Book Review J.R Silver Writes the World

 

J.R. Silver Writes Her World

by Melissa Dassori

Pub Date 19 Jul 2022 

 Little, Brown Books for Young Readers,  Christy Ottaviano Books

 Children's Fiction 

I am reviewing a copy of JR Silver Writes Her World by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers,  Christy Ottaviano Books and Netgalley:

What if you us the ability to write your dreams into reality with only the stroke of a pen?

Josephine Rose Silver is having a difficult start to sixth grade.  Her best friend Violet returns from camp with her new best friend, her parents will not give her any more freedom, and her homeroom teacher, Ms. Kline, is full of secrets.  

After Mrs Kline unveils a collection of old Gothamite magazines and tells her students to build their writing skills by crafting short stories inspired by the iconic covers, J.R. discovers a peculiar power: The Stories Josephine  write.  Soon J.R gets a cell phone , scoring game-winning goals, and triggering school cancellations.  But it's not long before she realizes that each new story creates as many conflicts as it does solutions. And when J.R. tries to write about her fallout with Violet, all of her problems converge.

If you have a middle grade reader who likes magic, mystery and a little art history, I’d highly recommend J.R Silver Writes the World!

Five out of five stars!

Happy Reading!

Book Review: The Shell and the Octopus

 

The Shell and the Octopus

A Memoir

by Rebecca Stirling

Pub Date 26 Jul 2022

 She Writes Press 

 Biographies & Memoirs  |  Outdoors & Nature 

I am reviewing a copy of The Shell and The Octopus through She Writes Press and Netgalley:

Rebecca Stirling had what was far from a traditional upbringing.  She was raised by the sea, by men and by literature.  She circumvented the world on a thirty four foot sailboat, the Stirlings spend weeks at a time on the open ocean, surviving storms and visiting uncharted islands and villages. Ushered through her young life by a father who loves adventure, women, and extremes, Rebecca befriends “working girls” in the ports they visit (as they are often the only other females present in the bars that they end up in) and, on the boat, falls in love with her crewmate and learns to live like the men around her. 

Having a driven nature and reading about successful women in the books she reads makes Rebecca determined to be a lady, continue her education, begin a career, live in a real home, and begin a family of her own.  When Rebecca finally gets away from the boat and her dad and sets to work upon making her own dream a reality, however, Rebecca begins to realize life is not what she thought it would be and when her father dies in a tragic accident, she must return to her old life to sift through the mess and magic he has left behind.

I give The Shell and the Octopus five out of five stars!  

Happy Reading!

Book Review: Inventing the It Girl

 

Inventing the It Girl

How Elinor Glyn Created the Modern Romance and Conquered Early Hollywood

by Hilary A. Hallett

Pub Date 26 Jul 2022 |

 W. W. Norton & Company,  Liveright

 Biographies & Memoirs  |  Nonfiction (Adult)

I am reviewing a copy of Inventing the It Girl through W.W. Norton, Liverlight and Netgalley:

Hilary A. Hallet turns the modern day novel into a subject of serious study, in this biography of pioneering celebrity author Elinor Glyn.

In 1907 Elinor Gwynn a society darling shocked her English Peers with the publication of Three Weeks an intensely erotic novel that launched her to international fame and infamy. Historian Hilary A. Hallett traces Glyn’s meteoric rise for the first time, beginning where most romance novels end: with her marriage into the English gentry class in 1892.

After her husband Clayton gambled their fortune away Glyn boldly became the first commercially successful writer to challenge the sexually straightjacketed literary code. As she churned out novels, she consorted with world leaders from St. Petersburg to Paris to Cairo before movie producers lured her to California in 1920. There, Glyn crafted the romantic aesthetic of Hollywood’s golden Silent Age, coining the term “- a quality of magnetism she projected onto actresses like Clara Bow.  Deep archival research, has allowed Hallett presents Glyn as an icon of sexual and professional independence who would encourage new generations to chase their own desires wherever they led.

I give Inventing the It Girl four out of five stars!

Happy Reading!

Book Review: Inkslinger 2 Planning Your Amazing Book

 

Inkslinger 2

Planning Your Amazing Book!

by Finnian Burnett and Kimberly Cooper Griffin

Pub Date 15 Feb 2022 

 Night River Press,  Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members' Titles

 Nonfiction (Adult)  |  Professional & Technical  |  Reference 

I am reviewing a copy of Inkslinger 2 Planning Your Amazing Book, through Night River Press and NetGalley:

Inkslinger 2 Planning Your Amazing Books  takes the planning topics summarized in Inkslinger-99-Day Guided Writing Experience and expand on them. We dive deeper into the plotting and preparation required to craft a truly excellent book. We try not to put you to sleep with history or the boring details you get in classes; we provide practical knowledge to give you the confidence to write the book you've been wanting to write.

