Below are three mini-reviews, From three stars to five, in order. The reviews are short and to the point. For a book description and purchase options, you can click on each cover.
This one never came completely together for me. There is too much telling and not enough showing, which I know is common for Steel’s novels, but did not work here. A major terrorist attack on New York is mentioned but not too closely explored. Kate was the most complex character, in my opinion, and managed to elevate this book a bit.
All in all, it’s not my favorite Steel novel, but I love most of her work.
I received a free copy of this book from the publishers via Netgalley. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.
This is a really clever continuation of The Secret Staircase series, as Tempest and her crew are back, creating illusions in homes and finding themselves in the middle of mysteries. When a former client is killed in their building by a booby-trapped door, Tempest is on the case, trying to exonerate her company and another surprise suspect.
Although this is part of a series, it easily stands alone as the author does a good job of catching the reader up on events. The cast of characters is fun and intriguing, and the story has plenty of twists and turns.
I received a free copy of this audiobook from the publisher via Netgalley. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.
I’ve always been intrigued by books about The Blitz and books about libraries/book clubs. Since this is a combination of the two, I figured it was a “can’t miss.” novel. I was right. Compelling characters and true-to-life descriptions will transport you to 1940 London as you peruse a book in the underground tunnels while bombs drop overhead. Highly recommend.
I received a free copy of this book from the publishers. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.
Have you read any of these books? What did you think?
I can only speak for myself as a reader. Of course, I’m also a blogger, so maybe that makes me a bit biased. I think power is too strong a word. Influence would be better. I can’t say either bloggers or professional critics have more influence on me either way. I have chosen books that are popular with other bloggers or with critics, but I do not always feel the same way myself. I also often find myself loving books that might not be as popular with others. So, I would say the only thing that influences me is the book itself.
I reviewed this book for the February issue of Historical Novels Review, the Journal of The Historical Novel Society.
BOOK DESCRIPTION
The bestselling author of The Witch of Tin Mountain and Parting the Veil mines the subtle horrors of 1950s America in a gripping novel about a woman under pressure—from the living and the dead.
The first day of autumn brought the fever, and with the fever came the voices.
Missouri, 1955. Loretta Davenport has led an isolated life as a young mother and a wife to Pete, an ambitious assistant professor at a Bible college. They’re the picture of domestic tranquility—until a local girl is murdered and Loretta begins receiving messages from beyond. Pete dismisses them as delusions of a fevered female imagination. Loretta knows they’re real—and frightening.
Defying Pete’s demands, Loretta finds an encouraging supporter in parapsychologist Dr. Curtis Hansen. He sees a woman with a rare gift, more blessing than curse. With Dr. Hansen’s help, Loretta’s life opens up to an empowering new purpose. But for Pete, the God-fearing image he’s worked so hard to cultivate is under threat. No longer in control of his dutiful wife, he sees the Devil at work.
As Loretta’s powers grow stronger and the pleading spirits beckon, Pete is determined to deliver his wife from evil. To solve the mysteries of the dead, Loretta must first save herself.
BOOK REVIEW
Missouri, 1955. A young girl, Darcy, is missing, which is disturbing enough, but then Loretta Davenport begins seeing visions of the girl’s location, and, sadly, knows where her body can be found. This paranormal ability does not sit well with her husband, a Bible professor at a local college. He’s already upset about her lack of energy and weight gain. Their perfect life seems threatened enough without psychic messages that overwhelm her. After the vision of Darcy, the door to the “other side” seems to open for Loretta, and she begins to see more of the dead. She seeks out a psychologist to try and make sense of it as her life turns upside down.
This story of a 1950s housewife who can suddenly see and receive messages from the dead is so fascinating and compelling that it will be hard to put down. Loretta’s growing abilities and the cracking facade of her life are so well described. The author expertly begins to pull the curtain from Loretta’s marriage and show the truth—her husband is not perfect, and is, in fact, abusive. The combination of a bad marriage and explosive new psychic abilities makes this book shine. The lack of basic rights for women in the 1950s is also explored, as Loretta becomes almost a prisoner in her own home. And a mystery is involved, as Loretta is trying to find Darcy’s killer to save others from the same fate. There is a bit of romance, and a theme of embracing one’s true self. This is a satisfying mix of historical mystery and paranormal fiction that fans of those genres will enjoy. Highly recommended.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Paulette Kennedy is the bestselling author of The Witch of Tin Mountain and Parting the Veil, which received the prestigious HNS Review Editor’s Choice Award. She has had a lifelong obsession with the gothic. As a young girl, she spent her summers among the gravestones in her neighborhood cemetery, imagining all sorts of romantic stories for the people buried there.
