I’m going to do something different since I’m trying to catch up after work, travel, and other commitments put me behind. Here are three one-line reviews. If you click on the cover, it will take you to the Amazon link. Enjoy.
This mashup of fantasy and alternate history brings so much magic and action to the story that the reader will not be able to breathe, much less stop reading.
This is a heartwarming story that is a good comfort read as Cleo, the 50ish owner of a bakery, starts really living her life after divorce.
Barbara Jenkins shares the real story behind the famous walk across America she took with her former husband, Peter, and the unvarnished truth is a lot more interesting than the media portrayal.
I received all three of these books from the publishers via Netgalley. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.
Indie Weekend is my effort to help Indie Authors with marketing. Marketing is probably the biggest task authors have, and if I can help even a little, I’m happy to do it. You can help too by sharing this far and wide with your social media followers. Below please see my review of Growing A Top-Notch Family Tree: With Stories From Its Branches by Nancy Blodgett Klein.
BOOK DESCRIPTION (FROM AMAZON)
This two-part book gives advice to genealogists about specific steps to take to grow a great family tree online, with details about what to do and what to avoid to have the best possible tree for current family, future generations and the wider community to enjoy. It includes details about three different online sites, Ancestry, FamilySearch and MyHeritage. It also discusses the importance of DNA testing and DNA matching with relatives to help you verify your findings.
The second half of the book shares interesting stories about family tree members, including famous ones like Mayflower passenger Stephen Hopkins, colorful characters from the Stewart/Stuart family of Scotland, and “troublesome” women relatives like Elizabeth Woodville of England, Elizabeth Hutchinson, from Massachusetts, and fancy dresser Thomasine Boyes, a British immigrant to Massachusetts and wife of Rev. Francis Johnson, a popular Puritan minister.
This book is designed to be both educational and entertaining for anyone interested in genealogy, be they new to the subject or an experienced master.
BOOK REVIEW
This is a fantastic resource by Nancy Blodgett Klein for anyone who wants to explore their ancestry, especially if you use Ancestry.com and other online resources. I have used Ancestry.com for years, but I learned so much from this book that is going to enhance my experience there. Nancy points out many mistakes and pitfalls that I recognized at once as things I have done, and she shares tips and tricks that I never discovered on my own that I am now eager to try out.
While sharing the best ways to use online resources, Nancy also shares fascinating stories from her own family history, which includes many famous people, and tells you the best ways to discover your own stories. The addition of DNA to ancestral research is also explored, and Nancy tells us the best way to use that DNA to discover hidden secrets.
Whether you are new to genealogy or have been doing research for years, this book will inspire and help you along the way.
I downloaded a copy of this book on Kindle Unlimited, where subscribers can read it for free.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR (IN HER OWN WORDS)
Nancy Blodgett Klein
My latest book is Growing a Top-Notch Family Tree: With Stories from its Branches. Published in 2023, this is a non-fiction work for lovers of genealogy. Torn Between Worlds was my first novel while Life Lessons was my first non-fiction work. Both were published in 2021. In 2022, I published What’s So Special About Spain, a travel book for children. I worked as a journalist for 15 years in Chicagoland, starting out as a police reporter in Chicago. I also worked for the American Bar Association Journal, writing hundreds of articles on political, social and legal topics. Later on I was a public school teacher, including to many students from Mexico. I now live in Spain.
I received a bachelor’s from Tulane University in philosophy and a master’s in journalism from Boston University. Later, I earned a master’s in education from Roosevelt University. I am a member of two book groups and one writers group.
*If you read the book, please leave reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, as well as anywhere else you review books. Some people feel very daunted by writing a review. Don’t worry. You do not have to write a masterpiece. Just a couple of lines about how the book made you feel will make the author’s day and help the book succeed. The more reviews a book has, the more Amazon will promote it.
*Please click on the “share” buttons below and share these books with your Twitter, Facebook, and WordPress followers. A little bit of help from all of us will help Indie authors go a long way!
