After The Rain: Stories by Dina Sokal ; The Narrow by Dan Cornelious; The Love That Wouldn't Die by Anthony Biren; 200 Things Women Can Do After 50 by Permission Press

 

After The Rain: Stories by Dina Sokal

This is a summary of the review. The entire review can be found on LitPick.

This poignant and meaningful anthology focuses on emotional confrontations, secrets, trauma, memories, and how sometimes it takes adulthood and maturity to understand these experiences.

The best stories are:

“Henry and Sally”- Henry learns that his ailing wife, Sally, has secrets that he never knew.

This story is about how we never know everything about the people that we are around the most, spouses, children, and close friends and family. 

Henry cares for his wife through her dementia and finds out her secret on his own. He weighs his suspicion towards her and his guilt in bringing this outcome forward. He has to address the reality of his marriage, not his romantic rose tinted view.

 “The Ritual Committee Meeting”-Christy weighs religious devotion with her uncertainty about her committee leaders Jonathan and Rivka who are becoming quite authoritarian.

This story is only a few pages long but says a great deal about Christy and the other church members. Christy sees the tight hold that the couple have on the committee and when she disagrees with them, they let her know that she has fallen in their estimation. 

She wonders if they are there to lead others to worship God or themselves.

“Mother's Day”-An accident forces Val to evaluate her marriage, motherhood, faith, and behavior.

Val once held a superficial view of her life. She thought that it was an idyllic home as long as she existed on the surface and lived in benign contentment. 

Afterwards she has to weigh her love for her husband and family. She also has to look at her own troublesome behavior and seek to change it.

“After the Rain”- A woman has a magical encounter that forces her to confront her past.

Most of the story is surreal and yet meaningful as a strange box leads her to several human figures, particularly a baby that beckons her to follow it. They have a lot of symbolic touches concerning security, suppression, and confrontation.

The story’s climax is reached when she names the trauma that was done to her. She confronts her assailant and brings her pain to the forefront. Recognizing it gives her the first step towards healing.

 Sokal’s watercolor illustrations are winsome pleasant landscapes that bring a timeless dream-like quality to the stories and provide light to even the darkest moments.

The Narrow by Dan Cornelious 

This is a suspenseful Science Fiction Thriller that combines monster disasters, alien encounters, and conspiracy theories and does some clever unique things with the concepts.

After surviving an attack by a mysterious creature Eli Merritt investigates the encounter. He sees a sealed passage which leads him to a civilization of reptilians called the Zargata. He bonds with one named Ryznk. When a greater evil approaches Eli, Ryznk, and their human and reptilian allies have to work together to fight it.

Most of the book focuses on typical military science fiction thriller tropes. There are the military figures who try to keep the weird stuff under wraps as they fight against it. The scientists and doctors with the analytical questions, devotion to science, and arguments with the military. 

The salt of the Earth protagonist who stumbles on the strange new world but still kicks ass. The religious supporting character that quotes the Bible and fears the End Times. It's all familiar but also kind of fun as a good action novel read for the summer should be. 

One of the most interesting aspects of this book are the reptilians. Most Science Fiction novels that focus on conspiracy theories treat the reptilians as some unstoppable inhuman evil bent in conquest and destruction. Dan Cornelious however took great care to make the Zargata just as important and multi-faceted as the humans.

 Ryznk is actually a well written character more so than Eli, his human counterpart who is alright but stereotypical and cliched. Ryznk however is a proud member of the Zargata community but has enough intelligent curiosity and empathy towards the humans. He draws Eli and others  into their mutual struggles by sharing thoughts and emotions. It is an interesting touch in what might have been a typical Science Fiction Thriller.

The friendship that develops between Eli and Ryznk is the emotional core of the story as they fight against their isolation, assumptions, enemies both human and reptilian, and mental and emotional blockers to work together. It's a twist that elevates this book from ordinary to potentially exceptional.

The Love That Wouldn't Die by Anthony Biren 

This is a beautiful and sinister short novel about the love between parent and child that survives beyond death.

John is devoted to his daughter, Rocky. He is so devoted to her that his final thoughts before he dies in a traffic collision were to always be with her. After death, he watches Rocky as she becomes romantically involved with Derek, a dangerous stalker.

The horror and mystery aspects are well written. John's attempts to communicate with his daughter can be creepy as he speaks to her through her phone and flickers with lights. Also John's attachment to Rocky could affect his memory of her and human emotions leaving him as an angry vengeance seeking spirit.