After her mother introduced her to the Brontës as a teenager, Paulette’s affinity for fog-covered landscapes and haunted heroines only grew, inspiring her to become a writer. Originally from the Missouri Ozarks, she now lives with her family and a menagerie of rescue pets in sunny Southern California, where sometimes, on the very best days, the mountains are wreathed in fog.
I write what I love to read – big-issue thrillers that are super well-researched inside a complex plot full of twists and turns.
The result of the above is The Race Is On series or TRIO. The best sequence to read it in is as follows:
– MAD, a 120-page prequel novella that you can download from my website
– LEAP, Book 1, kicks off the TRIO series
– Green Ray, Book 2, is set five years after the end of LEAP
– ATOM, INC, Book 3, which picks up immediately from the end of Green Ray
I live in Leeds, UK with the love of my life and our two daughters. It rains a lot in Leeds but that works out well for me – loads of time for research and of course writing!
Adam Livesey is a downhill skier, and a good one, but his life is about to take an unexpected turn. When he witnesses the death of his friend, a Russian ski jumper, Anatoly Vasiliev, a few whispered, nonsensical words put Adam in danger.
This is an exciting thriller set in the world of competitive skiing. I knew very little about this sport, but I learned a few things, and it was so interesting to follow the life of a competitive skier. I particularly enjoyed the way that skiing was combined with the Russian mafia and politics to create a compelling thriller. There’s even a bit of an enemies-to-lovers romance that fans of that genre will enjoy. This novel has many clever twists and turns that will keep you on the edge of your seat, and at times when you think the story is over–it’s not. Skiers and fans of thrillers will love this one.
I received a free copy of this book via Zooloo’s Book Tours. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR (In His Own Words)
I studied History of Art, and lectured at the Central School of Art and Design in London. However, marketing was my main occupation; and in this role I have worked for a number of German, American and British companies.
Latterly, I joined the family trade development company, working principally with government departments of foreign countries. To relieve the tedium of long-haul flights and the four walls of rooms in impersonal hotels, I turned to writing.
Over time, I amassed a number of manuscripts, which were stored in the metaphorical bottom drawer. The number grew until, in exasperation, my wife declared I should either attempt to get them published, or she would.
In fact, she did submit the first novel; and, to date, ten have been published.
Another week went by when I was so busy I couldn’t post much. I wasn’t able to post the reviews I had planned, so some of them will go up today. I’m preparing for my work trip to Germany, finishing up reviews for The Historical Novel Society, and also doing some editing work for them while one of the editors is taking some time off. It’s been a great experience.
NEXT WEEK: I hope to catch up and provide you a lot of good reviews! These include Charlie Hustle, The Ark and the Dove,The Great Divide, and more.
BOOK HAUL:
This is the third book in a fantastic series about a family of safe-cracking criminals who become government spies during WWII.
The Burning Rooms is the third book in a great series of standalone thrillers from Anni Taylor.
I’m off to make lemon bars and chicken parm! So we’re eating well tonight. How was your week?
Sisters of Fortune introduces us to the real-life Fortune sisters, who boarded the Titanic with their family and had their lives changed forever. The novel is filled with historical facts about the ship and some of its passengers, and the author’s thorough research is obvious.
I had not heard of the Fortune sisters, so this is a new take on the sinking of the Titanic and introduces passengers that many people did not know about. The description of the ship as the sisters boarded is realistic and well done, as the reader can easily imagine the decadence the wealthy sisters enjoyed. The actual disaster and sinking of the Titanic has of course been written about many times before, but the author does a great job of transporting the reader to that tragedy. The characters, both real and fictional, are woven together beautifully into an intriguing story. The author adds a fictional romance to the novel, and it is so compelling and well done.
In Sisters of Fortune, Fiction, Romance, and History are woven together to create a heartbreaking but very memorable story. Anyone interested in the sinking of the Titanic will enjoy this novel.
I received a free copy of this book. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.
Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. There is a different topic every week. This week’s top is Top Ten Covers or Titles That Include Things Found in Nature. See my list below:
This is one of my favorite covers and books from last year, and of course it displays a lovely beach. See my review here.