Indie Weekend is my effort to help Indie Authors with marketing. Marketing is probably the biggest task authors have, and if I can help even a little, I’m happy to do it. You can help too by sharing this far and wide with your social media followers. Below please see my review of They Call Me Mom: Making A Difference As An Elementary School Teacher by Pete Springer.
BOOK DESCRIPTION (FROM AMAZON)
Who Will You Inspire Today? Teachers face this challenge and responsibility each day, but in the process, the author discovers that his students can also have a profound influence on him. Pete Springer takes you on his memorable thirty-one-year journey in education as an elementary school teacher and offers the many valuable life and teaching lessons he learned along the way. Get ready to laugh out loud at some of the humorous and memorable experiences that all teachers face, feel inspired by the inherent goodness of children, and appreciate the importance of developing a sense of teamwork among the staff.
Learn valuable tips for working with children, parents, fellow staff members, and administrators. This book is ideal for young teachers, but also a reminder to all educators of the importance and responsibility of being a role model.
BOOK REVIEW
Pete Springer looks back on 31 years as an elementary school teacher and provides memories, tips, and encouragement for other teachers, both those already established and those just beginning. I am not a teacher, but as a parent and grandparent, I loved some of his suggestions. His idea of rewarding productive behavior with play money, working with a bank to get bank books for the kids’ money, and then staging auctions to spend it is inspired. The kids had to do the math during the auctions while bidding on the prizes and then write a correct check for the winning bid. What a great way to teach math and life skills! This is just one of many smart tips Pete has for teachers.
Pete also shares some funny, memorable, and sad moments from his time as a teacher, and the fact that many of them accidentally called him “Mom,” because a teacher can be like a Mom in a way. He talks about working with administrators and other teachers, and shares some of his biggest frustrations about the job.
This is a great resource from an expert–someone who did and loved their job for 31 years. Teachers and parents will enjoy, benefit from, and maybe relate to Pete’s experiences. Highly recommend.
My rating is 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5 on sites with no half-star option.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
(In his own words) I’m a retired elementary teacher (31 years) who will always be a strong advocate for children, education, and teachers. My favorite thing to do as a teacher was to read to my students, and now I’m following my heart and writing children’s books for middle grades.
*If you read the book, please leave reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, as well as anywhere else you review books. Some people feel very daunted by writing a review. Don’t worry. You do not have to write a masterpiece. Just a couple of lines about how the book made you feel will make the author’s day and help the book succeed. The more reviews a book has, the more Amazon will promote it.
*Please click on the “share” buttons below and share these books with your Twitter (X), Facebook, and WordPress followers. A little bit of help from all of us will help Indie authors go a long way!
The powerful true story of the champion Thoroughbred racehorse who gained international fame in the tumultuous Civil War–era South, and became the most successful sire in American racing history
The early days of American horse racing were grueling. Four-mile races, run two or three times in succession, were the norm, rewarding horses who brandished the ideal combination of stamina and speed. The stallion Lexington, named after the city in Kentucky where he was born, possessed these winning qualities, which pioneering Americans prized.
Lexington shattered the world speed record for a four-mile race, showing a war-torn nation that the extraordinary was possible even in those perilous times. He would continue his winning career until deteriorating eyesight forced his retirement in 1855. But once his groundbreaking achievements as a racehorse ended, his role as a sire began. Horses from his bloodline won more money than the offspring of any other Thoroughbred—an annual success that led Lexington to be named America’s leading sire an unprecedented sixteen times.
Yet with the Civil War raging, Lexington’s years at a Kentucky stud farm were far from idyllic. Confederate soldiers ran amok, looting freely and kidnapping horses from the top stables. They soon focused on the prized Lexington and his valuable progeny.
Kim Wickens, a lawyer and dressage rider, became fascinated by this legendary horse when she learned that twelve of Thoroughbred racing’s thirteen Triple Crown winners descended from Lexington. Wickens spent years meticulously researching the horse and his legacy—and with Lexington, she presents an absorbing, exciting account that transports readers back to the raucous beginning of American horse racing and introduces them to the stallion at its heart.