In Inkslinger 2 the authors teach you how to plan your book so that when you sit down to write it, you know exactly what you need to do to craft your story.

I give Inkslinger 2 4 out of five stars!

Happy Reading 

Book Review: When the Day Comes

 

 When the Day Comes

by Gabrielle Meyer

Pub Date 03 May 2022 | Archive Date 10 Jun 2022

 Bethany House,  Bethany House Publishers

 Christian  |  Historical Fiction 

I am reviewing a copy of When the Day Comes through Bethany House and Netgalley:

If you’re looking for a novel that moves seamlessly through two separate time lines, I highly recommend When the Day Comes Through!

Libby has been given the gift to live I two different times, one in 1774 Colonial Williamsburg and the other in 1914 Gilded Age New York City. When she falls asleep in one life, she wakes up in the other. While she's the same person at her core in both times, she's leading two vastly different lives.

While she is in Colonial Williamsburg, Libby is a public printer for the House of Burgesses and the Royal Governor, trying to provide for her family and support the Patriot cause. The man she loves, Henry Montgomery, has his own secrets. As the revolution draws near, both their lives and any hope of love--are put in jeopardy.

In 1914 Libby’s life is full wealth, drawing room conversations, and bachelors. But the only work she cares about women's suffrage--is discouraged, and her mother is intent on marrying her off to an English marquess. The growing talk of war in Europe only complicates matters.

Libby knows she's not destined to live two lives forever. On her twenty-first birthday, she must choose one path and forfeit the other but how can she choose when she has so much to lose in each life?

I give When the Day Comes five out of five stars!

Happy Reading!

Book Review: How to Live With You

 

How to Live Without You

by Sarah Everett

Pub Date 17 May 2022 

 Clarion Books (formerly HMH Children's Books),  Clarion Books

 Teens & YA 

I am reviewing a copy of How to Live Without You Through Clarion Books and Netgalley:

Seventeen-year-old Emmy returns home for the summer to uncover the truth behind her sister Rose’s disappearance only to learn that Rose had many secrets, ones that have Emmy questioning herself and the sister Emmy thought she knew.

After her sister Rose disappeared Emmy finds is a string of secrets and lies that she never thought possible, casting the person she thought she knew best in a whole new light. Reeling with confusion, Emmy decides to step into Rose’s life. She reconnects with their childhood best friend and follows in Rose’s last known footsteps with heart wrenching consequences.

How to Live Without You offers the readers a powerful and intimate look at sisterhood, as well as the darker side of growing up!

Five out of five stars!

Happy Reading!

Book Review: Shout for Joy

 

 Shout for Joy!

Psalm 100 Illustrated by Jan Spivey Gilchrist

by Jan Spivey Gilchrist

Pub Date 03 May 2022 

 Our Daily Bread Publishing 

Children's Nonfiction  |  Christian  |  Multicultural Interest 

I am reviewing a copy of Shout for Joy through Our Daily Bread Publishing and Netgalley:

Shout for Joy is a beautiful paraphrased retelling of Psalm 100, beautifully illustrated the story is told in a way that will engage even the younger children.

Shout for Joy will allow children to learn to trust God and sing His praises in this original paraphrase of Psalm 100 featuring captivating illustrations from Jan Spivey Gilchrist.

Children will be able share the emotions of the people as they rise to start their day, gather with others in church, or simply lift their hands in worship. This third book in the Be Still and Know Stories series is enjoyable for both child and adult to read together to remember God's love and faithfulness.

I would Recommend Shout for Joy to Parents and Sunday School teachers a like.

Five out of five stars!

Happy Reading!

Book Review: Called to Testify

 

Called to Testify

The Big Story in My Small Life

by Judith Kalman

Pub Date 17 May 2022 | Archive Date 30 Jun 2022

 Sutherland House 

 Biographies & Memoirs  |  Nonfiction (Adult)  |  Religion & Spirituality

How is it that a secular non practicing Jew who has lived most of her life outside the Jewish community suddenly find herself in the front rows of a Nazi war crimes tribunal?

In 2015 award winning author Judith Kalman was invited to Lüneburg to testify at the trial of Oskar Gröning, accused of facilitating 300,000 murders at Auschwitz. She appeared on behalf of a relative she had never met, a child of her father’s first marriage, who died in the camp.

Kalman found herself in the unaccustomed company of survivors who had built their identities and missions out of Holocaust remembrance, but were also grappling with profound questions of loss, guilt, and restitution.

Revisiting her parents’ tragic past, she saw how it had confounded her own sense of who she wanted to be: “Broken friendships, missed expectations, difficult family relationships, and a problematic marriage were all forged in the heritage of loss.”