This is a favorite from 2022 set in the Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky. My review is here.
When Stone Wings Fly is set in Appalachia at the time of the creation of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Land of the Blue Mist by Susan Mallgrave is set in the Blue Ridge Mountains during the time of the Cherokee removal, or Trail of Tears. My review and a Q&A with the author is here.
Louise Bélanger creates beautiful Christian poems accompanied by the most wonderful photographs of flowers. My review is here.
This is the story of the Titanic told through the eyes of Arthur Rostron, the captain of The Carpathia, which responded to the Titanic’s distress call. My review is here.
This is a beautifully written novel of friendship from one of my favorite authors, Amanda Dykes. My review is here.
This is an account of the aftermath of a devastating earthquake in Lisbon on All Saints Day in 1755. My review is here.
This is a fictionalized look at the Bataan Death March in the Philippines. So powerful. One of my favorite books ever. It is devastating and heartbreaking, but important. My review is here.
My favorite book of 2023, and also one of my all-time favorites. It’s about life in a small town, unlikely friendships, and found family. Here’s my review.
How about you? What favorite books come to mind that include nature on the cover or in the title?
Indie Weekend is my effort to help Indie authors with marketing. It’s a daunting task, but if I can help even a little bit, I’m happy to do it. You can help too by sharing this review with your social media followers. Below see a book review and purchase links for Hayden’s World Volume 1. It is written by S.D. Falchetti. I listened to the audiobook version narrated by Shamaan Casey. You can see a full book description in this previous Indie Spotlight.
BOOK REVIEW
Like Andy Weir, S.D. Falchetti has the ability to create fiction that keeps me interested in science, and that’s no easy feat because I have always leaned toward the “fiction” in science fiction. But this collection of stories, set in and around “Hayden’s World,” is packed with science and technology, and then fiction takes over and transports us to the future. The characters are easy to root for, and the stories are compelling. My favorites were 43 seconds and Erebus, but all of the stories are excellent. There is a chapter at the end of the book explaining the science, and I appreciated that as I am not an expert in that area.
I listened to the audiobook, and the narrator Shamaan Casey has a captivating voice. He did an amazing job of portraying all of the characters, regardless of gender or culture. This includes AI voices too! I was captivated by his performance and will seek out his work again.
My rating is 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5 on sites with no half-star option.
I received a free copy of the audiobook. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR (IN HIS OWN WORDS)
S.D. Falchetti
I wrote my first story at the age of eighteen. I had a work/study job at the college computer lab, and, after completing all of my tasks of refilling the printer paper and testing the mice, I sat down and slipped a five-and-a-quarter inch disk into the drive. The Word Perfect screen greeted me with a blinking cursor. Each day I typed out a few more paragraphs, maybe a scene. I’d been reading R.A. Salvatore at the time, and, not surprisingly, wove a tale of elves, wars, and magic swords. I printed the three-hundred-page manuscript on a dot matrix printer, three-hole punched it, and slid it into a black binder.
The story rode along with me and five friends in a sixteen-hour road trip to St. Louis, giving me the perfect captive audience for reading my first draft. I remember waking abruptly at a midnight gas stop, a pop, and firelight flickering from the seams of the car’s hood. The Monte Carlo’s doors opened and I tumbled out onto the asphalt with my friends. Flames shot behind us from the engine. As we scattered, someone yelled for the keys. The driver, panicked, threw them too high and they clinked onto the overhead canopy. The more courageous fetched extinguishers from the mini-mart and sprayed the car fire. It was like spritzing an inferno. Fire trucks wheeled in and firefighters laid down water streams. The engine’s flames burst into the cabin and, with a whoosh like something from the movies, a fireball plumed and billowed out of the windows, the car’s tires popping and rollicking the vehicle. When the firefighters dropped their hoses and ran, we also picked our escape routes. One of the firefighters climbed in the truck, revved the engine, and rammed the Monte Carlo, pushing it clear of the gas pumps in a vortex of sparks and smoke. Our car was left to die in the farthest corner of the parking lot, out of harm’s way. A cavalcade of red and white flashing lights filled the station’s road as the cavalry arrived. When the last tongues of flame faded, our car had been reduced to metal bones. We blinked in disbelief as paramedics interviewed us. Three hundred miles. We were stranded three hundred miles from home. No one was hurt, but there was one casualty. My story sat in the backseat.
I tried not to think of this as a sign.