Besides the supernatural horror, there is also human horror. It is particularly noticeable when John and Rocky are given a chilling vision of Derek's actions and motives. The lengths that Derek went through because he felt entitled to have Rocky are incredibly disturbing.

Above all, this is a strong story about the love between a father and daughter. The opening chapter features a charming moment between John and his then-toddler aged daughter as she watches butterflies. It symbolizes their relationship as Rocky is as beautiful and fragile as those butterflies and John tries hard to hold onto her until he learns to defend when necessary but also to let her go.

200 Things Women Can Finally Do at 50 by Permission Press

If you are approaching 50, don't look at it as old age or think that it is an end to life. Think of it as a potential start to do new things. This is a funny and uplifting book that suggests that women can find fulfillment by living for themselves.

This book covers various areas like social life, beauty standards, work, family, health, tech, and a bucket list. The items suggest similar messages like “It's okay to opt out.” “It's okay to be less than perfect” “It's okay to practice self care.” “It's okay for others to take care of you.” “It's okay to be behind the times.” “It's okay to meet long term goals that were put off by life situations.” “It's okay to be yourself.”

The suggestions are humorous and heartfelt to remind readers that they should make time for themselves. For example in the social life chapter, one suggestion is “Unfriend the Energy Vampire. We all have that one friend. She only calls to complain about her ex, her boss, or the rash on her leg. You have listened to the same loop for 15 years because you are loyal. You are not a therapist, and you are not a garbage can for your emotional refuse. It is okay to outgrow people who only take. Hit ‘Block’ or ‘Mute’ to lift that weight off your shoulders immediately. Rebel Rule: Protect your peace like it is a limited-edition handbag.”

July-August Reading List

 July-August Reading List 

The Arts Council by Dolly Gray Landon 

The Price of Loyalty: Serving Adela of Blois by Malve Von Hassell*

An Era in Anddemar by Maureen B. Roberts*

Borrowed Time by John Glynn

Rock Kills by Michael DeLauro 

The Writing Writes The Writer: Taking Kev to Sizzlin’ Meats and Salads by Kevin Cann

A Mostly Magnificent Memoir: True Stories Dramatized and Somewhat Fictionalized by Bo Bennett, PhD

The Weight of Sunshine by Robin Maguire 

The Music Box and The Missing Bride by Evelyn Hartwell

 The Girl Who Never Left by Alison Stuart 

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Prices are as follows (subjected to change depending on size and scope of the project):

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*These are books reviewed for LitPick or Reader's Views and will only feature a summary and a few paragraphs with links to the full reviews on their sites. Some may not be featured at all.

**Exceptions are books provided by Henry Roi PR, LitPick, Reedsy Discovery, Hidden Gems, Reader Views, and DP Books. Payments of short Nonfiction reviews are already facilitated through various reading groups such as Paid Readers Club, Read Books, Read for Pay, etc.

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Well that's it. Thanks and as always, Happy Reading.

A Maid For Murder (The Sinclair Mysteries) by Bethany Swafford; Ongoing Mystery Makes and Mars Historical Mystery

 A Maid For Murder (The Sinclair Mysteries) by Bethany Swafford; Ongoing Mystery Makes and Mars Historical Mystery 

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: It's rare when a mystery series relies entirely on an ongoing mystery that travels from volume to volume. It's different but it can also cause problems while reading. That is the situation found in Bethany Swafford’s Sinclair Mysteries and its second volume, A Maid For Murder.

In the previous volume, The Secret of Burnham House, the brother of Juliet Sinclair, a former lady of standing, was found dead under mysterious circumstances. Her investigation in London offers a lead in Bath.

This volume tells of Juliet's adventures in Bath where she creates the identity of Julie Nelson, a lady's maid to the haughty Miss Dunbar. Juliet's investigation is complicated by Miss Dunbar’s unstable demeanor, her lecherous brother, a former suitor of Juliet's who is definitely in the wrong place at the wrong time, a woman with a connection to Juliet's late brother, and a blackmailer.

The ongoing mystery is both a benefit to the book by making it a unique murder mystery and a drawback to the narrative structure of this volume and the series as a whole.

The ongoing mystery provides much wider stakes than the usual crimes of passion or killing someone for an inheritance or insurance payout that are found in stand alone mystery novels. 

Once the reader becomes used to the idea that anyone could be involved, they become aware how long and how tangled this network really is. In theory, it could go as high as the governing offices. 