BOOK REVIEW
I am a fan of the Triple Crown races and I was amazed that 12 of 13 Triple Crown winners can be traced back to Lexington. I definitely wanted to read his story. Lexington (originally named Darley) ran at a time when horses ran multiple four-mile heats, and while injured. It would be unheard of today. He passed his incredible stamina on to many Triple Crown winners, including Secretariat.
This book is a reminder that the modern-day racehorse is a descendant of war horses who rode fearlessly into battle. While today’s horse breeding is a pastime for the wealthy, and thoroughbreds are treated with great care, horses of the past worked hard and were constantly put in danger.
The contributions of the enslaved in pre-Civil War times are also explored. “Enslaved men and boys were the ones in the barns, riding the horses, feeding, medicating, and training.” In fact, Lexington’s first trainer was Harry Lewis, a formerly enslaved man who had been freed.
This book is meticulously researched and written with care. I especially enjoyed the story of how Lexington’s skeleton was rescued from an attic in the Smithsonian. Anyone who loves horses and racing will enjoy this book.
My rating is 4.35 stars.
I received a free copy of this book from the publishers via Netgalley. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
From Kim Wickens: “I first became aware of Lexington while reading a book about the racehorse Man o’ War. The authors compared his inspiring public appeal to Lexington’s. “Both horses,” wrote Page Cooper and Roger Treat, “had that indescribable quality of greatness which lifted those who saw them out of their ordinary lives and made them conscious that they had witnessed something that would stir their memories as long as they lived.” I wanted to know more about the nineteenth century horse.”
Are you caring for your chronically ill husband? Did you grow up with suicidal, alcoholic parents? Are you searching for a loving relationship? Have your efforts at starting a fulfilling career been thwarted by someone determined to hold you back? Maybe you’ve postponed your own dreams in order to keep from making waves with a significant other. Does your life seem to be heading a long wat from where you’d wish it to be? Any of these can steal your happiness or keep you from achieving your potential. All can crush your hopes and dreams.
This is the story of a woman who grew up in a dysfunctional family, was trapped by a predator at age 8, was suffocated by an abusive marriage, grappled with being a single mother, finally found her soulmate, struggled with a blended family, juggled the incompatible roles of wife and caregiver, yet maintained her faith, at least most of the time. She did it thanks to some special women who supported her in ways she didn’t recognize until she unconsciously drew upon their influence.
We hope you’ll learn to call on the influencers in our own life. Possibly you’ve drawn on them in your past and can now appreciate their impact on you.
BOOK REVIEW
In The Women in Me, Nancy Maloney-Mercado looks back at her life and the women who influenced her, especially four relatives who knew her from birth. She shares the lessons she learned from them and the characteristics she tried to emulate.
This reads more as a memoir than a self-help book, but it does inspire the reader to look back at the people who influenced them and guided them through problems in their own lives. Nancy’s experiences, which include having a suicidal mother, marriage to an alcoholic, and becoming her husband’s caregiver are experiences with which many readers may be able to relate. As Nancy talks about different struggles in her own life, she shares how her influencers helped her get through them, either directly or by using lessons they had taught her. Her influencers are described well, and with love and gratitude.
Although I would classify this as a memoir, it is a helpful memoir because it talks about very challenging life circumstances and one woman’s way of dealing with them. Most importantly, it emphasizes that it is vital to lean on the support and experiences of others and not to try and get through these things alone. And it might inspire you to be an influencer for someone else.
I received a free copy of this book. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Nancy Maloney-Mercado was born in Chicago, IL., but spent most of her adult life living in San Jose, CA. She began teaching in her late 20s, and she has happily walked that career path ever since, along the way building a reputation as a valuable member of many educational programs and institutions. When her latent artistic talent pushed its way to the surface, she began drawing and painting. Soon it was an integral part of who she was. In 2019 her beloved soulmate, Raymond, passed away after a long illness. She spends as much time as possible with her two daughters and granddaughter. As the existence of this book indicates, she continues to teach, at the same time finding new techniques to let her art express her life, experiences, and beliefs.