But there was still the computer lab, and the blinking white cursor, and stories to be written. They weren’t very good, but I had fun writing them. I submitted a few to magazines, and like most starting writers, got the polite rejection notes. I completed my degree in mechanical engineering and went on to become an engineer, a husband, and a father. The stories took a back seat as life churned on.
One of the perks of being a dad is that you get to tell many stories. Not just stories that you read, but stories you create. Each night when I tuck my daughter into bed, I say, “What should our story be tonight?”. She gives me the setting, “A little girl and a cupcake factory that’s gone crazy.” It’s a little like a Whose Line is it Anyway sketch, creating the scene on the spot.
And it made me think of that blinking cursor, and all of those stories I wanted to tell.
So, I opened up my laptop and started pecking away. Technology has changed since those five-and-a-quarter-inch disk days, and now I can independently publish. I’m stepping up to the plate, taking a swing at the ball, and seeing how far I can run.
I was born in 1996 and raised in Converse, TX. Growing up, I always watched a lot of animation, which gave me a deep appreciation for voice acting, which only grew as the years went on. Even from a young age, I had a voice that commanded the attention of others. Though not an attention seeker, I always noticed how heads would turn when I spoke, and I was often compared to James Earl Jones and Morgan Freeman, even in middle school. When I chose to pursue a career in culinary arts and work as a food salesman, everyday people would tell me that I should be in radio. With years of public speaking experience thanks to my religious ministry, I finally yielded to all of the advice I had received over the years and finally embraced getting into the world of voice-over by making audiobooks.
Now, I combine my vocal talents with my love of reading to help bring stories to life. When I’m not reading, I’m cooking, baking, or gaming. Whatever I’m doing, I’ve got a story to tell.
*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 WordPress “share” buttons below and share these books with your Twitter (X), Facebook, and/or WordPress followers. A little bit of assistance from all of us will help Indie authors go a long way!
Indie Weekend is my effort to help Indie authors with marketing. It’s a daunting task, and if I can help even a little bit, I’m happy to do it. You can help too by sharing this post with all of your social media followers. Below please see a book review, bio, purchase links, AND a Q&A with Author Jennifer Marchman.
BOOK REVIEW
Eva is a Mender, a fixer of time. She travels to “shadow” timelines, bringing them in line with the “one true timeline,” a line where Germany won World War II. Now her mission is in Texas, in March 1836, but something is off, as she’s arrived several months early. When she meets Jim, a white man raised by Comanches, she is alarmed to see how real he is. He is supposed to be just a shadow, not a feeling human being, and he’s making it hard for her to maintain her people’s vows of celibacy. Then Jim’s friend Pump astonishes her even more when he reveals a secret that only she can understand.
This is the first book in The Mender Trilogy. Jennifer Marchman has created an intricately woven story, as complex as the quantum strings Eva pulls to move through time. The method of time travel is fascinating and based on string theory. The history of Texas, or what would eventually be Texas, is well researched. Every author of a time travel novel must set rules of travel, and what the author has done here is layer many rules, with the reader soon realizing that only some of them are true. It is an intriguing development, as we discover the truths and deceptions along with Eva. The research into Jim’s part of the story is well done, with Comanche customs, culture, and language added throughout. The racism and brutality of life at that time and the poor treatment of women are realistic and true to the period. The characters’ honesty about their own flaws is touching and compelling. This is a captivating and bold combination of time travel, Texas history, and romance that will leave the reader wanting more.
I received a free copy of this book via The Historical Novel Society. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jennifer Marchman lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband, three nearly-grown children, and the two best dogs in the world. At different times, she has worn various authorial hats, including ghostwriter-memoirist, editor, curriculum writer, educational blogger, grant writer, and addicted social media over-sharer, but now, after many years, she’s writing for pleasure.
Jennifer is a member of the Writers’ League of Texas, the Historical Novel Society, #TimeTravelAuthors in the Twitterverse, and helps organize Austin Indie Authors.
She enjoys flamenco dancing, is the proud owner of a white belt in jiu-jitsu, and wishes to compete internationally in mounted archery but lacks a ticket to Kazakhstan. She has toyed with the idea of picking up pottery again, but needs more hours in her day and a husband willing to install (for the fourth time) the necessary electrical outlet for a kiln that may likely go unused.
Visit her website to join her mailing list, view Mender Trilogy extras, and for updates! She loves to hear from readers!