This overarching plot leads to genuine moments of suspense as Juliet puts herself in jeopardy while in Bath. Anyone knowing her real name could be an enemy or at the very least could blow her cover. She is held captive or put under suspicion by people who normally would just be among the Dunbar’s frequent callers but often cast wary glances at the familiar looking lady's maid who bears a striking resemblance to a certain London lady who suffered a family tragedy.

Another asset is that it makes the novel more realistic. Sometimes a mystery can't be solved in a short time frame. Sometimes it takes longer. Some may not be solved at all. If the murder occurred in higher offices, it takes a lot more than pluck and determination of one person to bring it down. Sometimes it takes another authority.

Also Swafford chose an interesting protagonist to explore this network. Juliet is the usual scrappy, feisty, opinionated, bright observant amateur detective that this type of book usually calls for. 

It's also fascinating as this volume requires Juliet to work as a lady's maid. She sees first hand the abuse, demands, and constant repetitive tasks that maids have to do, responsibilities she probably never had to think about.

 She also sees how employers treat servants like they are invisible only there to serve needs, agree with orders, and absolutely never have an opinion of their own. It's dehumanizing but at the same time it gives Juliet an advantage so she can observe and listen to leads and clues without being spotted.

Some of the best passages in the book are Juliet’s moments with the Dunbar Siblings who are to say the least pieces of work. Miss Dunbar is a spoiled shrill unstable harridan that Juliet is barely biting back insults and the urge to fight back. Her brother is a lecherous cad and potential rapist who thinks that any woman is his for the taking. 

Many of Juliet's best moments are when she outsmarts and outplays the Dunbars and especially when she is finally put in a situation where she can really let them have it.

However, there are some serious drawbacks to an ongoing murder that lasts through the series and it shows here. The mystery can never be solved in one volume so readers are left trying to figure out the details that threaten to become more convoluted as the series continues. Also, it's intensely frustrating as potential leads and clues slip out from Juliet's grasp which makes one question her detective skills if she can't solve the mystery in one volume.

Then there is a question about the series longevity. How long does Swafford intend to stretch this central mystery? It could only last for so long before the books become repetitive. It's possible that once this central mystery is solved, then another one will begin in subsequent volumes but that removes the potential uniqueness of the series.

Another issue is while earlier I praised the book for its realism in extending the main plot, is realism really what people are going for when they read historical mysteries?

From my experience, no. Mostly we want fantasy. We like empowerment. We want the plucky protagonist who is ahead of her time to face the bad guys and win, especially when it's in the name of a loved one. Is it realistic? No not always but it's comforting. That's why we return to this genre and keep coming back. We want to know that the killer is identified and justice is always met. If it's not true in real life then maybe it can be in fiction.

Made in Blood (The Vampire Communion) by Alex Redford; Vampires Approach The End of the World

 Made in Blood (The Vampire Communion) by Alex Redford; Vampires Approach The End of the World 

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: Here's a question that I thought that I would never be asking. What do vampires do when the world is coming to an end? This unlikely brain teaser is the raison d'etre of the Horror novel Made in Blood The Vampire Communion by Alex Redford.

In the book, an asteroid will destroy the Earth in 55 days. Despite the government’s assurance that everything will be fine, it's on its way and nothing can stop it. This is a problem for everyone but especially Oliver and his fellow vampires. They need sustenance and more vampires so they try to transform as many humans as they possibly can. Oliver engages in a romance with Emily, a mortal woman. As if that's not bad enough, a newly created vampire is going on a senseless killing rampage.

This book is a strange combination of Horror and Science Fiction that sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. It makes the book unique in the glut of vampire horror and end of the world Apocalyptic science fiction to combine the two. However the blend has a tendency to muddle the two halves to the point where they are explored too much or not enough.

The vampire aspects are rather interesting if typical for the genre. Oliver is the usual brooding, Byronic, wealthy vampire despairing about immortality while thinking about that one human love. His relationships with his fellow vampires are insightful as he treats them as family with some that he considers siblings and parents. 

Then there are others who are sworn enemies and rivals. It's kind of odd that despite this upcoming destruction, the vampires still retain their centuries of rivalry. I suppose even when the natural elements are all depleted, they will still have years of scores to settle. 

There is another monstrous vampire character that frightens even the long term vampires. They operate on rules, codes, and logic. They are part of clans and protect one another. Sometimes, they even broker alliances with humans which are on the increase now since they need meals and some humans want to survive the end by any means necessary.

The Vampire Monster has no rules or standards. They are the vampire equivalent of a psychopathic serial killer. They kill without remorse, feeling, and out of a deranged kill or be killed mentality. The other vampires despair about a monster that they created but now can't handle and technically don't have time to do so.

