Author: Nicolas Winer
ISBN: 978-1-84923-126-8
Publisher: YouWriteOn.com

On the surface, the novel may seem like another chilling mystery with an African slant. If you dig a little deeper, however, you will find a complex portrait painted by someone with an informative hand who has probably experienced some of the scheming mischief of the various players in the area 

Author: Delaney Henderson
Publishers: A-Argus Better Book Publishers, LLC
ISBN:  987-09819075-7-4

The plot and setting of The Travelers work together to create a story that will thrill the most jaded palate and gives the reader excitement without the risk of living out life in an African jail

Author: Leon de Winter
ISBN: 978 1 59264 265 6

The suspense leaves your heart broken and breathless. This is a book that cannot be put down once started, even though it is so forlorn

Author: Jimmy Root Jr.
ISBN: 13: 978-1-58982-553-6: 10: 1-58982-553-5

Depending on your religious beliefs, Jimmy Root Jr.’s Distant Thunder is either likely to dazzle you or affront you

Author: Brian Duren
Publisher: Beaver’s Pond Press
ISBN: 978159282875

The inevitable twist toward the end of the book is slightly predictable, yet the change of voice and mood is jarring enough to be entertaining.

Author: Sean Dixon, Author
Publisher:Other Press
ISBN: 978-1-59051-312-5

Author: Bich Minh Nguyen
Publisher: Viking Publishers
ISBN: 978-0-670-02081-2

Very like The Joy Luck Club, it is a tale of two women who are trying to be American while struggling against their mother’s memory and the expectations of their Vietnamese heritage

Author: Ed Chung
ISBN: 978-0-576-02448-7

 From the very first chapter, this fictional account of one family’s life in China, Hong Kong, USA and Canada grabs you, and over the course of 309 pages, it hardly ever lets up

Author: Kevin J Anderson
Publisher: William Morrow, an imprint of Harper Collins
ISBN: 978-0-06-166255-3

In Kevin J. Anderson’s newest book, Enemies & Allies, we are given fly on the wall viewing of his version of Superman and Batman’s first meeting.

Authors: Captain Jeff Struecker with Alton Gansky
ISBN: 978-0-8054-4853-5
Publisher: B&H Publishing Group

I shared Certain Jeopardy with my wife, who has lived the life of a Special Forces wife. She and I agree that it is a fine work of fiction that comes quite close to reality.

Author: Angela Lam Turpin
ISBN: 9781926704104
Publisher: Eternal Press

I appreciate what the author tried to do with this book, having a vampire clueless to the human way of life, and only knowing the forest as home

Author: Homa Pourasgari
Publisher: Linbrook Press
ISBN: 976-0-9779780-1-4

Until you read this powerfully compelling book, you are not likely to truly understand the hardships many Saudi women endure at the hands of radical Muslims.

The story is strong and will keep the reader interested. 

Author: Lev Grossman
ISBN:978-0-670-02055-3
Publisher: Viking

One could write that The Magicians is a coming-of-age novel set in a sort of university for magicians.  It is that, but so much more.  The book follows Quentin Coldwater and several of his fellow aspiring magicians through several stages of their lives, finally achieving a dream and then finding that even then, all their desires are not fulfilled.

Author: Lev Grossman
Publisher:Viking Books
ISBN: 978-0-670-02055-3

The last Harry Potter book came out two years ago, we can only hope the Twilight series is finished, and the generation who became adults with Harry, Ron, Hermione need something else.  That book has arrived in Lev Grossman’s The Magicians

Author: Jennifer Weiner
ISBN: 9780743294294
Publisher: Atria Books (Simon & Schuster, Inc.)

Best Friends Forever, by Jennifer Weiner, is a riveting portrayal of friendship, love, family, loyalty, and betrayal. A guaranteed laugh and cry! 

ISBN: 978-0-670-02081-2

A compelling read and  a finely detailed study of the ties that bind us, confound us and make us who we are. 

Author: Gary Morgentein
Publisher: Times Square Press and Elite Associates
ISBN: 978-1441492241

Jesse’s Girl will make you laugh, let you cry and twist your guts with pure terror.  There is never a dull moment.  Need a fast-paced romp of a read.  Go pick up Jesse’s Girl.  You’ll be glad you did.

