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Beautiful Dangerous: Philly Heat Series
Becky Flade
In this suspenseful romantic thriller, the fourth in Flade’s Philly Heat series, public defender Hannah Patel's life is being threatened by a devious stalker. Assigned to watch over her and investigate her case, Detective Doyle Murphy feels in his gut the stalker won’t stop until Hannah is dead. Complicating the case, though, is how his life becomes entangled with Hannah's professionally and personally, especially as romance buds in the midst of attacks on Hannah and those closest to her—and as Doyle remains convinced the stalker must be “a serpent hiding in plain sight.” Watching and plotting his next move, that culprit becomes even more obsessed and enraged the closer Hannah and Doyle get to one another, putting both of their lives in jeopardy.

Flade has written an entertaining thrill ride of a story filled with twists, turns and romance. Beautiful Dangerous proves to be a page-turner from the opening chapter. As Hannah endures grief from the death of her brother, Doyle makes startling discoveries that could connect that death and Hannah's current predicament. Hannah proves a strong protagonist, as, facing pressures from work and the stress of keeping her family out of the loop and safe, she still is determined to help Doyle bring her stalker to justice. The burgeoning connection between Hannah and Doyle, meanwhile, is touchingly developed in moments like Doyle talking her through a panic attack with patience and empathy.

Flade deftly sows reasons for readers to feel that everyone Hannah knows is a potential suspect, and the final revelations prove jolting. She also blends the sweetness of a new romance with the death, violence, and tension of a thriller, with welcome attention paid to Hannah’s trauma and healing. With a smart, quick witted protagonist, and a strong, emotionally intelligent love interest, Beautiful Dangerous will grip fans of fast-paced suspense novels with themes of romance, mystery, and murder.

Takeaway: A scary-good romantic thriller where no one is to be trusted.

Comparable Titles: Julia Heaberlin's Black-eyed Susans, Lisa Lutz's The Passenger.

Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A-
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

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Flight of the Monarchs
M.H. Reardon
Reardon’s intimate yet sweeping debut captures a moment, a milieu, and an ethos of change, as the class of 1964 in California’s Pacific Grove— a “Norman damned Rockwell”-looking place near Monterey”—faces the stripping away of the veneers of American life. It’s 1967, and the Pacific Grove cohort of Celia, now a college student, are jolted by the return of Jeremy, Celia’s one-time best friend, the boy notorious for killing, at age 11, his own abusive father. Traumatized Jeremy is in town to fix up and sell his dad’s house, securing a windfall for his mother before he enlists and heads to Vietnam, where he fully expects to die. But he might have found something to live for, as he and Celia enter a tense almost-romance.

Meanwhile, with friends Moose, Fletcher, Angie, and more, the pair get caught in the changing times, which Reardon captures with vivid detail and contextual precision, demonstrating that everyone knew what a big deal it was to go to the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival—but also why most of the cast, worn out from their interpersonal drama, sits out days two and three. Experiments with drugs, a trip to San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury, and impassioned debates about feminism, the war, and more are convincing and exciting, though the novel’s heart is in its multiple POV characters’ struggles to connect with each other and to understand themselves.

Jeremy and Celia’s story is touching and often frustrating, in that real-life way, as Jeremy fights against lowering his walls even in the face of Celia’s campaign of sunbathing and lemonade-offering. But perhaps this quite long novel’s most moving passages concern Fletcher, Celia’s current bestie, a young man who knows he’s gay, even though Celia can’t quite admit it. Reardon’s handling of Fletcher’s self discovery, and eventual liberation in San Francisco, is deft, right down to the embarrassed confusion, on all sides, when his friends spot him kissing another man. An accomplished, humane, engaging novel.

Takeaway: Humane, engaging novel of coming-of-age in the summer of love.

Comparable Titles: David T. Iassak’s A Map of the Edge, Emma Cline’s The Girls.