With one exception, the human characters are a bit more wanting. Emily is not much of a presence. She is the typical naive innocent who loves her strange brooding boyfriend but doesn't know his real secrets until it's too late. But there isn't a whole lot of depth to her character. It doesn't help that she disappears through much of the book before we really get to know her.

Other human characters either try to go on with their lives or know the asteroid is coming and panic and find any means to survive. Actually most of the strong human characterization comes from Emily’s father Bruce who stands out in the entire cast.

He is among the first to see and calculate the trajectory of the asteroid so he knows that it's coming long before anyone else does. He is desperate to hold onto his daughter because he fears that he might literally never see her again. 

His anguish about Emily’s situation and the upcoming asteroid push him into some dark places. He was once a rational scientific man who was fond of his daughter. He regresses into alcoholism, depression, and violence. At the end of time, Bruce is on the cusp of reaching the end of his mind and life.

Speaking of the end, the asteroid seems to be a story arc that continues throughout the series. That means that it doesn't occur in this book. This volume instead focuses on what happens during the initial announcement.

Many are in denial. Some characters are going on with their lives. Government officials downplay the severity. With the exception of a few characters like Bruce, Emily, and the vampires it's business as usual. 

Halfway through the book, we see more characters that live in fear and looking for ways to survive. But still the end is in the background in favor of the vampires. At this point, the asteroid could almost be removed from the book. Not to mention that if humans die, vampires will eventually starve to death.

The asteroid collision and impact will more than likely turn The Vampire Communion into a different series entirely. It will be interesting to see what happens during the end and most importantly what happens afterwards.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig; 1,000th Blog Post is About a Captivating Enchanting Library of Lives

 

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig; 1,000th Blog Post is About a Captivating Enchanting Library of Lives

By Julie Sara Porter 

Spoilers: Wow, 1,000th blog post! 9 years! It has been quite a ride! I have been a Book Reviewer longer than I have been anything else and I love it! 

There have been so many authors, so many books, and so many stories that I shared. I feel like I have lived thousands of lives vicariously. So it is fitting that my thousandth review should be The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, a Contemporary Fantasy novel about a library that tells of several potential lives of one woman. 

Nora Seed attempts to take her own life. When she wakes up, she finds herself inside The Midnight Library. The librarian, Mrs. Elm tells her that it is filled with books that represent the various lives that Nora lived had she made different choices. All she has to do is choose one and she is transported to become that particular Nora in that particular reality.

This book has an amazing concept with wonderful themes of choice, regret, memory, loss, possibility, personal happiness, and finding one's true path. The library itself is filled with an endless collection of books, lives, that are untitled and unmarked. They seem to convey sameness and monotony, but instead the stories inside provide a variety of lives with different situations, experiences, and memories.

Nora is the right character for something like this to happen (even if her surname, Seed, and Mrs. Elm’s names are a bit on the nose.) Nora works at a music store and despairs over missed opportunities and lost career paths. She has broken romantic relationships and is estranged from family members. Her life is just going through the motions and feeling like she isn't a part of anything. She feels that her life is one of past regret and barely living in the present.

The lives take Nora through various situations. In many ways, this book is similar to the movie Everything Everywhere All At Once, which presents another woman entering various realities based on different worlds and choices. The realities come from different initial choices. Then those choices result in other outcomes. Some good, some bad but eventually lead to her becoming a more sagacious and perceptive person because of her experience with them.

Nora becomes a pub owner, animal rescue shelter worker, an Olympic swimmer turned public speaker, rock star, climate change scientist, and philosophy professor among other careers. Her family and love life fill the gamut from single, cohabitating, in romantic relationships, married, divorced, to widowed. Her friends are still in touch, grown apart, connected on social media, lost because of breakups, or are completely out of her life.

She is childless, had various miscarriages, has one or two children. She has plenty of pets, allergic to animals, or had pets that died. Her parents are divorced, widowed, still together, both dead, or out of her life. Her brother is estranged from her, supporting her, acting as her manager, alive, or dead. She can be healthy and destined to live a long life, sickly and dying, physically healthy but suffering from various psychiatric disorders, or caught in a serious catastrophic accident.

It's exhausting and also exhilarating keeping track of the various realities, moving along Nora’s life paths, understanding the changes, and finding out the knowledge and wisdom that she obtains from them. Each reality is different but tells a complete beautiful story of a woman receiving the opportunity to explore all of her potential lives to find the one that fulfills her the most.