Called to Jesus is a beautiful and heartfelt memoir thoughtful memoir about the meaning of life in the wake of traumatic events, coming to terms with your identity, and understanding the magnitude of what can never be restored.

If you’re looking for a heartfelt memoir about one women coming to terms with her parents tragic past, I highly recommend Called To Testify.

Five out of five stars!

Happy Reading!

Book Review: City of the Dead

 

City of the Dead

An Alex Delaware Novel

by Jonathan Kellerman

Pub Date 08 Feb 2022 

 Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine,  Ballantine Books

 General Fiction (Adult)  |  Mystery & Thriller

I am reviewing a copy of City of the Dead through Random House Publishing Group, Ballantine and Netgalley:

The city of Los Angeles is a city of sunlight, celebrity, and possibility.  But the L.A that is often experienced by by Homicide Lt. Detective Milo Sturgis and psychologist Alex Delaware, is a city of the dead.

One morning, while it’s still early the two of them find themselves in a neighborhood of pretty houses, pretty cars, and pretty people. The scene they encounter is anything but.  A naked young man lies dead in the street, the apparent victim of a collision with a moving van hurtling through suburbia in the darkness. But any thoughts of accidental death vanish when a blood trail leads to a nearby home.

Inside the home, a young woman lies dead, butchered.   The identity of the male victim and his role in the horror remain elusive, but that of the woman creates additional questions. And adding to the shock, Alex has met her while working a convoluted child custody case.  Cordelia Gannett was a self-styled internet influencer who’d gotten into legal troubles by palming herself off as a psychologist. Even after promising to desist, she’s found a loophole and has continued her online career, aiming to amass clicks and ads by cyber-coaching and cyber-counseling people plagued with relationship issues.

When they examine closely, Alex and Milo learn that her own relationships are troublesome, including a tortured family history and a dubious personal past. Has that come back to haunt her in the worst way? Is the mystery man out in the street collateral damage or will he turn out to be the key to solving a grisly double homicide?

If you’re looking for a book that’s full of Mystery, then you can’t go wrong with Jonathan Kellerman’s City of Dead.

Five out of five stars!

Happy Reading!

Book Review: The New Neighbour

 

The New Neighbour

by Miranda Rijks

Narrated by Danielle Cohen; Chris Devon

Pub Date 30 Jun 2022 

 Dreamscape Media 

 Mystery & Thrillers 

I am reviewing a copy of The New Neighbor through Dreamscape Media and Netgalley:

Isobel has always loved The Close. A quiet road of large houses tucked away in the beautiful English countryside, that is until recently.  It had always seemed like the perfect place to live. But after a young man was killed in a mysterious hit-and-run incident, six months ago,  and no one was charged despite the police investigation a bad feeling was left in the community, a feeling thar someone knew more than they were saying.

After new neighbor Linette arrives, Isobel thinks it’s the perfect chance to make a fresh start, to repair relationships, and rebuild her community. But someone else has a very different plan, and bad things start to happen.

After there’s another death Isobel realizes her home, her marriage, and her family are all in terrible danger. She is certain that what’s happening is connected to the hit and run. But how are they connected?  What really happened on the night of the fatal accident? And above all, who is Linette, and what does she really want?

I give The New Neighbour five out of five stars!

Happy Reading!

Book Review: Awake

 

Awake

Paying Attention to What Matters Most in a World That's Pulling You Apart

by Anjuli Paschall

Pub Date 05 Apr 2022 |

 Bethany House,  Bethany House Publishers

 Christian 

I am reviewing a copy of Awake through Bethany House Publishing and Netgalley:

What if there is more to Life than What You're Living?

You’ve likely felt the underlying anxiety that you're missing out on the good life. So you zone out, swipe up, slim down, work hard, and spin in circles trying to get it. 

Anjuli Paschall  has a term for this, she calls it Carpe Diem Syndrome, which is the fear of not living life to the fullest.

The full life isn’t found by chasing it though, but by coming awake to if, Anjuli points out.

she puts it: "I want to be awake. I don't want to nervously navigate my life one to-do list, email, and espresso shot at a time. When my life comes to a slow halt, I want to know I savored the small moments and watched the sky change color. I want to know I didn't rush through life but received it. I want to know I came to peace with my weaknesses, loved people fearlessly, and walked with God faithfully. I hope I gave in to the audacious belief that I was loved and, miraculously, even liked."

Anjuli has one cast a compelling vision for you, to live a soul-awake life too. 

The invitation might be as gentle as a song--or as abrupt as a rooster's crow--but God is always waking you up. You can have the life you really want, and you don't have to lose your soul trying to get it.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Full life is right here.

I give Awake five out of five stars!

Happy Reading!