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

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Yours, Mine & Ours
L. Paul Hood, Jr.
In this illuminating self-help guide, Hood performs the welcome service of explaining estate planning specifically for blended families. “The bottom line,” Hood writes, is that “estate planning for blended-family couples can be very tricky and certainly not for the faint of heart.” Hood demonstrates the truth of that, and offers much hard-won practical advice to demystify the process and make everything easier. Drawing on her professional experiences and a range of case studies, Hood examines dynamics and scenarios specific to her subject, sharing examples of properly handling the business of bequeathing assets and property to loved ones—and acing the legal niceties. Filled with definitions, documents, and action steps to successfully execute an estate plan, Yours, Mine, & Ours is a comprehensive reference guide that fills a hole in the marketplace.

Laid out in three parts, Hood’s guide focuses on the basics of estate planning, planning issues that could impact families, and Hood's personal experience in the field. That experience shines as Hood includes a wealth of fresh information, such as “Questions a Client May Secretly Have during an Initial Interview with an Estate Planner,” checklists covering information the estate planner may ask for and identifying your goals, and pragmatic actions. Hood acknowledges that the process can be frightening and at times overwhelming, but throughout offers both the tools and encouragement to help readers see the task through. An emphasis on the “bricks and mortars” of the job is a strong reminder that estate planning means building something to last.

The result is an effective, highly targeted guidebook written with inviting clarity, directing readers’ attention to complex issues and complex situations. From steps on finding an estate planner, to keeping the plan current, to an examination of why many estate plans fail, Hood offers intricate but never overwhelming detail on how to ensure a legally binding estate plan is executed and that the benefactors’ wishes are realized.

Takeaway: Thorough, inviting guide to estate planning for blended families.

Comparable Titles: Richard J. Shapiro's Secure Your Legacy, James L. Cunningham, Jr.'s Savvy Estate Planning.

Production grades
Cover: B
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

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Winter Storm Eudora (Eudora Space Kid Book 5)
David Horn
The year is 4022, and third-grader Eudora Jenkins returns for the latest in Horn’s Eudora Space Kid series (after The Greatest Matchmaker in Space!) As always, Eudora—whose dream is to be the chief engineer of her spaceship home, the Athena—is full of mischief, and this time she’s taking on the fundamentals of math. When Eudora informs her teacher, Miss Allison, that she’s recalculated the value of pi, Miss Allison is understandably shocked, and Eudora’s revelation triggers an upheaval onboard. Soon, to stay true to Eudora’s new calculations, all the circles on the ship are changed into “squashed ovals,” a shift that causes quite the ruckus.

Once again, Horn’s descriptions of life in space steal the show. As Eudora muses on how the ship’s recreational activities are changed by her discovery—soccer, that “ancient Earth game with polkadot balls” is fun, but the players are being injured by the new oval-shaped balls—she vows to distract her friends and family from their problems. Her newest bigger-than-life idea is to engineer a snow day for the ship, by breaking into the weatherman’s computer and adjusting his forecast to predict an incoming storm. Obviously, that news throws the ship into chaos, especially when the model malfunctions and forecasts up to 150 feet of snow in one day.

Of course, Eudora ultimately jumps in to clean up her mess and learns some valuable lessons in the process, including how playing tricks on others can have unintended consequences—and why the value of pi should probably be left alone. Tondora delights with entertaining black and white illustrations that showcase Eudora’s side-splitting exploits, and Horn includes a tutorial on measuring pi in the backmatter. To top off all the fun, Eudora lands a job as the ship’s “official backup weather kid” in the end, a pretty good feat for the galaxy’s most audacious space kid.

Takeaway: Intergalactic adventure that pairs inventive fun with important life lessons.

Comparable Titles: J.I. Wagner’s Legacy of the Inventor, Stuart Gibbs’s Spy Camp.

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

Blind Trust: A Tess Barrett Thriller (Tess Barrett Thriller Series Book 3)
Michael W Sherer
The chaotic life of the high school senior Tess Barrett is turned upside down again in this fast-paced, page-turning thriller, the third installment of Sherer’s series. On the night of the homecoming dance, Tess faces a surprise attempt on her life, hitching up her dress and bringing down a hitman with a “perfectly executed spinning leg sweep.” Ever since the accident that killed her parents and took her eyesight, Tess has struggled to get back to normal, but now with students blaming her for intrusive security at school, plus a leaked video that seems to show her in a compromising situation, getting her life back on track isn’t enough. She has to discover who is trying to kill her.