Below is my Q&A with Jennifer Marchman, and I loved her answers so much I put a few after-the-fact comments underneath some of the questions.
Bonnie: Hi Jennifer! Thanks for agreeing to this Q&A!
Jennifer: More than happy to! Thanks for the opportunity!
Bonnie: First, let’s go beyond the bio. Tell us something about yourself that we might not know from reading your bio.
Jennifer: I don’t like sitting still. This is a poor personality trait to have as a writer! But when I write, it is all-consuming. I wrote the entire trilogy from mid-February 2021 to the end of March 2021. Except for inserting what is now chapter 2, my story is the way I wrote it from start to finish. Over the next two and a half years, beta readers helped me add more where things were confusing and needed clarification (and, of course, grammar!), but the order is exactly what I originally wrote. I could have continued polishing indefinitely, but at some point, I needed to let it go.
During that first draft, I was writing 3,000 to 5,000 words a day. I stopped eating and sleeping, and I pretty much abandoned my family. I don’t recommend this! But I feel immensely grateful for the experience, perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime one. I felt tuned into a radio station where I was just listening to what was being said and recording what was happening. Jim, in particular, was irritated that I didn’t give him a voice from the get-go, and believe me, I was just as shocked about the twists as most readers are. I didn’t see them coming either.
I queried my manuscript a little bit, but after 20 queries, I decided I didn’t want an editor changing my story to make it more marketable. As other writers will know, 20 queries are nothing when trying to break into traditional publishing, but even if one had responded, I would have told them I had decided to self-publish. I knew I would have had a hard time preserving my creative integrity in the face of someone who would have felt, to me, like an authority figure (a trad publisher), and it would have caused me enormous stress. My book is as it should be. My audience will find it.
P.S. My husband, in proofreading this for me, said that I didn’t really answer your question. I described my writing process rather than saying anything new about myself.
Hmmm…. I just started volunteering at my local library as an ESL teacher for adults wanting to practice English with a native speaker. I’m learning Spanish myself, so I can sympathize. (This will be the fourth time I’ve tried to learn Spanish, but I’m going to stick with it this time). As I mentioned in my bio, I dance flamenco, and I just started learning castanets (very fun, and a great brain teaser!) And, finally, I am a late adopter of trends. I just started making sourdough, and I’ve made a loaf just about every day for the last month. If we have too much, I give a loaf away.
**Bonnie’s Reaction: I love all the opportunities offered at the local library!
Bonnie:This book is set mostly in Texas during the Texas War of Independence against Mexico. I was surprised to realize that I had learned very little about this in school in Ohio. Your bio says you live in Texas. Did you grow up in Texas, and is this topic something you were already very familiar with?
Jennifer: Yes, I was born in Dallas and raised in my mother’s hometown of Waxahachie from the age of two until I left for college. Waxahachie is (was) a tiny little rural town thirty minutes south of Dallas, in the middle of the Blackland Prairie (so think “flat”). It’s not so little now! But at the time I lived there, it was a typical small Texas town, and we were really, really excited to get a McDonald’s when I was in middle school.
Children are taught Texas history in the fourth grade and seventh grade. Beyond the Alamo, I don’t recall all that much from my own schooling, but since I homeschooled my three children, I had a chance to dive pretty deep with them. We live in Austin, so we began each Texas history block learning about the Comanche and the Tonkawa, two local tribes. When I was putting together a fourth-grade curriculum for other Texas homeschoolers to use, I reached out to the Comanche Museum in Lawton, Oklahoma, for the first time for resources.
During COVID, just as things were opening up and we could visit museums, my youngest was in seventh grade, so we were working through Texas history again. We visited the Presidio in Goliad, and that’s where I first learned about the Angel of Goliad. Initially, I was going to write about her, but I pretty quickly began brainstorming Eva. I heard her voice. I didn’t hear Francisca’s until it was time (Book 3).
**Bonnie’s Reaction: Local museums are a great place to start!
Bonnie: Time travel must have a method and basic rules set by the author. The method you used is so interesting and involves string theory, but is still easy to understand. How did this clever idea come to you?
Jennifer: I have always been fascinated with the mind-bending theoretical bits of physics, such as relativity, quantum mechanics, and string theory. I believe string theory has since fallen out of fashion a bit, but I still find it compelling. It kind of makes the world make sense to me. It seems to me that if time travel were possible, it would require changing the vibration of each energetic string.