Jackie O’Donnell is a CA native. Her life has been spent in teaching, writing, and editing. She has four adult children—a devoted, caring son and daughter-in-law, plus another son and daughter who are far more than “step”—plus three grandchildren. Her beloved husband, Frank, succumbed to Agent Orange complications in 2016. She has published seven books, including one on saving money while helping the environment, another on everyday activities to make our world kinder and more just, one about helping people with disabilities cope with new 141 parenthood, and a volume of poetry (descriptions on her website (link below). Follow her on Twitter at https://twitter.com/JackieODonnell.
*If you buy the book, please leave reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, as well as anywhere else you review books. Some people feel very daunted by writing a review. Don’t worry. You do not have to write a masterpiece. Just a couple of lines about how the book made you feel will make the author’s day and help the book succeed. The more reviews a book has, the more Amazon will promote it.
*Please click on the “share” buttons below and share these books with your Twitter, Facebook, and WordPress followers. A little bit of help from all of us will help indie and self-published authors go a long way!
I’ve extended Indie Weekend into Monday since it’s a day off for many of us this week. Indie Weekend is my effort to highlight Indie and Self-Published books and help the authors with the daunting task of marketing. Below is my review of Unjoy by Len Lantz. Unjoy is a book for Christians dealing with depression and the stigma sometimes surrounding it. Check it out below.
BOOK DESCRIPTION
You can become fully free from depression.
Depression is real. It’s not your fault if you have it, but it is your responsibility to do something effective about it. Although depression is often stigmatized or ignored, Christians commonly experience it.
While it can sometimes feel like there are no solutions and that you can never escape depression, that isn’t true. In this easy-to-read book, Dr. Len Lantz addresses aspects of faith and mood while providing real answers about what works for depression and why.
In unJoy, Dr. Lantz shares engaging stories, common-sense reasoning, research-proven treatments, entertaining cartoons, and biblical encouragement for Christians struggling with “unJoy” and for their loved ones. There is hope and help for depression!
BOOK REVIEW
There are seven million Christians with Depression, and that’s just in America. In this book, Len Lantz, a psychiatrist and Christian, provides resources for Christians to break the stigma of seeking out help for mental health issues.
This is a helpful, well-thought-out resource that not only explains to Christians why medication and counseling are sometimes necessary, but also provides tools for anyone to deal with depression. There is also a section for family members and friends who have loved ones who are suffering from mental illness.
Lantz provides both medical and spiritual advice in this book, which intersperses scripture with medical facts. He reminds us that God sends help in a lot of ways, including doctors and medication.
The author warns us upfront that the illustrations are bad, and they are so bad that they are actually endearing and effective.
I received a free copy of this book. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Len Lantz is a partner at Big Sky Psychiatry in Helena, Montana and has over 20 years of experience in psychiatric medicine, with specializations and board certifications in adult and pediatric psychiatry. He is an expert in the treatment of severe, treatment-resistant depression. He also is credentialed as a Certified Physician Executive (CPE), demonstrating capability in both medical leadership and management.
Dr. Lantz completed his undergraduate degree in cell biology and genetics from Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. After earning his medical doctorate from the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, Dr. Lantz completed his psychiatry residency and fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics in Madison.
In 2005, Dr. Lantz moved to Montana to provide care to patients for AWARE, where he also served as medical director from 2008-2015. Since 2015 Dr. Lantz has helped patients in Helena, Montana through his private practice, Big Sky Psychiatry, which he runs with his wife, psychiatrist Dr. Krista David. He is skilled in psychiatric diagnostic evaluation, evidence-based psychotherapy, prescription medication management, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) therapy, and delivery of care via telemedicine and Collaborative Care (Integrated Behavioral Health).