Dealing with the cheer squad and squads of killers, horndog teachers, and shady oligarchs, Blind Trust offers a wild ride of high-stakes and twists and turns, the thrills and intrigue stretching from the tech world to Washington D.C., but always juxtaposed against the everyday frustrations of high school. Tess is constantly thrown into precarious situations as she elects to crack the case herself, but she’s surrounded by a colorful cast, from her seeing-eye assistant—whose attempt to score a kiss upsets Tess almost as much as the botched hit—to an eccentric top-notch hacker. Sherer ramps up the tension by making it clear Tess can’t trust many people now that she stands as sole heir to her father's fortune from his company, MondoHard.

The sharp-tongued protagonist is the star, continually trying to work out who is trying to take her life and who merely wants to ruin it in that high-school way, but well-rounded and diverse characters and narrators flesh out the story, often amusingly. Fans of action-packed thrillers with an ensemble cast—and thoughtful handling of physical and mental differences—and jolts of lively humor will race through this entry to its satisfying conclusion.

Takeaway: Fast-paced thriller pitting a blind high school senior against surprising enemies.

Comparable Titles: T.R. Ragan's Abducted, Stephanie Plum's One for the Money.

Production grades
Cover: B
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

THAT YOU REMEMBER
Isabel Reddy
Centered on the vividly evoked hollows and pitmouths of Appalachian mining country in 1970, Reddy’s accomplished debut deftly blends past and present, romance and tragedy, social realism and self exploration, along with a present-day woman’s search to better understand her coal executive father—and the workings of her own heart. Aleena Rowan in 2019 discovers a surprising name—“Sara”—written three times in a row in a 1970 desk diary of her late father, Frank Rowan, once the president of Rowan Coal. Facing the end of her own marriage, Aleena becomes fascinated by her father’s relationship with then Sara, and Reddy quickly spirits readers to Otter Creek Holler and the life of Sara Stone and her miner family. Sara encounters young Frank, whose company recently purchased the local mine, and despite the spark between them, she warns him to pretend not to know her—her brothers would object to an “operator” romancing her.

Looming over this all is a sort of dam of Damocles. The local dam is fractured, and plans to strip mine the area could flood local homes, a horrific eventuality that, in the novel’s present, Aleena discovers soon came to pass. The outline of Reddy’s story is simple, but its scenes are alive with telling detail—Kettlebottom, bug dust, and tipples—and engaging everyday conversation that brings to life a place, a time, and its people without sacrificing narrative momentum. The romance is subdued but finds Sara drawing fascinating contrasts between Frank, a New Yorker, and the men from her world, whom Reddy develops with verve and sensitivity.

Scenes set in the present move swiftly, and Reddy deftly builds suspense from what Aleena discovers about the flood, but readers likely will find themselves racing through Aleena’s chapters to get back to Frank, Sara, and the urgent feeling of living with the possibility of disaster. “Always kiss a miner goodbye,” several characters say, a burst of heartbreaking, hard-won wisdom that exemplifies this story of love and loss.

Takeaway: Powerful novel of love, loss, and legacy in Appalachian coal country.

Comparable Titles: Ann Pancake’s Strange as This Weather Has Been, Silas House.

Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

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LAST DREAM STANDING: A Welsh mining family finds its heart in WWI.
Jill P. Anderson
This sweeping yet intimate historical novel from Anderson (author of Running from Moloka'i) charts hardship and dreams of escape in the life of the Ross family, starting in 1905 in Wales. Anderson tells the story primarily through the eyes and experiences of their oldest child, Stefan. A natural artist, he must deal with the cruelty of his mine-worker father, Garth, who crumples or otherwise destroys Stefan’s drawings, seemingly convinced that Stefan’s interest make him soft and unfit for life in the mine. Wife and mother Beca encourages Stefan’s creative side despite setbacks, while using what power she has to temper Garth’s cruelty. When second son Howie is born with a birth defect, Garth’s pride is damaged beyond repair and he swears his family to secrecy—Howie’s existence can never be divulged if he is to stay with his mother and brother.