Author: Paul Martin Midden
ISBN:10: 1-58982-492-X
Publisher: Millennial Mind Publishing

The book’s bloody action is frequently reminiscent of Greek Tragedy in which the violence is off stage

Author: Anna David
Publisher: Harper
ISBN: 978-0-06-166918-7         

Although Bought: A Novel is chick lit, it nevertheless is something to muse over as it does presents several thought provoking themes that revolve around the complexities of human character and interpersonal relationships.  

Author: Piers Paul Read
Ignatius Press
ISBN:  978-1-58617-295-4

Despite the need for tenderness, The Death of a Pope, takes common elements, throws them together, and out comes an interesting, intriguing, and exciting story that will capture a reader and not let go to the end.

Author: Alan Cheuse
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
ISBN: 978-1-4022-1516-2

Well-crafted, insightful and often profound, a book about finding not just beauty and newness, but also oneself in the journeys that invariably define us - even those of us travelers that are strictly armchair-bound.

Author: Krista Tibbs
Publisher: Friction Publishing
ISBN: 978-0-9818803-0-3

A fascinating realistic novel focusing on the pharmaceutical industry as she accurately depicts the dilemmas and conflicts that arise among all of the major players

Author: James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
ISBN: 978-0-316-01877-7

While disappointing on some levels, Swimsuit is a good choice for travel reading. It will help while away long airport waits and interminable airplane flights.

Author: Davis Aujourd’ Hui
Publisher: Outskirts Press
ISBN: 978-1-4327-3047-5

For a non-stop tickle on your funny bone this religiously inspired book is a fun, quick, and easy read! 

Author: Chloe Niell
ISBN: 978-0-451-22625-9
Publisher: New American Library (NAL)

A perfect combination of a fast-paced mysterious urban fantasy filled with twists and entertainment

Author: Clem Chambers
ISBN: 978-1-84243-297-6

Could this really happen?

Author: Max Frei 
Translator: Polly Ganon
ISBN: 978-1-59020-065-0
Publisher: Overlook Press

The Labyrinths of Echo, a successful Russian series, makes its English debut with The Stranger. Written under the pseudonym Max Frei, the books chronicle the adventures of a young man of the same name in a mysterious world of magic that he visits in his dreams.

Author: Kelly Moran
Publisher: Lulu
ISBN: 10: 057800593X: 13:978-0578005935

Most of us have spent at least a little time considering the afterlife. Regardless of your belief system, none of us really knows what we'll find after death. According to Kelly Moran's fictional novella Idle Thursday, we're mostly the same in death as we are in life.

Author: Arnaldo Ricciulli
ISBN: 978-1-4415-0389-5

A Category 6 hurricane? Impossible says everyone. It can’t happen. Yet Kelly Delaney is convinced a Category 6 hurricane is not only a possibility, but an eminent reality.

Author: Shulamit Lapid
Translated from the Hebrew by Philip Simpson
ISBN: 13 978 1 59264 230 4
Publisher: Toby Press

Thanks to Philip Simpson's excellent translation, I was able to easily read Shulamit Lapid's Valley of Strength, the fascinating saga of Rosh Pina.

Author: Charlotte Greig
Publisher: OTHER PRESS LLC
ISBN:978-1-59051-317-0

Greig's fiction re-creates the high impact that can result from relations between people. And in the vein of traditional British storytellers, she uses vibrant, lush language that draws you into her tale.

Author: Stephen Boerer
Publisher: Oceanview Publishing
ISBN: 13: 978-1-933515-24-3

A novel that will ruffle a few feathers

Author: Kate Brady
ISBN: 9780446541527
Publisher: Forever (Hachette Book Group)\

One Scream Away, by Kate Brady, is one heck of a break-out book from a talented emerging author.

Author: Vanora Bennett
ISBN: 978-0-06-168984-0
Publisher: William Morrow (HarperCollins)

A splendid blend of romance and history as the author takes one into the world of silk making.

Author: Sam Moffie
ISBN: 978-1-4392-0461-0

 
No Mad is Sam Moffie’s third novel and after reading it I can easily understand how one can become addicted to this promising author.