Dr. Len Lantz is a Clinical Associate Professor in Psychiatry at the University of Washington School of Medicine’s WWAMI program. He developed the psychiatry clinical training clerkship in Helena for third-year medical students in 2013 and he continues to mentor and teach several medical students each year.
Dr. Lantz is passionate about suicide prevention. He founded the annual Montana Conference on Suicide Prevention, which he hosted for its first seven years. For three years Dr. Lantz chaired the Montana Suicide Mortality Review Team, and he founded and hosts the annual Montana Psychiatry Conference.
From Oz Perch: Are you a musician who is just beginning to venture into the world of jazz? Perhaps you have some experience playing blues, rock, R&B, funk, or other forms of popular music, but the idea of improvising a solo over rapidly changing jazz chords makes you dizzy?
I began playing the guitar professionally during the 1970s in blues, R&B and funk bands. I picked up bits of jazz lore back then from my fellow musicians. Then I took lessons from a nationally known jazz guitarist, who had a very sophisticated system of theory that left me thoroughly confused. I also attended college as a music major, which taught me some very useful theory, but not about jazz (they didn’t have jazz courses back then at your typical music school.)
45 years later, I believe I finally have a handle on all this. If I could go back and give advice to my 23 year-old self, the material in this book is the advice I would give, to significantly speed up the process of becoming a confident and articulate jazz soloist.
This book will teach you:
The relationship between the 7 modes, and the chords they generate
Additional scales that correspond to some of the more esoteric chords
How to use altered dominant chords, and the corresponding altered scales, in a way that sounds lyrical and not random
How to use the “theory of relativity” to expand your improvising vocabulary
This book will not teach you to play your instrument. For that, I would recommend a qualified teacher who can watch you play and assess your technique. What this book is designed to do is to teach you, as quickly and simply as possible, how to think about improvising over jazz tunes, specifically about the relationship between modes, scales, the chords that they generate, and how to navigate from one to the next.
A fictionalized biography. Step back in time to 1980 in New York City. “Step lively!” – what the subway conductors used to say when you got off the train — describes Jill, as she and her husband Alex “step lively” in adjusting to their new life in Manhattan. In their move to the city, they realize a long-held dream and struggle like all of us, to find their place in the world.
Each tale is a slice of life of the “ordinary,” the minutiae of daily life. The tales can stand alone, but as a whole they compose the mosaic of Jill’s life. As she and Alex discover the city, we see the unraveling of love and dreams against the backdrop of change.
A cast of others joins the couple in their world: a businessman from Iceland the night John Lennon is shot, a restless philosopher, a born-again come-to-Jesus elevator man in their building, a talking parakeet, and Jill’s grandmothers. Then there is Jill’s bicycle. A character itself in the collection, it transports her through the streets of her beloved Manhattan. Much of what we see is from the handlebars of her bike – from there we explore Greenwich Village and the Upper West Side and get glimpses into the city’s loneliness and its rapid changes. We see the direction Alex and Jill’s lives take in this constantly changing landscape that is New York City.
Self-Published Saturday is my effort to help indie and self-published/indie authors share their books. Indie authors have to do it all, from cover design to editing to marketing. If I can help even a little bit, I’m happy to do it. Below we have So Far From Home: The Pearl Bryan Murder by Robert Wilhelm. This is a nonfiction account of the murder of a well-to-do Indiana woman, whose headless body was found in Northern Kentucky.
BOOK DESCRIPTION
The headless corpse of a young woman, discovered in the woods of Northern Kentucky in February 1896, disrupted communities in three states–Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana.
. The woman was Pearl Bryan, daughter of a wealthy farmer in Greencastle, Indiana. Her suspected killers, Scott Jackson and Alonzo Walling, were dental students in Cincinnati, Ohio. How her decapitated body ended up in the Highlands of Kentucky is the subject of So Far from Home: The Pearl Bryan Murder.