This establishes a tense, wrenching situation for both brothers. Stefan does what he can to bring joy and education to his little brother but as Howie grows in the attic, effectively imprisoned, keeping the secret becomes almost impossible. Meanwhile, Anderson captures the desperation and determination Howie feels to experience the wonders of the world he has only seen through his small window. That coal-country world that readers experience, meanwhile, is brought to life with telling detail and evocative prose: Beca reflects on how Garth, when courting her, “respectfully shook the coal dust off his hat when he came to the house,” while after a rain "the wet choppy silver of the river was moving fast.”

That detail and the depth of character comes at the cost of narrative momentum, though the story of this lengthy novel proves rewarding. It’s told with rare empathy, even for Garth, whom Anderson refuses to present as a simple monster. Instead, she writes of an artist’s soul, of a boy “with eyes for the world but tethered apart from it,” of the way that war changes everything, and the ever-pressing question of what it takes to demand more from life than your family conceives is right.

Takeaway: Empathetic historical epic of a Welsh mining family whose sons dream of more.

Comparable Titles: Ellen Marie Wiseman’s Coal River, Jo Browning Wroe’s A Terrible Kindness.

Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

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Three & Me: Three Actresses Made the Difference
Sue Lika Dotan
This warm, spirited, continually surprising memoir, Dotan’s debut, surveys with humor and quick-moving storytelling a life boldly lived, despite health crises, occasional tragedy, youthful insecurity, and the complex generational cycles of anger and bitterness that shaped her upbringing—cycles she strove to break when she and her husband adopted a child. The book’s heart, though, is in the trio of intimate friendships suggested by the title, with actresses Jill Ireland, Theresa Saldana, and Heather Menzies Urich, extraordinary women with whom Dotan shared wisdom, laughter, misadventures, and deeply supportive connections in the face of life’s most wrenching passages. This sprawling,loosely organized account also, like life itself, routinely upends expectations, as Dotan experiences events both horrific—a near kidnapping as a child; being chased on California freeways as an adult—and heartening, like winning bikini contests at 16 despite being considered a wallflower at her southern California high school, or finding lasting love during her summer in a kibbutz.

Dotan writes with vivid scenecraft and in-the-moment excitement, telling her story in a brisk, engaging series of incidents. Chance encounters with the famous and notorious (Buzz Aldrin, Stephen Stills, Jerry Rubin, more than one prince, and many more) are memorable and often funny, while Dotan often draws sharp insights from her anecdotes, such as how the “Los Angeles hierarchy … felt like the social structure of high school all over again.”

No sooner does she come to that conviction, though, than she’s befriended, at the Santa Monica stables where she trained horses, by Jill Ireland, who welcomes Dotan into her exciting life with husband Charles Bronson. Dotan’s accounts of their jokes, routines, and caring for each other, especially during Ireland’s cancer treatments, are both moving and, when appropriate, hysterical. (One revelation: Bronson’s love of Murder She Wrote.) This epic-length book lacks a strong narrative throughline, but it bursts with life and fascinating stories, including the tragedy of Dotan’s brother, of Saldana’s strength and resilience, and of Dotan’s late-in-life re-bonding with her father. The Billy Graham story is a knockout.

Takeaway: Touching account of a surprising life and inspiring friendships.

Comparable Titles: Jill Ireland’s Life Wish, Theresa Saldana’s Beyond Survival.

Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A

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SkyRacers
Matt Watters
Set in the Dream Phaze series, this standalone sci-fi racer from Watters (author of Germination, Imagination) tracks the course of two sisters torn apart by rivalry in the high-flying world of skyracing: Aleeza Martin, disciplined Division 1 racer and reigning SkyRace GP World Champion, and Olivia Martin, hard-partying rookie and Division 2 top-spotter. Both race for McRory Racing, but when one of rival team Lazzrini’s pilots is injured mid-season, Olivia is presented with the opportunity to join their Division 1 team. Desperate to advance her career, she accepts—and suddenly, all eyes are on the Martins, as the sibling teammates become embattled and embittered rivals.

When detailing the near-future world of SkyRacers, Watters is alive in his passions, creating a believable sport and its traditions from scratch, while always ensuring readers feel up to speed with what’s happening in the race for the championship. Passages detailing the global racing event—its construction, the technologies at play—demonstrate a clear enthusiasm and focus, and the racing itself is fleet, vivid, and exciting. Still, heavily expository prose means that the imaginative world is developed with greater power than the core drama. The breakneck pacing, both during races and outside them, finds characterization taking a back seat. The crisis in the Martins’ relationship—spurred by an airing of secret race recordings by Olivia—unfolds passively, as do several other key dramatic elements, leaving readers who favor character over tech and concept too little to cling to.

There is a living, vivid world full of excitement and drama lurking under the hood of SkyRacers, developed with care and convincing detail, plus compelling scenes of race action—including moments of great danger and surprise—that truly warrant the term “high-octane.” The prose is crisp, and the technology and racing points system are developed with extraordinary clarity and care, right down to charts of pilots’ official standings.

Takeaway: A dramatic, high-flying sci-fi racer with vivid, convincing worldbuilding.

Comparable Titles: Shey Stahl’s Racing on the Edge series, Matthew Reilly’s Hover Car Racer.

Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A

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Daughter of Korean Freud
Heawon Hake
In this shocking memoir, Hake, a psychotherapist, recounts decades of abuse and neglect, as well as the resilience that allowed her to push on and help others. Working with Woo-ri, a client who endures recurring nightmares that echo Hake’s own, stirs uncomfortable questions for Hake about facing her own past: “What did I need to learn about myself? Could either of us hope for a better future?” From early childhood in South Korea, Hake endured being neglected and unwanted, the younger child who could never live up to the shine on her favored, seemingly sociopathic brother. Hake’s self-important father was a prominent social worker who neglected his own children and seemingly ignored evidence of abuse in his own home, presumably because to acknowledge it would be to lose face. Her mother, meanwhile, seemingly devoted her life to making Hake miserable, sabotaging her first serious relationship and helping to cover up the brother’s constant, violent abuse.

Hake found escape in moving to the United States and embarking a professional career where she could do good, though as an adult, too, she survived unfulfilling and abusive relationships before finally deciding that she’s destined to be romantically alone so that she can better minister to those who are “lonely and broken.” Daughter of Korean Freud finds her facing, with clear eyes and unflinching prose, her own past, demonstrating the possibility of finding a path toward healing and purpose. The book is often harrowing, careening from vivid depictions of physical, sexual, and psychological abuse to powerful accounts of trauma and depression.

A few moments of warmth and connection lighten the darkness, primarily when Hake talks about her golden retrievers and, near the end of the book, the friends she makes in her neighborhood. Most touching, though, is her discovery of meaning in an existence that so often has been painful: the conviction that “I can weave in and out of people’s lives when they most need love.” This book and the example it sets are a potent part of that weaving, though readers sensitive to raw portrayals of abuse and trauma will find many passages a challenge to read.

Takeaway: Harrowing account of abuse, healing, and a life dedicated to helping others heal, too.

Comparable Titles: Catherine Gildiner’s Good Morning, Monster, Michele Harper’s The Beauty in Breaking.

Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

Click here for more about Daughter of Korean Freud
Please Write: A Novel in Letters
J. Wynn Rousuck
This charming epistolary pup novel, Rousuck’s debut, celebrates dogs as family, with an emphasis on their love and idiosyncrasies. The story centers on Winslow, a distinguished purebred Boston terrier, who lives a good life in Baltimore with his owners, Pamela and Frank. Winslow’s organized life is upended when Frank unexpectedly brings home a rescue dog found under a pretzel truck. Winslow types letters to Grandma Vivienne seeking comfort as he endures chases, destroyed toys, and stolen food from this mixed terrier puppy, ultimately named Zippy.

