Book Reviews
Book Review: The Blood-Dimmed Tide by Michael R. Johnston

Book Review: The Blood-Dimmed Tide by Michael R. Johnston

The Blood-Dimmed Tide is the second in Michael R. Johnston’s Remembrance War space opera series. It would have been helpful to have read the first (The Widening Gyre), but Johnston provides enough backstory during The Blood-Dimmed Tide that reading the first isn’t...

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Book Review: Echoed in My Bones by Lisa A. Sturm

Book Review: Echoed in My Bones by Lisa A. Sturm

Echoed in My Bones deals with interracial adoption. I chose to read it as I adopted a biracial child years ago and am interested in the topic. I also read the National Geographic “Black and White” issue (April 2018) with a photograph of twins, one black and one white,...

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Book Review: Poison by Rada Jones, MD

Book Review: Poison by Rada Jones, MD

Poison is a thriller set in primarily in the Emergency Room where Dr. Emma Steele works. People who visit the ER are returning as codes or dropping dead within a few days of their initial ER visit. But only her most vile patients are dying: the child abusers, wife...

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Book Review: Wild Life by Keena Roberts

Book Review: Wild Life by Keena Roberts

Keena Roberts, in this delightful coming-of-age memoir, describes a life divided. Her parents, both primatologists, are on the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania and divide their time between field research and teaching. Where they go, they take their two...

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Book Review: A Beginning at the End by Mike Chen

Book Review: A Beginning at the End by Mike Chen

As in his debut novel, Here and Now and Then, Mike Chen brings a refreshing new emotionalism to science fiction with his latest work, A Beginning at the End. This is a refreshing take on post-apocalyptic sci-fi. A flu pandemic devastates the world population—and takes...

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Book Review: Everything Here Is Beautiful by Mira T. Lee

Book Review: Everything Here Is Beautiful by Mira T. Lee

Everything Here Is Beautiful is Mira T. Lee’s debut novel, and a very sophisticated one it is. In the back of her book, there’s an interview with her in which she describes how she didn’t want to write about mental illness per se, but about relationships and how they...

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Book Review: Past This Point by Nicole Mabry

Book Review: Past This Point by Nicole Mabry

I read this book because I’d heard that it was apocalyptic fiction from a woman’s point of view, which seems to be relatively rare. I enjoyed it thoroughly. As a physician, I’ve been trained to anticipate influenza epidemics and pandemics. The medical aspects were...

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Book Review: Double-Crossing the Bridge by Sarah J. Sover

Book Review: Double-Crossing the Bridge by Sarah J. Sover

If you ever wanted a story about the Underworld, filled with trolls and other monsters, Double-Crossing the Bridge is for you. Sarah J. Sover's debut successfully blends an Ocean’s Eleven-type heist with sheer fantasy with high Monty-Python-quality wildly-hysterical...

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Book Review: Hamartia by Raquel Rich

Book Review: Hamartia by Raquel Rich

Hamartia successfully blends time travel with reincarnation with the interesting concept that souls can be harvested. In the futuristic city of Hamartia, Grace Dartmouth learns that her nine-year-old son is afflicted with metagenesis, a disease in which a human’s soul...

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Book Review: Long Island Noir

Book Review: Long Island Noir

Akashic Books, an independent publisher based in Brooklyn, is dedicated to publishing urban literary fiction and political nonfiction by authors ignored by the mainstream. Akashic has an excellent reputation and when they release a new book, the quality is guaranteed...

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Book Review: Every Time He Dies by Tara East

Book Review: Every Time He Dies by Tara East

The cover of this book alone would prompt me to read it. As a Texas gal who lives in a city where El Día de los Muertos is celebrated, the skeleton with its ties to Sugar Skulls drew me in. This book is about grief, hauntings, and identity.  The protaognist, Daphne...

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Book Review: Summoned by M.A. Guglielmo

Book Review: Summoned by M.A. Guglielmo

M.A. Guglielmo’s debut novel, Summoned, is a lively, fun book which should appeal to older YA readers (and adults wanting a light-hearted read). Daniel Goldstein, a Jewish gaming designer, is told by his grandmother’s ghost to summon a jinn to save the world from...

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Book Review: The Flight Girls by Noelle Salazar

Book Review: The Flight Girls by Noelle Salazar

A World War II novel from a woman's point of view, The Flight Girls follows a young Texas woman who, despite her privileged life in Dallas, leaves the security of home and family to fly military aircraft for the US Army. The main character, Audrey, is strong and...

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Book Review: The Wild Impossibility by Cheryl A. Ossola.

Book Review: The Wild Impossibility by Cheryl A. Ossola.

The Wild Impossibility is Cheryl A. Ossola’s debut novel, but an accomplished feat it is, combing elements of mystery, historical fiction, psychological drama, and love story into a cohesive whole. Kira, the protagonist, has suffered two miscarriages. With the second...

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