Best of the Best 2019 Part 3: New Book Alert

Best of the Best 2019 Part 3: New Book Alert

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Now we come to my most popular category, New Book Alert.

I am proud to say that this year, I have seen a tremendous explosion in new book reviews. Because there were so many, I am doing a Top 20 countdown rather than Top 10.

A tremendous clientele have wanted to see their books read and reviewed.  I hope that I have done my part to give these authors and their works the attention that they deserve.

I would like to extend a hearty thank you to all of the authors, publishers, websites, social media platforms, and literary groups that have brought these books to my attention. You are what makes this blog great.

If you have or know of a book that you would love for me to review in the next year, do not hesitate to contact me at

Email: juliesaraporter@gmail.com

Twitter: @JulieSaraPorte1

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Now without any further introduction, on with the countdown:

 

20. Meditations on Discipline and Failure: Stoic Exercises for Mental Fitness/A Life Worth Living: God, Death, and Stoicism by William Ferraiolo

Ferraiolo's books take a modern look on how Readers can implement the philosophy of Stoicism in our daily lives. Meditations on Discipline and Failure offers quick suggestions and witticisms that cover various topics such as death, acceptance, relationships, success, and failure.

A Life Worth Living is a more in-depth coverage on bigger concepts like the existence of God and acceptance of death. These books give us advice on what we can learn and do to make our existence on Earth worth while. We can do it with a reserve that acknowledges loss and failure and moves on.

19. Shadows of the Raven (Sons of Kings) by Millie Thom

This is the first of many historical fiction novels on this list and begins with a hard, dark, violent look. In Anglo-Saxon England, Eadulf, a young Mercian prince is kidnapped from his family and sold into slavery to Vikings. The book is mesmerizing as Eadulf adapts to their ways by taking on a more violent persona, worshipping the warrior-like Norse gods, and participating in village raids with his masters.

18. The Bipolar Addict: Drinks, Drugs, Delirium, and Why Sober is the New Cool by Connor Bezane

Bezane's memoir about drug addiction and mental illness succeeds as a personal story and a more external outlook at the drug crisis in general. Bezane writes about his addictions with drugs including heroin, meth, and opioids as well as struggles with bipolar disorder in a way that is both witty and moving. He then turns the focus to five other people who had similar struggles. This book explores the hardships of addiction and illness and shows that recovery is possible.

17. For the Love of Wolves by D.J. Swykert

The third book in Swykert’s series about animal lover, Maggie Elizabeth Harrington is the best. In old age, Maggie lives alone with her memories of friends and lovers who have long died or left. She feels a deep connection to a white wolf that she believes still roams the woods long after his death. The book is filled with beautiful descriptions and a strong deep connection to nature that transcends beyond life and death. It shows that for some people, their love for animals can be greater than their love for fellow humans.

16. Zodiac States by William Stalker

A sharp and funny satirical novel about an island which is separated into twelve states that represents the signs of the Zodiac. Five newcomers experience each area that is brilliantly characterized from the gun-toting Cancers, to the feminist Virgos, to the meditative Pisces, to the hippy Aquarius. Stalker uses this bizarre premise to send up everything from international dependency, politics, economics, gender roles, war, fashion, technology, personality testing and everything else in between.

15. Gumshoe Blues (The Peter Ord Yarns) by Paul D. Brazill

The Hard-boiled detective genre has never looked more Millennial. British detective, Peter Ord investigates several cases involving missing persons and dealing with the local toughs. Ord's first person narration is what makes this anthology as he mocks the dark sinister world around him with a dry cynicism and references to popular culture.

14. Shiri by D.S. Taylor

This is a strong emotional novel about a woman sold into slavery in Ancient Egypt and being forced to work in the household of a man posing as an Egyptian nobleman. There are some very tense situations involving physical and sexual abuse and some drama involving Shiri’s loved ones who are on the opposite side between the slave-master dynamic. But Shiri is a strong admirable lead as she maintains her strength and faith throughout her captivity.

