Month: September 2026

Indie Spotlight is my attempt to help authors with marketing, which is the hardest part of an Indie author’s journey. If I can help even a little bit, I’m glad to do it. You can help too by sharing this post far and wide.

I think it’s the right time to start my Christmas reading and get into the holiday season, and it’s easy to do that with Scott Mehno’s book, Shorte List, an imaginative and unique look at the legend of Santa Claus. See my review, a bit about the author, and purchase links below.

Book Review

In Townlee, New Jersey, Bailey Hatchell has invented a marvel—a holographic Charles Dickens. This Dickens can converse, move about freely, and throw out an insult as well as if the real author had returned. The town is counting on this invention, but greedy investors might have other plans, and they want a meeting on Christmas Eve. At the same time, his daughter Hayley, who is nine, is attempting to hold onto her belief in Santa Claus, and Hayley’s Mom, Lellie, is trying to care for their neighbor, Cecil Cleef, who is dying.  All of this together threatens the Hatchell family plans. Then Bailey meets the real Santa Claus, and he says he knows where to find the real Charles Dickens.

The clever, witty, and highly descriptive writing won me over immediately. Bailey is convincing as an inventor with a development plan who is perplexed with the marketing and investment side of things, and as a Dad who loves his family but doesn’t always say the right thing. Hayley’s search for truth is the tipping point for this story, and the answers tie everything together.  The description of Santa Claus (Santee), without giving too much away, is absolutely fantastic, whimsical, and better than I could have imagined. If I were able to choose a real Santa, it would be him.

Then there’s the Shorte List, a list of those who know he’s real, and the people on that list will surprise you! There is also a hero in this story who works quietly, without fanfare, to help others, and it reminds us there are so many humble people out there, working for others with no reward.

My only slight criticism is that the large number of characters overwhelmed me at first. Happily, there is an index of characters at the front of the book that helps immensely.

I highly recommend this Christmas novel, which brings the future and the past together with a little bit of magic, technology, science, love, and tears. 

My rating is 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5 on sites with no half-star option.

About the Author

Scott Mehno has been writing for artists and companies in the entertainment industry for well over two decades. A New Jersey husband and dad with two kids, he is a true believer in the Dickens adage that a joyful Christmas only requires ‘heart, love, and family…’ It’s the universal family dynamics on display in nearly every small-town Christmas Eve that inspired him to write Shorte List

Scott’s Social Media: Website | Instagram

Purchase Links

Amazon | Barnes & Noble |Apple Books | Google | Kobo

Before You Go…

Remember if you read Shorte List, please leave a review on Amazon or wherever you buy books. Reviews are so important to Indie authors. Your review does not have to be a masterpiece. Just a couple of lines about how the book made you feel will make an author’s day. Also remember to share this post with your social media followers, which will help this book and all Indie books in a positive way.

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Fall is almost here! Officially the first day of Fall will be September 23rd, but I’m going to change the blog colors in anticipation, hopefully today or tomorrow. Below is a picture of previous early Fall colors in Bryson City NC. That was last year, I think.

Hard Winter?

I’ve seen a lot of predictions of a hard winter for this area. Locals here have been saying the signs are there: wooly worms of darker color, thunder in July, and squirrels all over the place, collecting as much as they can before winter, even more than usual. Then the weather forecasters started backing them up. El Nino may cause a lot more snow and cooler temperatures. As you can see from the image below, we are in the “Battleground Area.”

Coming Up On The Blog

I haven’t been posting as much, but I plan to post a lot of reviews, starting with tomorrow. I will also participate in Top Ten Tuesday if time permits.

Indie Reviews Coming Soon

Book Description

It’s Christmas Eve in Townlee, New Jersey and the small town’s hopes are riding on Bailey Hatchell, an overworked AI/hologram designer who’s made a walking, talking Charles Dickens that spins tales and spurns fools like the famous author of A Christmas Carol. Bailey’s invention, 7 years in the making, could revive the town if the presentation to a billionaire gaming mogul goes well, but he wants to alter Bailey’s invention for his own gain. And while the town is excited about the potential tourist attraction, Bailey’s 9-year old daughter, Hayley, is preoccupied with bigger problems as she heads into a Christmas Eve storm to find Santa Claus. Faced with restoring Hayley’s belief in Christmas or rescuing his hijacked hologram, only the arrival of a man claiming to be the real Charles Dickens can help Bailey unlock a magical Shorte List and save his daughter and the town. What follows is a high-stakes race against the clock, with Dickens and Santa leading the charge. Lively, funny, and full of heart, this is a story about the true meaning of family, and the power of believing in each other. **My reviewwill be posted September 26th or 27th.

Spice merchant Thomas Tallant returns from India to find his city in turmoil – desperately overcrowded, ravaged by crime and seething with sedition. A bitter struggle is brewing between King Charles I and Parliament, as England slides into civil war.

A wealthy merchant is savagely killed; then his partner plunges to his death in the Tallant household. Suspicion falls on Tom, who finds himself sucked into London’s mire of deceit. As he struggles to clear his name, he meets the enigmatic Elizabeth Seymour. Her passion for astronomy and mathematics is matched only by her addiction to tobacco and the gaming tables. Can her brilliance untangle the web of lies that threatens to drag Tom under?

A thrilling murder mystery, set in the murky streets of Stuart London, RAGS OF TIME is an intriguing tale of murder and deception amidst the search for enlightenment, that will keep you guessing until the final dramatic scene. **My review will be posted on or before September 30th.

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

**This is another book I reviewed for The Historical Novel Society’s August issue.

Book Review

This is the saga of a Slovakian American family that begins in 1907 in Hungary and ends in 1965 in America. The family is fictional but loosely based on the author’s family. The story begins with our protagonist, Mira, living in her beloved village in Hungary with her husband, Janos, and their son. Things are tough for Slovaks at the time, because of the Hungarian policy of Magyarization, aggressive assimilation of other cultures, including the Slovaks. After the Cernova massacre, when villagers protesting Hungarian interference in the consecration of their new church are murdered, Janos decides it is time to move to America. Mira is resistant and does not want to leave her family, although her sister has already departed for America. Janos goes without her and promises to send money and visit as often as he can. This starts a long period of separation, trials, and loss for both of them. When Mira finally agrees to go to America, more trials await, including the start of the Great War and the Spanish Flu epidemic.

This is an honest, realistic, and captivating family story. The characters are well developed and deeply relatable. This is a story of love, but also heartache, tragedy, loss, and betrayal. Both Janos and Mira show periods of selfishness that affect their marriage. Along the way, they experience tough times, and family secrets begin to surface. I enjoyed the descriptions of Slovakian traditions, customs, and food. There is an honest look at racism at that time, including discrimination against Mira’s friends, who are Jewish, and Janos’s horror at the East St. Louis Massacre in 1917. As the family changes and grows, so does the country and the world. Recommended.

About the Author

A native Arizonan, P.L. Jonas has traveled all over the US and ten other countries. Her stories draw from personal experience, a fascination with history, and a love of research. When she’s not writing or editing, she is reading and painting while her beloved cat looks on.

Website

Purchase Links

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Apple Books | Kobo