It was the age of yellow journalism when sensational murder cases drove newspaper circulation, and daily papers competed to print the most gruesome details and explicit illustrations. Local crimes became national news, and readers followed the daily progress of police investigations and murder trials as if they were serialized mysteries. The murder of Pearl Bryan in 1896, featuring a headless corpse, remorseless villains, and threats of civil unrest, fit the bill perfectly. So Far from Home; The Pearl Bryan Murder revisits the story as it unfolded in the daily press.
BOOK REVIEW
Readers who follow true crime will be enthralled by this account of the Pearl Bryan murder. In 1896, Pearl’s headless corpse was found in Northern Kentucky. Investigators initially suspected she was a prostitute or actress but were shocked to find out she was the daughter of a rich and well-known Indiana farmer. This book does a great job of following press reports of the investigation and the shocking events that ended in the murder of a young woman. The author shows how much power and influence the press had back then. Murders were presented as juicy serial stories, and readers were whipped up into such a frenzy that they sometimes formed lynch mobs and carried out their own idea of justice before the trials even happened.
The investigation shown here is not a retrial and is not searching for a new conclusion. It is an account of the investigation, the backgrounds of those involved, and reactions from the family. It also shows how local murders were elevated to national news, and it brings home the degree to which the press got themselves involved in the story. All of the facts are portrayed in such a captivating way that you will be spellbound. I read it in one sitting. Robert Wilhelm really has a talent for relating facts in an interesting way and transporting the reader back to that time and that culture. True crime readers should not pass this one up.
I received a free copy of this book via Reedsy Discovery. My review is voluntary and my opinions are my own.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Robert Wilhelm is the author of Wicked Victorian Boston (History Press, 2017), The Bloody Century: True Tales of Murder in 19th Century America (Night Stick Press, 2014) and Murder and Mayhem in Essex County (History Press, 2011), a history of capital crimes in Essex County, Massachusetts from the 1600s to the turn of the twentieth century. He blogs about historical true crime at Murder by Gaslight (www.MurderByGaslight.com) and The National Night Stick (nightstick.azurewebsites.net). Robert lives and works in Boston, Massachusetts.
*If you read the book(s), please leave reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, as well as anywhere else you review books. Some people feel very daunted by writing a review. Don’t worry. You do not have to write a masterpiece. Just a couple of lines about how the book made you feel will make the author’s day and help the book succeed. The more reviews a book has, the more Amazon will promote it.
*Please click on the “share” buttons below and share these books with your Twitter, Facebook, and WordPress followers. A little bit of help from all of us will help self-published authors go a long way!
Below are more favorites chosen by our readers as their favorite books of 2021. The link to buy each book can be found by clicking on the cover.
YOUNG ADULT
Just when Areum, daughter of a privileged family in the totalitarian state of Choson, thought she was free from her personal prison, her world collapses around her as her family is taken away in the middle of the night to a hell-like camp in the mountains where people who have strayed from the righteous path are brutally re-educated through blood, sweat, tears and starvation.
There she has to fight for survival together with the family she hates and is forced to re-evaluate every aspect of her life until then: her deep resentment toward her twin sister; her view of her father in the face of mounting evidence that he is a traitor with the blood of millions of fellow countrymen on his hands; and even her love and affection for the Great General – the eternal savior and protector of Choson, whom she had always considered her true father.
This is the first book in the Juche series. There are a total of three books available right now, with a fourth coming in May. Click on the cover to find purchase information for the whole series.
Jack Monroe and his friends have been volunteered to help out at Saint Nicholas’ Farms to start off their Christmas vacation. They quickly discover that they’ve been selected to not only help decorate the Christmas tree for a big ceremony but also to foil the plans of a secret organization known as the Shadows.
Despite having his own adventure, Jack is summoned once again to witness the life of Niko Monroe, who is clinging to the hope that he can find his friends, save his family, and free the Faithful from the tyrannical reign of President Julius Arrigo.