It’s heartwarming and humorous as the “pedagogically exasperated” Winslow shares his dilemma in his own formal style, penning elegant missives that are a “model of decorum”—especially contrasted with Zippy’s occasional stabs at writing, which read like “BBATHHHHHHHHH!@#$”. Grandma Vivienne, a human friend of Pamela’s mother, initiates letters to Zippy to help her learn the ropes of her new life. In turn, Winslow strives to teach Zippy how to type letters to Grandma Vivienne, and the first attempts are hysterically funny yet touching. The story is set in 1990, so the pen pals use typewriters. Readers who smile at the thought of paws striking the keys of such old-school tech will be onboard from the first missive.

Vivienne’s guidance to Zippy includes ways to get into Winslow’s good graces such as: “Keep in mind that he is a very formal dog (after all, as a Boston Terrier, he always wears a tuxedo).” Each writer has their own unique fonts and distinctive personalities in the letters which include some of Vivienne’s drawings. We witness the taste tests of Vivienne’s treats and Pamela’s mother’s triumph of publishing a cookbook. Along the way we see Frank’s struggle to attend sponsor meetings and other marital catastrophes. Through the dog’s eyes and their letters, we see their world filled with joys and sorrows, and gain a better understanding of humans and dogs’ need for each other.

Takeaway: Sweet, hilarious novel of dogs as pen pals, told in their surprising letters.

Comparable Titles: Ann M. Martin’s A Dog’s Life, W. Bruce Cameron’s A Dog’s Purpose.

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

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A Fate of Gods and Fire (Fates Divine: Book 2)
Shania Scichilone
“You’d be surprised what I would endure to ensure the safety of the world,” declares Shivalri, the young mortal now turned “Triple Goddess” at the heart of Scichilone’s cosmic-scaled, realms-crossing romantic fantasy. In the Forest of Lost Souls, deep in the Under Realm, Shivalri—or Shiv—is speaking to Ombrose, the nightmare-stirring son of a primordial god. This second entry, followingA Fate Of Smoke And Ash, kicks off with Shiv mysteriously liberated from the increasingly tender captivity of Pyre Malum, ruler of the Under Realm, but now holed up with Ombrose, Pyre’s cousin, and others of his blood. Ombrose and co. fear Pyre, and Shiv’s feelings for him are likewise tangled, and what she wants above all else is to get back to her prophetic mission: repairing the veils between worlds so that the legions of Hell don’t flood Earth.

But when Pyre storms back into her life, Shiv finds their connection deepening in ways she never expected, the relationship edging toward trust—and maybe even love. Scichilone’s sequel is even more epic than the first book, but also even more intimate, with the two main perspective characters—Shiv and her cousin Satyra—tour-guiding readers through dark caves, magic pools, secret libraries, and other richly imagined surprises. Satyra’s chapters take place on an Earth wracked with climate disasters connected to the rage of Shiv, whom Satyra and the lovably weird Grimsbane family are striving to rescue from what they presume to be Hell. Both storylines center on tense, exciting issues of trust and attraction, especially as one-time adversaries seem to join the cause—and Satyra joins up with a rebellion.

Scichilone’s grand scope, strong characterization, inventive creatures (especially the nightmarish steed Nihility), memorably fantastical set pieces, and understanding of the heart will give fans of dark fantasy much to enjoy, though the dual stories move slowly, with occasionally awkward prose, and the many pages of conversation prove both an engaging strength but also at times overwhelming.

Takeaway: Vividly imagined realms-crossing romantic fantasy of gods and under worlds.

Comparable Titles: Kelsey Kicklighter’s Of Beast and Burden, Scarlett St. Clair’s A Touch of Darkness.

Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: B+
Marketing copy: A

Christopher Hawkins and His Daring Escapes: A Revolutionary War Novel
Jeanne Brownlee Becijos
Becjios expands upon a manuscript written by her Revolutionary War ancestor about his experiences on the sea as a privateer and several subsequent imprisonments and escapes after being captured. The compact result captures the patriotic fervor of young teen Christopher Hawkins, as well as his naivete, and follows his dogged determination to never accept his circumstances. His desire to be a cabin boy on a Yankee ship was shot down by his severe father, who sent him away to be an apprentice at a tannery. After a year of harsh service, Hawkins escapes in hopes of becoming a privateer: a private ship raiding enemy vessels and sharing loot with all. From there, the story lives up to its title, as Hawkins escapes—or is captured—again and again, impressed into service on a host of ships, offering a surprising survey of the maritime life of the era.

Hawkins finagles his way onto a ship and learns the ways of sailing, but it’s not always the adventure he hoped for, especially when the cautious captain refuses potential plunder and winds up getting his ship captured. Hawkins is then conscripted into service on a British vessel, where he is treated fairly but still yearns for freedom—and, of course, he’ll do what he must to secure it. This novelization is at turns harrowing and funny as its cycles of capture-and-escape get twistier and ever-more surprising. Still, for all the sea-dog thrills, Hawkins never romanticizes or diminishes the tedium and horror of war.

Becjios adds depth and flavor by fleshing out side characters and giving Hawkins a great sense of the stakes of what it means to fight. When Hawkins eventually returns home at last, his desire for the sea having dimmed, he still yearns to fight for independence, though having faced real loss his understanding of the price is now much more realistic. Readers interested in first-person accounts of wartime in the era will be fascinated by young Hawkins’s encounters.

Takeaway: Escape and adventure in the age of sail, drawn from personal history.

Comparable Titles: Jay Worrall’s Sails on the Horizon, Joseph O'Loughlin’s Gallagher’s Prize.

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A-

Murder at Twin Beeches
Maria Leonhauser
Leonhauser’s debut mystery is packed with fun, family, fear, and finesse—and the promise, readers will hope, of more to come. The Bucks County fundraiser at Louise Jenkins’s Twin Beeches ancestral estate is sidetracked when Michael Porter is found dead in the pantry. Every guest is a suspect, and the police are convinced the homicide has something to do with drugs since their prime suspect, James Carter, dies of an overdose a few days later.

Louise entices her daughter, Amelia Halliday, to investigate, and in the case that unfolds Leonhauser has crafted an intricate murder mystery with lovable characters who work their way into your heart, in a house that holds enticing secrets—since notorious drug dealer Frankie Vincent briefly owned the estate, disappeared, and is still missing. Amelia lost her investigative reporter job in California, then retreated to Bucks County seeking solace by transforming the former public library into her sanctuary. Amelia’s brother, Elliott, his fiancée, Kirby Dunbar, detective Tony Mardi, and Louise’s friend, Ruth Richards, all entertain readers with their idiosyncrasies and antics, but even that colorful lot is almost outdone by Louise and her relationship with the ancestral Jenkins family portraits. Yes, she talks to her ancestors (“We were discussing your orangery this morning”), who—in a clever twist—actually seem to listen.

Amelia doubts Carter murdered Michael, especially when she meets Michael’s fiancée, Carol Anne Jackson, who claims he was not dealing drugs. Amid worry, more murders, and many tantalizing dead ends, Leonhauser keeps things buoyant with sharp comic dialogue and a sense of play, even as 11-year-old Winnie Miller, whose parents manage Twin Beeches, tracks evidence overlooked by police and places herself and Amelia in danger. Leonhauser deftly balances intrigue, danger, and quirkiness. These Bucks County characters are a delight and deserve an on-going series of their own. And don’t miss the acknowledgements for that extra tug on the heart.

Takeaway: This quirky murder mystery debut will have readers asking for more.

Comparable Titles: Helena Dixon’s Murder in First Class, Jaclyn Goldis’s The Chateau.