Author: Jeff Roberts
ISBN:  978-1-4327-2727-7
Publisher: Outskirts Press

Intended as snapshots of life, each short story aims to capture a scene that reveals an emotion or event that reflects our humanness.  Most of these stories hit their mark but some are a little off-center in this debut collection of fiction by Jeff Roberts.

Author:  Gail Graham
ISBN: 978-0-692-00100-4

Sea Changes is filled with a sweet naiveté that is rare in our world of brash reality and conditioned acceptance of the loss of innocence.

Author: James Patterson

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

ISBN: 978-0-316-03759-4

Maximum Ride and her flock of bird kids return in this fifth installment of James Patterson’s popular series. It is no surprise that Max’s mission is still to save the world, no less. With only slight chagrin she says it herself: “I’ve been told that my mission in life is to save the world. No pressure or anything.”

Author: Kyle Mills
Publisher: Vanguard Press
ISBN: 978-1-59315-499-8

When Josh Hagarty interviewed for employment with New Africa, a U.S. charitable organization purporting to manage various foreign aid projects, little did he know that in reality this so-called focused charity was in fact connected to some very nasty accomplices including an American con man, a Russian Mafia thug and the country’s brutal dictator Umbito Mtitsi.

 

Author: Bob Blackman
ISBN: 978 0 9555927 0 6

The Horsepower Whisperer by Bob Blackman is a rollicking romp through time, space and history from the age of the dinosaurs to the far flung future filled with irreverent but delightful humor, quirky characters and non-stop action.   It also makes one pause, and think, and look at this non-stop world of ours in a different light. 

Authors: James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
ISBN: 978-0-316-01876-0
Publishers: Little, Brown and Company

“The killing of a street person has zero to no priority in Homicide,” says San Francisco detective Lindsay Boxer. Therefore, when Lindsay’s friend, journalists Cindy Thomas, discovers a murdered homeless man—Bagman Jesus—she takes it upon herself to investigate the killing and to persuade the San Francisco Police Department to pursue the case as well.

Author: Paul Levine
ISBN: 978-0-553-80673-1
Publisher: Bantam Dell

Illegal could have simply been an ordinary adventure story, but Levine has given it greater depth as he brilliantly captures the plight of illegal immigrants and the sickening conditions that they are subjected to including slavery, brutal punishments and even murder at the hands of their master employers who try to pass themselves off as good Samaritans.

Author: Alan Gratz
ISBN: 978-0-8037-3666-5
Publisher: Dial Books

 
Alan Gratz has done it again. Something Wicked, a modern version of Shakespeare's Macbeth is a treasure. This companion piece to Something Rotten (Hamlet) makes Shakespeare fun. This book has it all -- mystery, murder, romance, a cool hero, and a sense of humor. Gratz does a great job of drawing you into the story quickly, keeping you entertained, your curiosity peeked, and occasionally, making you laugh right out loud. Most importantly, Gratz doesn't expose the murderer until the right time.

Author: Brian L. Doe
ISBN: 9780982205679
Publisher: All That Matters Press

 A Heart-Felt Offering

The Grace Note, by Brian Doe, explores the themes of love and loss from a man’s perspective. Alex Brogan, a gifted violinist with the New York Philharmonic, has found happiness in his life’s calling as a composer and musician and in his relationship with his fiancée, Charlotte. But, like the butterfly that flits through this novel, happiness is fragile and a tragedy soon shatters the happiness in Alex’s heart.

Author: Jack Woodville London
Publisher:Vire Press
ISBN: 978-0-9815975-0-8

Author Jack London has given his readers a great opening salvo in “Virginia’s War,” something to sink their teeth into--a town worth exploring, interesting and complicated relationships, power struggles, and overshadowing it all, a World War. If London can keep up the pace of “Virginia’s War” into volume two, he will surely have a winning trilogy on his hands.

Author: Mary Paulson
Publisher: Eloquent Book New York, New York
ISBN: 987-1-60693-200-1

Author: David Gelber
ISBN: 978-0-9820763-0-9
Publisher: Ruffian Press
 

David Gelber’s ITP: FUTURE HOPE is such a strong thought provoking Christian Science Fiction novel that there is a danger in writing too much or too complexly about it.

Author: Gloria Waldron Hukle

ISBN: 1-4259-4260-1

Publisher:AuthorHouse, Bloomington, IN

This novel dusted away the cobwebs settled on this reader’s long-ago seventh grade social studies lessons, refreshing my memories of Dutch colonization in North America, adding much new information and painting faces and hearts on that history.

