January 31, 2023
Just City is an engaging, philosophically oriented YA novel that helps show readers how to find the values that matter the most to them.
The story follows Nathan, a budding young entrepreneur striving to succeed on his own, as he works to earn money to enter a start-up contest. As part of this, he takes […]
January 17, 2023
This thrilling, well-executed tale of international espionage pits a small group of independent fighters against a mastermind terrorist.
After the events of Brett Andrew Strange’s former book, Against the Dusk, Katya Volkova is training herself to fight the shadowy villain Perses, who tortured her after killing her family. Her lover, American war veteran Paul Drake, […]
December 27, 2022
Dan Westerlin’s Shadow Men is a military thriller revolving around terrorist activity.
As the story begins, eight SEALs, led by Senior Chief Petty Officer Jake Tapman, are assigned a covert mission to kill Bassel Abid el Jabbar, a Syrian doctor. But the mission, overseen by National Security Agency agent Roger Dunston, Vice Admiral Nancy Brightman, […]
December 15, 2022
In this fictional coming-of-age tale, based on the author’s experiences, a young boy faces his fears in the Oregon outdoors.
Thirteen-year-old Danny Novak is excited to spend his summer as a staff member at Camp Baker on a lake on the Oregon Coast. Despite the minimum age requirement of 15, he was hired because of […]
December 13, 2022
Dan Westerlin’s historical novel peers into an isolated Japan and the closing years of the Dutch colony of Dejima.
In 1851, ambitious young Hendrik de Wolfe marries his boss’s daughter and is appointed overseer of Dejima, the Dutch trading post outside Nagasaki that has for two centuries been Europe’s only contact with Japan. Tensions run […]
November 15, 2022
Torn is a short, quietly engaging young adult novel about health and empathy.
The novel is narrated by Perry, a high school track runner who seriously hurts his knee after trying to catch a young thief stealing a package from his porch. He later discovers the thief is dating his younger sister and is one […]
November 8, 2022
A meticulously researched chronicle of her parents’ fateful meeting and subsequent romance amid the horrors of WWII, Leila Sen’s debut novel blends memoir and historical fiction.
The story is initially set in 2002, a few months after Sen has scattered her parents’ ashes. Her visit to their home in San Francisco, the beloved house—filled with […]
November 8, 2022
Life-changing events — such as divorce or a loved one’s death — provide opportunities for self-growth. To use these events as such, self-motivation is key, writes author David Edwards. This requires developing two skills: self-efficacy and self-esteem, he believes.
Most of Edwards’ book describes how to hone these skills. Starting with exercises focused on identifying […]
November 1, 2022
Deeann D. Mathews’ debut is an entertaining drama and a sharp denunciation of the anti-black racism endemic in the U.S.
In 2019, police stations across mostly rural Lofton County, Virginia, are in turmoil because the new black-run newspaper, the Lofton County Free Voice, has used the Freedom of Information Act to request ten years of […]
October 17, 2022
Brad Wyrick teaches Christians how to apply God’s scriptural promises to their lives in this self-help book focused on gaining spiritual maturity through praying the Scriptures.
The Bible is full of God’s promises for His children. Wyrick likens the “over 3,000 promises in the Bible” to a stack of gift cards “sitting there in the […]