13. Sapphire and Planet Zero by Christina Blake

This is the start of a hopefully great YA Science Fiction/Fantasy series. Sapphire, a typical middle schooler, discovers that she is descended from a race of alien beings called the squilan and that she must return to her family's home planet to save her native race from a sinister dark wizard. Blake creates a unique world with unique characters. The squilan race are brilliantly created with violet eyes, crystal running through their veins, and unusual abilities like telekinesis and controlling the elements.

This journey becomes a rite of maturity as Sapphire learns to use her hidden powers and strength to fight her adversaries.

12. Confessions of A Bookseller by Shaun Bythell

Bythell's memoirs are a treat for anyone who makes a living by selling, writing, making, or reading books. Bythell recounts a year in which he ran the Book Shop in Wigtown, Scotland. He writes about eccentric customers, wacky co-workers, and his involvement in various activities including the Wigtown Festival, social media contests, and a shop where people can temporarily operate a book store. Bythell's reminisces are humorous, heartfelt, and fun.

11. The Book Charmer by Karen Hawkins

Hawkins’s book is a lovely charming novel about life in a sweet, magical, small town. Sara Dove is the town librarian of Dove Pond, South Carolina and she hears books talk to her-literally. Her efforts to rescue her fading town involve friends, family, and a business-like newcomer. This book is filled with charming little touches like flowers that change colors and sweet subplots of friendship and romance. This is the type of book that ends happily but it warms your heart when it does.

10. Unbalanced by Courtney Shepherd

This is a brilliant fantasy about four separated sisters who learn that they control the elements-Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. The fantastic elements are intriguing as the sisters learn about the dangers that their abilities possess. What really stands out are the four protagonists. Little details such as their hobbies, interests, and locations make them individuals. However, it is when they work together that balances their powers and makes them a formidable team.

9. Crossing the Hall: Exposing an American Divide by Lori Wojtowicz

Wojtowicz’s book not only takes an unflinching look at racism in the American classrooms but asks some intentionally uncomfortable questions of the Reader. Wojtowicz writes about her time teaching Honors English and African-American Literature classes and how the student body differed in terms of racial demographics, economic disparity, and family structures. The book identifies several forms of racism that people can fall into. It also discusses the way people can recognize those forms and change their outlook and behaviors. Sometimes the greatest changes can come from within.

8. Strung Out: One Last Hit and Other Lies I Told Myself by Erin Khar

Khar’s autobiography is an intense look at her struggles with opioid addiction and mental illness. Khar's troubled life before her addiction including divorce and sexual abuse is not glossed over and neither are the difficulties that she encountered during her recovery. This book gives us the full account of addiction and illness and how they affect that person before, during, and afterwards.

7. The Last Collection: A Novel of Elsa Schiaparelli and Coco Chanel by Jeanne Mackin

This is a stylish, glamorous, and savage historical fiction novel about the two noted fashion icons, Elsa Schiaparelli and Coco Chanel. A young widow works for Schiaparelli's fashion house and gets caught up in the rivalry between the two fashion titans. The book explores the differences between the duo in their styles, personalities, and politics and how they swept everyone along in their one on one war.

6. Glossolalia (Agents of the Nevermind) by Tantra Bensko

Glossolalia is a strange, bizarre, and unforgettable suspense novel set in an Alternate Universe United States where magic runs free. Two women and a young girl are caught up in the machinations of the Nevermind, a secret organization that runs the country. There are intense moments of mind control, psychic phenomena, drug therapy and other means that the Nevermind uses to control the populace. The plot brims with betrayal and odd connections as the protagonists discovers the unusual connection that they share.

5. Sand and Smoke (Dragon's Destiny) by Carl Cotas-Robles

This book transcends genres in bringing the Readers a combination Western-Steampunk Science Fiction-Fantasy. Al Hardin AKA The Silver Bandana and Maya Samoralt, a Dragonrider work together to stop a superweapon and bring down a corrupt government. Cotas-Robles brings this odd genre mixture to life by making them seem like a natural fit. In this world, cowboys and outlaws exist alongside sorcerers and dragons in an even almost anticlimactic way that accepts these circumstances. The best tropes of the genres combine to bring this brilliant novel to life.