Author: Alessandra Gelmi

ISBN-10: 1424148669

ISBN-13: 978-1424148660

Alessandra Gelmi’s Who’s Afraid of Red is a good read but it is definitely a difficult book to pigeonhole. The main reason is because its three sections are almost different genres.

Author: Karen J. Hasley

ISBN: 978-1-4327-3419-0

Publisher: Outskirts Press, Inc.

   
Seems Simple enough...........

Title: An Insomniac’s Dream

Author's Name: Kelly Moran

ISBN: 1413773443

Publisher's Name: Publish America

Kelly Moran’s An Insomniac’s Dream (Publish America, December 2005) is just the kind of book that matches its title throughout its content and style – a half-dreamy mode of story-telling, one which makes you question the meaning of the word ‘real’. A collection of 30 poems and 7 short stories, the book explores the paranormal phenomena by palpable characters in the stories and a number of uneasy feelings in the poetry.

Author: Neil J. Lehto

ISBN: 0-595-36132-3

Publisher: iUniverse

One of Canada’s greatest artists was Tom Thomson, who accidentally died in 1917 in Canoe Lake, Ontario. If he accidentally died has always been a question mark among many historians and art connoisseurs.   Neil J. Lehto’s novel Algonquin Elegy: Tom Thomson’s Last Spring is an ambitious effort to meticulously present multiple perspectives in fictional format as to what really happened to this great Canadian artist. Did he accidentally die or was there foul play?

Author: Donald Greco

ISBN-10: 193445429X

ISBN-13: 978-19344542

Abramo’s Gift is a special book in many ways.  It tells a touching story of recent Italian and Irish immigrants in the United States to Youngstown, Ohio, around the year 1918, and particularly the story of Abramo Cardone, who leaves behind not only his Italian homeland, but the horrors of losing his lovely wife and first born daughter to a bloody civil war.

Author:  Lisa Dale

ISBN:  0446406899

Publisher:  Forever (Hachette Book Group)

I am impressed with Simple Wishes, by Lisa Dale. Admittedly, I haven’t heard her name before doing this review, but I won’t hesitate to recommend her. Simple Wishes and Seeds of Affection are her two titles, though I am unsure which came first. Lisa Dale grew up in rural Northwestern New Jersey before attending McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland. She worked briefly in publishing before going back to school to get an MFA in fiction at Fairleigh Dickinson University. Lisa resides in New Jersey with her boyfriend.

Author: Richard Edward Noble

Noble Publishing

ISBN: 079-0-9798085-2-4

In Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother, Richard Edward Noble takes us into the life, the mind, the very soul, of a young boy in the hardscrabble mill town of Lawrence, Massachusetts in the mid-1900s.

Author: Laurie Loveman

ISBN: 1-59109-432-1

Two divorced strangers meet over a maggot-infested body during the Great Depression. Can romance be far behind?Freddy Pratter, divorced and determined to stay single, becomes acquainted with  Glynis Hampton, a recent divorcee, and their shared love of photography draws them together. Glynis, with her two children, has returned to her family farm in Dalebridge to put her life back together. She is reunited with her lifelong friend Laura Darvey, who is eager to have Glynis help teach riding lessons at her stable.

Author: Pat Cook

Publisher: Outskirts Press

ISBN: 1-4327-0236-X

Faux Elvis, the newest addition to the alternate history Elvis genera that I find myself a fan of, a “young reporter fresh from journalism school” stumbles across the story of a lifetime. Rather than dying in such an undignified manner back in the late 70’s, Elvis is indeed alive and well and living out his years in a quite little community under an assumed name.

Author: Lani Diane Rich

ISBN: 044661825X,

Publisher: Forever (Hachette Book Group)

Summing up Wish You Were Here, by Lani Diane Rich, in one word is endearing. Lani Diane Rich is a best-selling author, with such titles as: Crazy in Love, The Comeback Kiss, Maybe Baby, Ex and the Single Girl, and Time Off For Good Behavior. She resides in New York with her family.

Author: Janice Thompson

Publisher: Summerside Press

ISBN: 978-1-60936-686-5