Synopsis: Author, producer, and emerging poet Roje Augustin has written a groundbreaking debut collection of dramatic poems about hair care entrepreneur Madam C.J. Walker and her daughter, A'Lelia. Roje's singular and accomplished work is presented through the intimate lens of the mother-daughter relationship via different poetic forms - from lyric to haiku, blackout to narrative.... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: 1729: Blair Eakins is a fifteen-year-old Ulster-Scot living in Ireland under the crushing weight of famine, poverty, and prejudice against his people. In search of a better future for himself and his beloved, he pays for passage to the American colonies the only way he can: he commits himself as an indentured servant for... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: An epic tale beginning in 15th-century Scotland and flowing through time to modern-day New York, A Reason to Be is a tale of loss, hope, and the transcendent power of the love that bind us to one another. Douglas McCombs is an accomplished engineer and recent widower driven to discover the truth of who... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: Most people don’t realize that during the war in Europe in the 1940s, it took an average of six support soldiers to make the work of four combat soldiers possible. Most of what’s available in the literature tends toward combat narratives, and yet the support soldiers had complex and unique experiences as well. This... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: Cat Miranda returns to her childhood home in Bisbee, Arizona, to take over her brother’s art gallery following his untimely death. On her first night home, an intruder breaks in. Cat quickly realizes that she is being targeted by a murderer with links to an 8-foot tall painting in the gallery titled “Kissed.” In... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: Richard Holbrooke was brilliant, utterly self-absorbed, and possessed of almost inhuman energy and appetites. Admired and detested, he was the force behind the Dayton Accords that ended the Balkan wars, America's greatest diplomatic achievement in the post-Cold War era. His power lay in an utter belief in himself and his idea of a muscular,... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: The daughter of a missionary doctor, Claire Malcolm Lintilhac was born in China,became a nurse there, and lived and worked through China's whole momentous first half of the 20th century. Opening a unique window into the making of the world'snewest yet oldest superpower, China in Another Time -- with over 160 photos and drawings... Continue Reading →
Keepin’ It Real by Gill Paul Life is short and the TBR pile is high, so if I get 50 pages in to a novel and don’t care what happens next, I will abandon it without any scruples. And as a novelist myself, I always ask the question: what will make my readers want... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: If you loved I AM ANASTASIA you won't want to miss this novel about her sister, Grand Duchess Maria. What really happened to this lost Romanov daughter? A new novel perfect for anyone curious about Anastasia, Maria, and the other lost Romanov daughters, by the author of THE SECRET WIFE. 1918:... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: My name is Amelia Gray. I am the Graveyard Queen, a cemetery restorer who sees ghosts. My father passed down four rules to keep me safe and I've broken every last one. A door has opened and evil wants me back. In order to protect myself, I've vowed to return to... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: The true story of young, untested American volunteers who entered German-occupied Belgium to attempt what had never been done before -- save an entire nation from starvation that was trapped in the middle of a world war. One of America's greatest humanitarian efforts is little-known today. WWI Crusaders brings the past... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: After the death of her beloved grandmother, a Cuban-American woman travels to Havana, where she discovers the roots of her identity--and unearths a family secret hidden since the revolution... Havana, 1958. The daughter of a sugar baron, nineteen-year-old Elisa Perez is part of Cuba's high society, where she is largely sheltered... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: Brought together by a charming bookstore in England, three women fight to defy expectations, dream new dreams, and welcome love into their lives. As a counselor, Sophia Barrett is trained to help people cope with their burdens. But when she meets a new patient whose troubles mirror her own, she realizes... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: Health, diet, and fitness have become a multi-billion dollar business. The industry explodes into every corner of the industrialized world. A person can’t ignore the inducements and promotions that exist in every media source on the planet. Yet, the commerce surrounding the business has a unique and curious component. The... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: History takes on vivid life in the stunning first full-length installment of Tamera Alexander's new series, The Carnton Novels. On the night of November 30, 1864, a brutal battle in Franklin, Tennessee, all but decimates the Confederacy and nearly kills Captain Roland Ward Jones. A decorated Mississippi sharpshooter,... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: For these two broken hearts, the first step toward love will be a huge leap of faith. Jessica Mason isn’t looking for love when she meets Ridley Chesterfield. Instead she is still reeling from the tragic, unexpected loss of her husband and daughter—and awaiting the arrival of her unborn child.... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: Tree is a novel about a tree written from a unique point of view: the chief narrator is a tree. Tree uses magical realism as a key to access the interrelated emotional realities of the many species that share one pristine valley in Topanga, California. Grass, birds, other trees and... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: Found in Paris, an old, long neglected book that purports to be the journal of one Henry Howard turns Michael Devon's world upside down. Within its tattered pages, Michael finds a rich tableau of mid-sixteenth century life, experienced with all of the wonder and sense of adventure of a teen-aged... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: In the bestselling tradition of Hidden Figures and The Wives of Los Alamos, comes a riveting novel of the everyday women who worked on the Manhattan Project during World War II “What you see here, what you hear here, what you do here, let it stay here.” In November 1944, eighteen-year-old June Walker... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: In book two of In Hitler's House, Willy Weber and Carlotta Krause descend into the depths of the espionage game as World War II rages around them. Working at once against Hitler and often at odds with one another, each fears getting an order to assassinate the other.... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: William Weber was on tour in Germany in the summer of 1931 when he chanced to meet a struggling politician, Adolf Hitler. Hitler soon discovered that Willy was a wealthy innocent and set out to exploit him in every way that he could. There follows a startlingly... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • FEATURING AN EXCLUSIVE NEW CHAPTER GoodReads Choice Awards Semifinalist "Moving . . . a plot that surprises and devastates."—New York Times Book Review "A masterful epic."—People magazine "Mesmerizing . . . The Women in the Castle stands tall among the literature that reveals new truths about... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: The fifth installation of Eliot Pattison's Bone Rattler series follows the exiled Scotsman Duncan McCallum to the stepping-stones of the American Revolution Acclaimed author Eliot Pattison continues his Bone Rattler series as Duncan McCallum is drawn into dark intrigue surrounding the Sons of Liberty in this gripping thriller set in the... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: The Trumpets of Jericho is the first book, and only novel, devoted in its entirety to one of the more remarkable if lesser-known stories of the Holocaust--the defiant 1944 Jewish armed revolt at the Nazi death camp Auschwitz-- and the just as inspiring account of the four young female conspirators... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: In Jesus the Bridegroom, Brant Pitre once again taps into the wells of Jewish Scripture and tradition, and unlocks the secrets of what is arguably the most well-known symbol of the Christian faith: the cross of Christ. In this thrilling exploration, Pitre shows how the suffering and... Continue Reading →
Two special ladies from my books are Abigail Everett and Henrietta Dexter. Both of them are from my Edwardian historical works, 'The Maybrook Trilogy'. Abigail is a woman that suffered the early loss of her mother and the wrath... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: Nick Reese wakes from a three-year coma to find the world he once knew is gone. An ancient virus has infected two-thirds of the world's population, turning humans into either incredibly intelligent super-humans or large and indestructible animalistic creatures. For the survivors, there is no government, no... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: Launching a brand-new series, Kristy Cambron explores the collision of past and present as she discovers the ruins of a French castle, long lost to history. A thirteenth century castle, Chateau de Doux Reves, has been forgotten for generations, left to ruin in a storybook forest nestled deep... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: In the wake of World War I in the small, Southern town of Bellhaven, South Carolina, the town folk believe they’ve found a little slice of heaven in a mysterious chapel in the woods. But they soon realize that evil can come in the most beautiful of forms.... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: Tales of Titans, by award-winning author Rich DiSilvio, brings great historical figures to life with concise yet compelling essays, coupled with engaging narratives that enlighten readers to their miraculous deeds, and misdeeds, that have significantly shaped Western civilization. This handsomely illustrated series offers readers brief biographical overviews and cogent analysis, while the quasi-fictional scenarios... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: As 90-year-old Winston Churchill barely clings to life in January 1965, Great Britain and the world prepare for the most significant funeral of the century. The long-planned grand farewell for the great man (code name: Operation Hope Not) will include the presence of a “who’s who” list of world leaders, all vying for the... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: The year is AD 8. In the backwaters of Galilee, the twelve-year-old carpenter Yeshua nourishes an impossible dream---to become a rabbi. When a Buddhist pilgrim tells him about a country called Sindh, where anyone can be a monk, Yeshua's hope rekindles. He joins a camel caravan and sets off on a thousand mile journey... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: Night is one of the masterpieces of Holocaust literature. First published in 1958, it is the autobiographical account of an adolescent boy and his father in Auschwitz. Elie Wiesel writes of their battle for survival and of his battle with God for a way to understand the wanton cruelty he witnesses each day. In... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: Still recovering from the fire at Sagamore Road, and what she witnessed there, Robin Hanley’s daughter, Tess, is the one speaking to the ghost of Fryderyk Chopin now. Having inherited the abilities shared by her rock musician father and her witch stepmother, Tess must discover what started the long history of witches culminating in... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: Physician Bess Codman has returned to her family’s Nantucket compound, Cliff House, for the first time in four years. Her great-grandparents built Cliff House almost a century before, but due to erosion, the once-grand home will soon fall into the sea. Though she’s purposefully avoided the island, Bess must now pack up the house... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: YESTERDAY’S MOMENTS… Today’s Memories is the third in David Turner’s nostalgic trilogy depicting rural and small-town life in Canada during the last century. “From as far back as I could recall,” Turner says, “I’d been listening to the stories passed down through generations of my family. As the years went by, an unrelenting passion... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: Light begins at Stonehenge, where crowds cheer a solstice sunrise. After sampling myths explaining First Light, the story moves on to early philosophers' queries, then through the centuries, from Buddhist temples to Biblical scripture, when light was the soul of the divine. Battling darkness and despair, Gothic architects crafted radiant cathedrals while Dante... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: It is the story above all, and Lazlo’s Revenge is an excellent story, inspired by true events in places devastated by war, and those who suffered greatly. Readers develop a personal relationship with the characters, Lazlo, Gertrude, Captain Koz, and others, leaving them wanting more. Max Fischer (Maxine Schoellkopf Fischer, fictional narrator of... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: Brilliant and wrenching, The Holocaust: History and Memory tells the story of the brutal mass slaughter of Jews during World War II and how that genocide has been remembered and misremembered ever since. Taking issue with generations of scholars who separate the Holocaust from Germany’s military ambitions, historian Jeremy M. Black demonstrates persuasively... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: Nobel Laureate and two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner William Faulkner (1897–1962) was one of America’s greatest and most celebrated writers, whose work reflects and, at the same time, questions the South's most deeply held values. His novel The Sound and the Fury is frequently cited as one of the best books of all time, and... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: Spiritualism is one of the greatest mysteries in life. But what does it even mean, How do we access it? What power does it hold? What is your purpose on earth? What is God like?Who is a yogi? With A Transcendental Yogi Life, With Eternal Stories, you delve deep into the life of... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: It's autumn, 1941. The Nazis have fired on the USS Greer; London is ablaze, and the streets of Leningrad are red with blood. Still, David Dremmer is content to work his father's ranch and dream of his best friend's wife. When the United States finally enters the war, David escapes his father's disappointment... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: In approximately 200 pages, this book seems to describe what 200,000 pages could not come close to adequately holding: the history of the world. Featured in this brief ride through the human condition: why over 40% of the world speaks in tongues descended from an obscure tribe called the Indo-Europeans, how political violence... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: Can the American and British Allies stop a vaunted German spymaster and his U-boat-commander brother from warning Hitler's High Command about the Allies' greatest military secret? It is a secret that could win the war for Germany--or, at the very least, delay the outcome for years with an inestimable cost in bloodshed, physical... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: From the bestselling master espionage writer, hailed by Vince Flynn as “the best in the business,” comes a riveting novel about the French Resistance in Nazi-occupied Paris. 1941. The City of Light is dark and silent at night. But in Paris and in the farmhouses, barns, and churches of the French countryside, small... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: Berlin in the spring of 1939. Hitler is preparing for war. Colonel Noel Macrae, a British diplomat, plans the ultimate sacrifice to stop him. The West’s appeasement policies have failed. There is only one alternative: assassination. The Gestapo, aware of Macrae’s hostility, seeks to compromise him in their infamous brothel. There Macrae meets... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: This is a story, a true story which I always think are the best of stories. A Story of Ancient Rome. An Adventure Story, perhaps? It is a story of two protagonists, Julius Caesar, and Marcus Cato. They represented two opposing philosophies, both dedicated to the same end, the recovery of the health... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: Rating: 5 stars Review: What was funny, was that I just got done watching the history channel about the Khan and then was provided a chance to review this title. It was definitely fate that brought me to this magnificent read. Heavenly Khan by Victor Cunrui Xiong is an extraordinary historical novel that... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: During the Great Depression, high-profile kidnappings became more and more commonplace. On December 17, 1931, self-made millionaire fashion designer Nell Donnelly becomes the next casualty. Senator Reed, a family friend, steps in to lead the investigation. Impatient with ineffective police efforts, he is willing to go to extraordinary measures. How extraordinary? How about enlisting... Continue Reading →
Synopsis: GLORY TURNED GRIM… …and warfare changed forever. As Grant pinned Lee to Petersburg and Richmond, the Confederacy’s stubborn Army of Northern Virginia struggled against a relentless Union behemoth, with breathtaking valor and sacrifice on both sides. That confrontation in the bloody summer and autumn of 1864 shaped the nation that we know today.... Continue Reading →
Urban Book Reviews 