4. Elizabeth Craven: Writer, Feminist, European by Julia Gasper

This biography tells the story of an overlooked but amazing woman who challenged 18th-early 19th century views of womanhood. Gasper brings Craven to life recounting her scandalous divorce, her travels through Europe and Asia, and her writing career which questioned the role of women in society. With this treatment, Elizabeth Craven deserves to be put in the spotlight and recognized for her contributions to Feminism.

3. L’Agent Double by Kit Sergeant

Sergeant has written a series of novels about female spies on the war front. This one is an exciting look at three women taking part in espionage during WWII: Mata Hari, Marthe Cnockeart, and Alouette Richer. The three are analyzed in their personalities and means of spying, making them memorable characters that are caught up in times that take tremendous courage and sacrifice.

2. Ashes by Sharon Gloger Friedman

The best historical novel of the year covers various topics like immigration rights, labor activism, women's suffrage, and Anti-Semitism. Miriam, a Russian Jewish immigrant, finds work to help support her impoverished family. Her work at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory is filled with details that describe the hardships of working in such a factory with long hours, inhuman regulations, and foremen that don't keep their hands and lecherous thoughts to themselves. The plot climaxes in the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of 1911 which many organizations cited to make enormous changes in society.

1. The Unseen Blossom by Zlaikha Y. Samad and L'Mere Younossi

The best book from this year is a beautiful allegorical fantasy about Zuli,an Afghan princess and Lamar, a commoner that go on a magical journey to find a fig blossom. The book is filled with enchanting chapters in which Zuli and Lamar travel to lands where flowers sing, birds and fish talk, and magical creatures dispense wisdom that aids the two on their trip.

Above all, The Unseen Blossom is a strong allegory of self-actualization. Zuli and Lamar harness their knowledge, strengths, limitations, and abilities to move beyond their roles as princess and commoner and to bring great change to their world.

Honorable Mention: The Meadows (Legacy of Darkness) by London Clarke, 8 Seconds to Midnight (Commander John Hart) by John Leifer, A Prison in the Sun (Canary Islands Mysteries) by Isobel Blackthorn, Seance on a Summer's Night by Josh Lanyon, Corruption Behind Bars: Stories of Crime and Corruption in America's Prisons by Gary York, Stories We Never Told by Sonia Yeorg, The Lost Power (Van Ops) by Avanti Centrae, Ways to Go Beyond and Why They Work by Rupert Sheldrake, Magic Sleep by Cherie Smith, Saving Grace (Fox River Romance Book 4) by Jess B. Moore

Happy Reading!

New Book Alert: Sand and Smoke (Dragon Destiny) by Carl Cota-Robles; Fantasy Novel Brilliantly Combined With Steampunk Science Fiction and Westerns

New Book Alert: Sand and Smoke (Dragon Destiny) by Carl Cota-Robles; Fantasy Novel Brilliantly Combined With Steampunk Science Fiction and Westerns

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews




Spoilers: If you want to write an Epic Fantasy series and are bored with putting it in a Medieval-esque setting with kings, feudal lords, elves, and sorcerers, you may wish to combine it with other genres. Science Fiction works, giving a scientific explanation to all of the magical goings-on. An Urban Setting could be interesting turning your Fantasy, into a Magical Realism story. Or you could do what Carl Cota-Robles did.

He put in a dash of magical Fantasy with dragons, a cup of Steampunk Science Fiction, and mixed it well with Westerns to give a book that is a very strange mixture of ingredients but is certainly a very creative attempt at building a new hybrid Fantasy world.

The Western/Science Fiction Steampunk portion of the story is provided by Al Hardin AKA The Silver Bandanna. Al is a young cowpoke living in a desert-like area on a planet in the year 4717. He disguises himself as The Silver Bandanna- a Lone Ranger type who protects the poor downtrodden people from the “Punchers”- corrupt thieves who steal money and land from honest folk. Sometimes he is hired for big projects to take down the corrupt governments that control the Punchers.

