, and since his father was an actor as well, it was inevitable he would follow the bloodline.
Chris (C.C.) Humphreys has played Hamlet in Calgary, a gladiator in Tunisia, waltzed in London’s West End, conned the landlord of the Rovers Return in Coronation Street, commanded a starfleet in Andromeda, voiced Salem the cat in the original Sabrina, and is a dead immortal in Highlander. He has written eleven adult novels including The French Executioner, runner-up for the CWA Steel Dagger for Thrillers; Chasing the Wind; The Jack Absolute Trilogy; Vlad – The Last Confession; A Place Called Armageddon and Shakespeare’s Rebel – which he adapted into a play and which premiered at Bard on the Beach, Vancouver, in 2015. Plague won the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Novel in Canada in 2015. He has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia. He is now writing epic fantasy with the Immortals’ Blood Trilogy, for Gollancz. The first book, Smoke in the Glass was published in 2019 and The Coming of the Dark is, well, coming, Summer 2020. He is also publishing his other new fantasy series, The Tapestry Trilogy, beginning in August 2020 with ‘The Hunt of the Unicorn’.
Several of his novels are available as Audiobooks – read by himself! Find him here:
He is translated into thirteen languages. In 2015 he earned his Masters in Fine Arts (Creative Writing) from the University of British Columbia.
Chris now lives on Salt Spring Island, BC, Canada, with Dickon the cat (who keeps making it into his books!)
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.
Author and the Ambassador of Joy, Barry Shore, reaches out to readers to combat the threat of stress by focusing on practices to bring joy into our lives in the book, “The Joy of Living”.
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The Synopsis
The JOY of LIVING (™) is Your passport to being Healthier and Wealthier. Barry Shore, the Ambassador of JOY, reveals the 11 Strategies that You can use to slay stress and be happy….no matter the circumstance. Imagine standing up in the morning fully healthy and in the hospital that evening completely paralyzed; and not from a car accident or a spinal injury, but a rare disease. You’ll join the journey as Barry moves from paralysis to now swimming 2 miles per day, 6 days a week. All with a SMILE. You’ll use these Strategies and transform Your world.
The Review
This is the perfect read for those who are looking for ways to really participate and educate yourselves for Mental Health Awareness Month. I’ve personally covered many topics within the field of mental health from myself and other writers here on my website, as mental health awareness is a very important cause to my heart. Whether people realize it or not, stress itself can be a critical factor in one’s own mental health.
The author’s work here is quite amazing for such a short read, yet the words spoken within are quite powerful. As someone who lives every day with several physical limitations and health problems, it was an instant connection to the author’s own story. The first chapter hits readers instantly with the knowledge of the author’s own struggles in life, and gives the lessons shown to the readers here in this book a sense of authenticity and experience that will allow readers to feel comfortable taking in this knowledge for themselves.
The author expertly divides this book up into parts. First he takes the time to identify STRESS and the root causes often associated with stress, followed by the notion of how finding joy can physically and mentally combat stress and its affects on the body. Finally the rest of the book takes the time to establish steps and practices readers can take for themselves to implement joy into their lives, making for quite an informative and practical guide to happiness.
The Verdict
Well-written, passionate and mentally refreshing, author Barry Shore’s “The Joy of Living” is a must-read non-fiction read on mental health. The author’s vulnerability in telling his own personal story and using this to not only find his own happiness to combat the stress, but showing readers how to do this for themselves, was a refreshing change from the self-help books typically seen on shelves. If you haven’t yet, be sure to grab your copy today!
Rating: 10/10
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About the Author
Known as the “Ambassador of JOY,” Barry Shore is a mental health activist, philanthropist, multi-patent holding entrepreneur, speaker, author, podcaster, and former quadriplegic. After a rare disease paralyzed Shore from the neck down, he created the JOY of LIVING Institute™ (a platform that teaches people to live in joy, no matter the situation), Keep Smiling (a movement that has reached multiple celebrities and distributed millions of “Keep Smiling” cards worldwide), and Changebowl (a philanthropic platform featured in Oprah Magazine.) Barry’s podcast, The JOY of LIVING, is heard globally by hundreds of thousands and has over two million downloads.
Barry’s latest book, “The JOY of Living: How to Slay Stress and Be Happy” is available on Amazon and Apple Books. For more information, check out Barry’s website and follow him @barryeshore on Facebook, or Instagram.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.
Two teens find themselves caught in a war between two orders for control of not only their world, but the world of the dead as well in author Jo Zaida’s “Misfit”, the first book in THE ASURA CHRONICLES series.