Join Niko and his companions – Maia, Rafe, Wiley, and Flick – as they travel the State of Ariel, defy state officials out to stop them, and lead a new generation of the Faithful to unravel Arrigo’s insidious conspiracy to destroy Ariel and the neighboring nation of Jakkobah in unending war. Is there hope for the Faithful?
ROMANCE
Single mom Jess Davis is a data and statistics wizard, but no amount of number crunching can convince her to step back into the dating world. After all, her father was never around, her hard-partying mother disappeared when she was six, and her ex decided he wasn’t “father material” before her daughter was even born. Jess holds her loved ones close but working constantly to stay afloat is hard…and lonely.
But then Jess hears about GeneticAlly, a buzzy new DNA-based matchmaking company that’s predicted to change dating forever. Finding a soulmate through DNA? The reliability of numbers:This Jess understands.
At least she thought she did, until her test shows an unheard-of 98 percent compatibility with another subject in the database: GeneticAlly’s founder, Dr. River Peña. This is one number she can’t wrap her head around, because she already knows Dr. Peña. The stuck-up, stubborn man is without a doubt not her soulmate. But GeneticAlly has a proposition: Get ‘to know him and we’ll pay you. Jess—who is barely making ends meet—is in no position to turn it down, despite her skepticism about the project and her dislike for River. As the pair are dragged from one event to the next as the “Diamond” pairing that could launch GeneticAlly’s valuation sky-high, Jess begins to realize that there might be more to the scientist—and the science behind a soulmate—than she thought.
Maya Jackson has worked for a renowned New York City bridal gown brand for years and dreams of becoming Head Designer. She has the talent, she just needs a chance to showcase her unique style. Due to an illness, she’s always prioritized her career over her personal life until Maya’s father fractures his hip and she returns to Charleston, SC. While home for only a few months, she’s thrilled to find an opportunity at the local bridal gown boutique, never expecting sparks to fly with its owner…
A military veteran and widowed father, Derek Sullivan hopes to save Always a Bride from bankruptcy in order to preserve the legacy of his family. He also wants to reconnect with his estranged, twelve-year-old daughter, who is still recovering from the loss of her mother. The last thing he needs is a relationship with a beautiful, smart, complicated woman who will be leaving soon.
When Derek begins to fall for the lovely Maya, he knows there’s no future. But destiny has its own plans, and these two lonely people with big hearts discover that coming home to love is the best gift life can give.
NONFICTION
Drunk Chickens and Burnt Macaroni offers a remarkable insight into the lives of Afghan women both before and after Taliban’s rise to power. The reader is caught up in the day-to-day lives of women like Sharifa, Latifa and Marzia, sharing their problems, dramas, the tears and the laughter: whether enjoying a good gossip over tea and fresh nan, dealing with a husband’s desertion, battling to save the life of a one-year-old opium addict or learning how to deliver babies safely. Mary Smith spent several years in Afghanistan working on a health project for women and children in both remote rural areas and in the city of Mazar-i-Sharif. Given the opportunity to participate more fully than most other foreigners in the lives of the women, many of whom became close friends, she has been able to present this unique portrayal of Afghan women – a portrayal very different from the one most often presented by the media.
The undertow of the Great Depression becomes poignantly personal as we experience the travails of Leora and Clabe Wilson, a displaced Iowa farm family. Gritty determination fuels this family’s journey of loss and hope, a reflection of what many American families endured during those challenging times.
In this true story the Wilsons slowly slide into unemployment and poverty. Leora must find ways to keep her dreams alive while making a haven for her flock of seven children in one run-down house after another.
Philosophers and mystics ponder the mystery of these flashes. Pamela Wight writes about life flashes in her short stories that include family and friends, love and life’s challenges. Wight’s “Flash Memoir” promotes the belief that we all share sparks of the extraordinary that occur in our everyday life. Each short story is true and brings a smile of recognition to her readers: that life transports and enthralls us in all its confusing, amusing, challenging, and astonishing ways. Each story is light-hearted and short – like a flash – but be prepared for a page-turner that keeps you in your seat, smiling.
Bonnie Reads and Writes 
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