Al, however, has one ability that many other western heroes lack: he can control the winds with his hands. He doesn't know where he gets the power from, only that it is useful. In fact, it is so useful that many recognize the Silver Bandanna by that ability as much as they recognize the eponymous bandanna that he uses to cover the lower half of his face.

Al is going to need all of his abilities for his latest assignment. Joel Forquid, a rich idealist, recruits the Silver Bandanna to destroy a weapon that his father financed and will destroy many. Along the way, Al and Joel encounter other people to aid them on their journey as well as face gun fights and double crossing. Oh did I mention that there are dragons flying overhead and some are protecting the weapon?

While the dragons veer Al's story firmly towards Fantasy, they are upfront in the other story, that of Maya Samoralt. Maya's half centralizes the more fantastic and magical elements. Maya is a brilliant, and at times arrogant swordswoman, who is selected to be a student at a Hogwarts-esque school that teaches young people to become dragon riders.

While waiting for her big chance, Maya and the other students go through various trials to demonstrate their skills such as sword fighting and locating items as well as learning about meditation, reading ancient texts, and working with a partner. Maya also has to deal with a bullying snobbish classmate who also happens to be her partner. However, Maya makes a new friend in Cuicao, a young Shapeshiftter dragon with a reputation for rule breaking within her draconian community.

Meanwhile we get a look into the world of dragons as two races of dragons battle preparing to erupt into a Civil War.

Until late in the book, these stories almost never converge. The only link that they share is the existence of dragons and a few derogatory comments about people from their sides of their world. I wonder if Cotas-Robles had three ideas in mind in writing his book and he couldn't decide which one to write, so he combined all of them.

They could have gone just as well as three separate books in the same series, however the function of separating gives us a wide scope of what this world is like. So often, with books that take place on a different world, it is assumed that all of the residents live in the same environment, are under the same government, and have the same sociopolitical structure and issues. When you think about it, it is kind of ludicrous. As if the people of Earth were expected to look alike, worship the same deity, have the same sociopolitical structure, and live in the same small area of the planet.

In separating the stories, the Reader gets an idea over how vast their world is. They live different existences and it shows in the competing narratives.

Al lives in an arid mostly agrarian community where corruption takes the form of avaricious officials, robber barons, thieves, and land developers. Maya lives within a structured classicist society in which people are identified by the gemstones on the foreheads such as gold for wealthy merchants, silver (like Maya and her family) for artists and educators, copper for laborers, and obsidian for dragon riders. The dragons are arranged in a clan-like structure with plenty of infighting. The fact that these three stories don't converge until later into the narrative shows Cota-Robles’ gift of not only building a world but the many different facets of it.

Cotas-Robles is also effective in filling his world with memorable characters. While Al is certainly patterned after the heroic characters found in Westerns, he is well-defined in his motivations and goals. His dislike for Punchers comes from a clear place and his personal code on what he does and doesn't do as the Silver Bandana are made aware.

Maya is also well-written and established. She is both bookish by revealing her interest in the school's library and active in her interest in sword fighting. She shows a duplicitous at times argumentative nature such as her confrontations with her partner, Nikita and her admission over how she got accepted at the school. She also shows a great deal of kindness in her conversations with Cuicao treating her like a friend rather than a dragon.

Even supporting characters show a lot of depth. Joel is driven by the large picture of stopping the weapon. Jin Bell, a Puncher hired by Joel to help out with the mission is ruthless and could back stab the team at a moment's notice but shows compassion and protectiveness towards Fin, his partner and unofficial adopted son.

The dragons are also given plenty of character as well. Cuicao is an impetuous little spitfire but is very devoted to Maya once they bond becoming the best friend that both need. A dragon, Hans is devastated when his son, Johan turns against his family further illustrating the divisive precarious nature among the dragons.

With Sand and Smoke, Carl Cotas-Robles gave us a wonderfully detailed world of memorable characters. It would be a great world to return to for the next adventure.