And thank you, by the way! I’m glad to hear it was easy to understand. It was quite tricky to get my ideas across without bogging down the story, especially since my story isn’t really about time travel. The mechanics of time travel are beside the point in many ways, though fun to imagine, certainly! If I could have any superpower, it would be time travel, but with the caveat that somehow, I came out wearing the right clothes, speaking the right language, and was immune to disease.
**Bonnie’s Reaction: I didn’t realize string theory was out of fashion, so I need to check out new trends.
Bonnie: Jim is a white man who was raised by the Comanche. Through him we learn about Comanche customs and ways. Tell us about your research into this topic.
Jennifer: Captive narratives are thrilling to read. If you drive out to West Texas, there are often self-published copies that are continuing to be reprinted and sold at the gas stations by the descendants. Captives are certainly part of the lore of Central Texas and even where I grew up in North Texas. We just heard stories about them growing up, and except for some of the violence that accompanied each capture, as a kid, I thought it sounded pretty great to be carried off to a life that sounded free, certainly freer than mine or any other modern human’s. Of course, as an adult and from my research, the reality is much more complicated. For my book, I read every narrative I could access, and I corresponded with a professor at Texas State University who specializes in Comanche captivity. I can now point to exact spots in Austin (mostly under parking lots) where captives were first taken. Something like that has a way of forming a connection with you.
As for the Comanche customs, I contacted the Comanche Museum and used the books they recommended. One of the books (Wallace and Hoebel) is considered the gold standard. Additionally, I was able to find the original transcripts from their interviews with informants, and I used those for extensive fact-checking. I also met with the cultural specialist at the museum to ask a whole bunch of questions, more than I’m sure he bargained for when he agreed to meet me!
When my manuscript was complete, I found a sensitivity reader who is an enrolled member of the Comanche Nation. She graciously read my manuscript twice. She was actually my first reader, and then she read it a second time after it had been through most of my 31 total beta readers. She’s pretty much a saint.
Exploring Comanche culture was probably my favorite part of the process.
**Bonnie’s Reaction: A cultural sensitivity reader is such a great idea!
Bonnie: Eva is slowly learning that she’s been deceived by her cult, and you portrayed this perfectly. Did you research other victims of indoctrination in order to do this so well?
Jennifer: I drew from personal experience.
Bonnie: The characters in this novel are so human. Jim and Eva are not perfect and have done things that would horrify others. How important was it for you to convey real flawed characters in this book?
Jennifer: Extremely important. I love humans, but we can also be really shitty to each other. Every single one of us is capable of being a monster, and in fact, at some point, we probably have been to someone somewhere, even if we’re not aware of it. Except for psychopaths, people are usually well-intentioned. At a minimum, people think their actions are justified (even psychopaths). I heard someone once say that most people are sincere, mistaken, or afraid. I try to keep that in mind, and I tried to keep that in mind for my characters. Each of them believes themselves to be a good person.
The interesting question for me as a writer is: Why do they think they are right? But real love is unconditional for this very reason. None of us are perfect. Love doesn’t always mean that we can stay in a relationship with a loved one who is hurting us, but we love them anyway and want what’s best for them, even from afar. Eva and Jim have both done horrible things; they see each other, no masks, but they also see each other’s tender hearts. They both want to be good, to do right, whatever that is. They’re just not sure anymore.
The world is a very gray place for me. I’m finding that I’m increasingly old-fashioned in this regard.
Bonnie: The Mender is Book 1 in a trilogy, and all three books are available on Amazon. Is this series complete, and if so, tell us about your next writing adventure.
Jennifer: The Mender Trilogy is complete, though I created a rich world that is begging for spinoff stories. I’m percolating several ideas at the moment. Perhaps we’ll find out Pump’s origin story… Perhaps we’ll find out what happened to Sakura and Enrique… Perhaps Eva will try to set the multiverse right… I’ll know when they speak to me!
Bonnie: Thanks so much again for answering my questions today! I really enjoyed The Mender.
Jennifer: Thanks! Anytime!
PURCHASE LINKS
Click on the Image Below to purchase The Mender Trilogy on Amazon
**Kindle Unlimited Subscribers can read it for free.
BEFORE YOU GO…
*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 WordPress “share” buttons below and share these books with your Twitter (X), Facebook, and/or WordPress followers. A little bit of assistance from all of us will help Indie authors go a long way!
Bonnie Reads and Writes 
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