That is the secret to the various realities. All of them have positive and negative aspects. One where she is rich and famous could also see her as depressed and suicidal. One where she married an ex boyfriend that she still has feelings for gives her lots of friends but various marital problems. 

One where she travels and sees many great places reveals that she experiences them alone. Another where she works for important humanitarian causes puts her in Nihilistic despair when she believes that nothing will improve. Even when she is in a mostly happy reality, there is something that she lost or gave up on. Even when a possibility leads to negative results, she can find something positive inside it. 

The point of the novel is not to find the perfect life or the life where Nora left the biggest impact. It's to find the possibilities that surround her and in turn us. It's for all of us to recognize the hardships and appreciate the pleasures. To find meaning and existence in living no matter the reality. To find everything instead of nothing. In my case, to find the meaning and possibility that exists in every story. All 1,000 of them.

The Dark Side of Dreams by Marjorie Kay Noble; What The Mirrors Knew by Linda Annas Ferguson

 The Dark Side of Dreams by Marjorie Kay Noble; What The Mirrors Knew by Linda Annas Ferguson 

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

The Dark Side of Dreams by Marjorie Kay Noble

This review is a summary. The full review can be found on LitPick. 

Marjorie Kay Noble’s The Dark Side of Dreams is an astute, insightful, and vivid look at a future of simulated reality and corporate control. 

In the future where consciousness can be uploaded to a simulated afterlife called Shemathra’s Realm, Mira Patel uploads a digital copy of her grandfather Gunter Holden, protagonist of the book Babylon Dreams. She recruits her grandfather to help her fight the oppressive system controlling the real and virtual worlds. She also learns more about Gunter’s nefarious past which challenges her previous view of him.

The world that Mira lives in and Gunter saw the start of is one where gigantic corporations openly control everything and everybody from birth to beyond death. This is a sad situation that the current dictators created but Gunter also has to bear a lot of responsibility for what he openly caused and what he allowed to happen during his own climb to success. 

He is made to face many of the decisions that he made, the people that he hurt, the financial gain but emotional abandonment, and the corruption that occurred when he made the first choice but others took his ideas and made them worse. 

He has to make the choice to be the hero after death in simulated reality that he wasn't in life in the physical world.

Coming soon What The Mirrors Knew by Linda Annas Ferguson to here and Reader View

Saffron by Justin Hughes; Spooky, Sinister, and Strange Supernatural Psychological Horror

 

Saffron by Justin Hughes; Spooky, Sinister, and Strange Supernatural Psychological Horror

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews

This review is also on Reedsy Discovery 

Spoilers: Justin Hughes’s potentially supernatural horror novel Saffron is not overly scary so much as it is eerie and ominous. It concerns a situation that could be supernatural or psychological. We are encountering a protagonist who is either seeing ghosts or losing his sanity.

Toby, a British boarding school going teen, suffered tremendous loss and is depressed. He sees a strange saffron figure in the distance. As the figure gets closer, Toby thinks that this figure is stalking him. However his friends and family don't see anything and wonder if he is heading towards a psychotic break.

This book depends on a sense of eeriness in an unknown situation not so much with ghosts or other creatures that are upfront with a history. The figure is the main horror in the novel. It begins gradually and grows into an overwhelming presence in Toby's life. 

The book alternates between Toby's point of view and those of other characters. Some of the creepiest chapters are the ones told by Toby's friends. They see their friend looking in a specific direction and yell at something to keep away from him or suddenly quake with fear. 

When they ask him what's wrong, he doesn't tell them for fear that they think that he is going crazy (though he is running that risk anyway). His friends can't help because they can't see or hear anything. Is Toby losing his mind?

In their defense, Toby has suffered from emotional turmoil. His father and brother died and he, his mother, and sister are having a difficult time coping. In fact, Toby prefers to be at school than at home.

He also has difficulties at school and with his classmates. Besides their concerns about Toby's sanity, there are several love shapes going on. A female friend of Toby’s has a crush on him, while he has a crush on another female friend, who is dating a boy, who is also attracted to an older guy.

All of these relationships hover around Toby’s spectral encounters which increases his emotional instability and inability to confide in his friends and family about what's happening making him lonelier than ever.

What is haunting Toby isn't just this spectral figure. What is haunting him are the emotions that he feels and is unable to express: loneliness, isolation, alienation, anxiety, grief. The feelings that one gets when they are surrounded by people and yet feel like they are the last person on Earth. He is isolated not just by this figure but by himself.