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The Synopsis
Two clashing orders battle for power over their world and the realm of the dead, using teenagers as their pawns. The teenagers, however, have other ideas.
In the New World, Elle is visited by a ghost from the Asura, a realm existing between the mortals and the Gods. The Asura challenges everything she thought she knew about herself, her family and the Ministry that controls them, and throws her into an adventure of chaos and discovery.
River, meanwhile, has been welcomed into a secret organization with tantalizing promises of a better future. But not everything is as it seems. His loyalty to his father is challenged as he gets pushed into a strategic engagement with a girl he does not like, and starts to discover more about the Alliance’s darker schemes.
Worlds collide for young adult readers who will love the fast-paced thrills, the chemistry between characters, and the interplay of dystopian fantasy and science fiction, self-discovery and friendship in Misfit, book one of The Asura Chronicles trilogy.
It is a perfect cross-market read for fans of Hunger Games and Harry Potter, both young adult and adult readers who are searching for the next enduring sci-fi/fantasy classic.
The Review
A fantastic exploration of a futuristic society that has blended technology with the spiritual realm, the author has expertly layered this YA narrative with elements of politics, themes of morality, and the complex relationships we form with our families. The author does a wonderful job of exploring each faction introduced in the world of this novel, both the good and the bad, and highlights how no one side is ever truly “right” and the other “wrong”. Instead those in power, no matter what side they choose, deserve to be challenged and held accountable when situations arise.
The world-building in this novel was incredible. Richly layered throughout the novel, the author crafts an impressive story of those who pass on from the world and the few who manage to ascend, in essence, into a state of higher spiritual existence. On top of the secret societies and shady government operations hoping to take control of these beings, the author also creates complex and interesting characters that are multi-dimensional. The hardships and struggles these teens have not only with these factions fighting for control but with their own family lives make this story shine brightly, and also showcases that both politics and family are rife with secrets and lies that have the power to change things forever.
The Verdict
An engaging, entertaining, and beautifully written narrative, author Jo Zaida’s “Misfit” is a fantastic YA sci-fi and dystopian fantasy read. The first in what proves to be an exciting and much-needed new YA series, the book expertly wades into some complex themes that deserve to challenge YA readers everywhere and highlights how young people are just as powerful and needed in the evolution of a nation or faction as anyone else. If you haven’t yet, be sure to grab this amazing read for yourselves today!
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About the Author
People say that authors write themselves into their characters. But I am not Elle.
Does the way the world works frustrate me? It does. Am I stubborn and rebellious? Sometimes. I hope I’m a little less moody…
Like Elle, I love traveling and adventure.
I also love books, cats, music and RuPaul’s Drag Race.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.
Author and Poet Kathy Davis shares a collection of poetry that highlights life’s everyday struggles and some of life’s toughest battles in her poetry collection, “Passiflora”.
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The Synopsis
Passiflora is a collection of poems about our day-to-day struggles with loss, raising children, relationships, aging and creating art, and how the nature that surrounds us informs how we view these challenges and sometimes serves as a source of solace.
The Review
A beautifully written and emotional narrative unfolds across this amazing collection. The author has a wonderful way of marrying the imagery of nature with the emotional core of life and the events that often define us. From the book’s very first poems, readers are treated to a unique perspective on life in general, comparing the care for a garden to the care one must show for ourselves physically and mentally, not leaving grief or sorrow to fester or grow on its own in the poem HOW TO GROW WILD.
The author manages to pack a lot of heart and soul into a short read. Readers can truly feel the passion radiating off of the page, exploring the simplest to the most complex and emotionally-driven events life has to offer us all. The author’s words are layered and do a great job of getting the reader to read and re-read the book over and over again to gain new insight into what each poem is bringing forth to the reader’s mind.
The Verdict
A masterful, artful, and mesmerizing book of poetry, author and Poet Kathy Davis’s “Passiflora” is a must-read. A truly heartfelt and emotional journey that readers won’t want to put down, be sure to grab your copies today!
Rating: 10/10
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About the Author
Kathy Davis is a poet and nonfiction writer who received her MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University. Her poetry manuscript, Passiflora, won the 2019 Cider Press Review Book Award and was released in February 2021. She is also the author of the chapbook Holding for the Farrier(Finishing Line Press). Her work has appeared in Alaska Quarterly Review, Barrow Street, Blackbird, Diode, The Hudson Review, Nashville Review, Oxford American, The Southern Review, story South and other journals. She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and been a finalist for Best of the Net and the Conger Beasley Jr. Award for Nonfiction. After raising their two boys, she and her husband moved to an old farmhouse outside of Richmond, Va., where she tends a wildflower meadow when not writing.