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A

Click here for more about Murder at Twin Beeches
Blood In Your Boots: Navy SEAL Stories from the Silver Strand (1957-1967)
John Randall Stephenson, Esq.
Stephenson collected this wild assortment of stories of Navy SEAL life from tapes his father, John M. "Maxie" Stephenson Jr., recorded before his untimely death in a diving accident. This oral history covers, in direct language, Stephenson’s mid century training and early years in the storied special operations force established in 1962, from how a ranch boy from Wyoming learned how to swim well enough to pass the SEAL test to a wild escape from a Tijuana jail after extracurricular escapades in a bull fighting rink. While the memoires set down here never delve into combat experience, they offer a detailed look at the culture and ethos of the early SEALs.

The stories have been taken directly from the tapes with apparently minimal editing. This ensures Stephenson’s personality clearly comes through, plus much spirited vernacular, in vivid anecdotes about “the crew into whose hands I was ready to throw my life.” SEALs and officers are painted in memorable detail, and the psychological challenges of SEAL training—“The jobs were tough, they were obtainable, but they were always beyond your comprehension and mentality”—are captured in fascinating detail. Still, while this is a vital contribution to the historical record, a stronger editorial hand would make the book more inviting, as the logic and syntax of some sentences can prove challenging to track, and a clear timeline or history of Stephenson’s life and the broader history of the SEALs would be clarifying. Extensive photos help humanize these stories.

For the most part, though, Blood in Your Boots creates the feeling of sitting down with Stephenson as he shares highlights of his bold—sometimes even foolhardy—youth and his and the SEALS’s dedication to excellence, complete with occasional confusing asides and some phrasing that, as the compiler notes, will cause some offense today. Lovers of clear-eyed, compelling stories of actual military life—and mid-twentieth century special warfare in particular—will relish these amusing, illuminating, and sometimes frightening tales … and wish Stephenson had recorded more.

Takeaway: One man’s compelling oral history of the early Navy SEALs.

Comparable Titles: Chet Cunningham’s The Frogmen of World War II, Kevin Dockery and Bill Fawcett’s The Teams.

Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: A
Editing: B-
Marketing copy: A-

Click here for more about Blood In Your Boots
I Love You 10!: Love That Counts
Ruth Baird
How many different kinds of love exist? The protagonist of Baird’s vibrant children’s book debut challenges herself to list ten different kinds of love that she observes over the course of a family party her parents host, and she notices that there are types she experiences in her life and others that her family and friends experience as well, including “Parent love,” “Creator Love,” and “Nature Love.” Love is a richly complex topic, and I Love You 10! succeeds in showing young readers that love is not just one thing—and that it can be experienced in numerous ways, even more than the ten that author/illustrator Baird presents as building blocks for a wider understanding.

The title phrase provides the book’s structure. On the day of a family party, the young narrator shows her family—and readers—that she can count ten kinds of love. As the party approaches and family arrives, she counts “Creator Love” (as in the love expressed in prayer), “Romantic Love,” “Parent Love.” Charmingly, Baird tracks the numbers of types of love with inset illustrations of the fingers the narrator is counting on. Baird’s intentional portrayal of a mixed family bound together through an intricate network of love ensures that kids from racial backgrounds that are historically under-represented will see themselves in these pages. By observing the ways love manifests in her life, the narrator also demonstrates a practice of gratitude for her nurturing family.

Baird’s illustrations, though colorful and lively, have an abrasive, somewhat unfinished quality, but there is a delightful attention to detail regarding the small flourishes of imperfection found in a healthy home: spillage, antics of pets, children falling, playing, exploring, toys strewn across the floor, stained shirts worn by smiling kids. All of it amounts to a wholesome, loving family anyone would be grateful to be part of, and it’s a fine choice for children seeking a story that celebrates love in all its forms.

Takeaway: A child’s charming celebration of the many types of love.

Comparable Titles: Dan Sak’s and Brooke Smart’s Families Can, Barry Timms and Tisha Lee’s Love Grows Everywhere.

Production grades
Cover: B
Design and typography: B
Illustrations: B
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A-

Click here for more about I Love You 10!
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